Nearly a third of managers experience IT project failure rates of between 41 and 70 per cent, according to research by Accenture.

In a survey of 300 executives, 35 per cent of business managers and 27 per cent of IT managers admitted to IT project failures between these levels.

But of these executives, only 17 per cent (for both business managers and IT managers) consider the alignment of business and IT goals in their companies to be 'strong' or 'totally aligned', the survey found.

"Aligning IT strategies to business objectives is one of the most fundamental factors in deriving value from technology," said Andrew Morlet, head of Accenture's UK strategic IT effectiveness practice.

The survey also found that more than half (56 per cent) of business managers and over a third (38 per cent) of IT managers believe that IT is under-delivering against investments.

Despite this, the historic tension between business managers and their IT counterparts is diminishing, Accenture's research claimed.

Both groups of executives indicated that the better use of IT has been the main driver of productivity gains over the past three years.

And both groups agreed that the most significant challenge for businesses is to improve 'synergies' across business units. The vast majority of executives see making business processes and IT systems simpler as a major factor in productivity gains.

"Fortunately, business and IT managers are beginning to get over the 'us versus them' mentality," said Morlet.

"The strong agreement between business and IT management on the nature of the challenge is encouraging and supports our view that substantial IT-based productivity gains are possible."

More than half of UK companies expect their IT spending to increase over the next three years, according to the research.