Boardrooms lack IT insight

A KPMG survey into technical acumen at board level may confirm the fears of many network managers who suspect that their bosses just don't understand IT.

The study, released last week, of leading UK companies found that 93 per cent of board directors felt IT was a board-level issue, but nearly a third admitted they didn't know how to go about adopting new technologies.

Some 60 per cent said they would wait until technology had been tried and tested by their competitors.

"There's a big gap between the amount of talk and the amount of action going on," said Graham Nixon, e-commerce partner at KPMG Consulting, which commissioned the survey. "Although there are encouraging signs about changing attitudes to IT, there is still a long way to go."

For the report, E-business and Beyond: Board Level Drivers and Doubts, KPMG canvassed 149 chief executives and financial directors of FT350 companies.

IT is regularly discussed in 65 per cent of boardrooms and only three per cent of firms don't monitor IT at boardroom level. However, the findings were less positive when it came to implementing IT projects.

When asked which barriers had prevented the adoption of new technologies, 28 per cent cited IT as not being sufficiently proven, 27 per cent quoted technology projects lacking senior sponsorship in the organisation, and 21 per cent cited a lack of skills in the workforce.

Worryingly, almost a third of board directors said they didn't know how to overcome those barriers.

While the report showed that 70 per cent of IT budgets rose last year, and over half of respondents said they will rise again this year, Nixon said too many organisations do not plan in advance where to spend their extra investment. "When people talk about IT they use terms like satisfying customer demand, but when it comes to actual investment they look at reducing costs," he said. As one example of increased boardroom focus on IT, John Windeler, chairman of the Alliance & Leicester, has announced that he is looking for a new chief executive. He insists that the successful candidate must have experience and understanding of e-commerce.