Finance directors don't 'get' IT

Two-thirds of finance directors do not understand the benefits or hidden costs of their organisation's IT strategy.

The research, carried out by Unisys, also found that 40 per cent of CFOs do not know how to measure the total value and impact of IT on the business, while 57 per cent of strategic IT decisions do not have board level input.

And where there is no board input into an IT decision, half of CIOs said they are not expected to report back to their CFO about how exactly the IT budget is spent.

Two hundred CIOs and CFOs in public and private sector organisations employing over 500 people in the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Portugal were quizzed for the research.

Steve Rawsthorn, VP of marketing for Unisys, said in a statement that there is no such thing as 'non-strategic' IT spend.

"It is an issue if IT is diverting funds away from other parts of the business and the bottom line. Alignment with the CIO will give CFOs a clear vision of when, why and how IT investment needs to be made, instead of IT simply being a figure on the balance sheet. The CFO needs to bite the bullet and find out if IT is delivering for their business," he said.

Just last week at an NCC conference on the future role of IT directors, industry experts warned that CIOs need to take a more proactive role on the board to avoid the CEO and CFO taking control of technology issues.