A gap is emerging between the priorities of business executives and CIOs that could diminish firms' competitiveness and put the CIO's position at risk, according to a major new survey from analyst firm Gartner.

Released today, the annual report on CIO's priorities surveyed 1,400 CIOs around the world and found that while the businesses they work for are increasingly focusing on revenue growth the CIOs themselves remain focused on issues internal to the IT department.

"The gap between IT and the business is in danger of widening again," said Dave Aron, vice-president of research for Gartner. "Last year globally 39 percent of firms said they were looking to grow, but this year that has soared to 63 percent. IT is being called upon to drive that growth, but due to the cut backs of the past few years and the [lack of business understanding in the] current skills mix it is not well suited to deliver."

Aron argued this disconnect between CIOs and CEOs was evidenced by the contrasting priorities of the two sides of the business. The Gartner survey found that while business executives identified improving business processes, enhancing workforce performance and growing the customer base as the near-term priorities, CIOs remained focused on "classic IT priorities", such as improving IT services and enhancing IT governance. "These priorities are important, but they are not enough to really drive growth," said Aron.

The report concluded that CIO's were largely aware of the gap between IT and business priorities but lacked the budget or resources to address the problem. "CIO's are smart business people but they tend to be weighed down by the amount of responsibility they now have," said Aron. "For example, 86 percent saw innovation as a key requirement but only 26 percent said they had the capabilities to deliver it."

However, Gartner warned that despite budgetary pressures and the requirement to continue to perform classic IT tasks, CIO's must find a way to deliver the kinds of innovative IT solutions that will help drive revenue growth or else see their influence in the business diminish.

"IT chiefs have to focus all their discretionary spend on the projects that will help their business win [in competitive situations]," advised Aron. " Failure to do so will result in IT being relegated to a plumbing role, which will actually make the business even less competitive."

Mark McDonald, group vice-president and head of research at Gartner, said IT chiefs should particularly focus investment on information management and business intelligence software as a means of enhancing commercial competitiveness. "CIOs will need to concentrate on information as a leverage point to enhance efficiency, increase effectiveness and support competitiveness, " he said.