Only three per cent of firms have excellent innovation programmes, despite this being a priority for chief information officers, reports analyst firm Forrester Research.

Its latest research found that many CIOs are failing to innovate because they attach too much importance to waiting for guidance from business colleagues or waiting to be formally assigned an innovation leadership role.

"There is no reason to wait to innovate. Instead, CIO’s should tactically pursue innovation while revamping IT," said Bobby Cameron in a report. "Then when it's time, they will be ready to engage the business in a formal innovation process."

The report advises CIOs to organise their activities around people, process and technology. It lists things like making innovation part of day-to-day IT activities, nurturing innovation talent within the IT function, and marketing the results of innovation, thus increasing its visibility in the organisation.