Closing the IT-Business Gap

recent benchmark survey, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by BMC Software, polled chief executive officers (CEOs), chief information officers (CIOs) and other senior executives on the topic of alignment of information technology (IT) objectives to business goals. The survey was intended to measure progress in closing a gap between true and perceived alignment that had been discovered in a similar survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit in October 2006. The 2008 survey was carried out in January among 452 respondents worldwide (169 based in Europe, 116 in North America, 129 in Asia-Pacific and 38 in the rest of the world). Of the global respondents, 48% held IT roles and 41% were C-level (eg, CEO, CFO, CIO) executives. Thirty-nine percent of the respondents’ companies had annual sales of more than US$1bn, and 45% reported annual sales of less than US$500m. The findings of the 2008 survey were consistent with the previous study, while indicating some progress toward narrowing the communication gap, as well as persistent challenges. Specific findings appear below.