5 years ago...Business must come first warns Gartner Group chief

13.10.98: IT directors must put business before technology if they want their organisations to survive, according to Gartner Group chief Manny Fernandez.

Chairman and CEO, Fernandez, spoke to IT professionals at the annual Gartner conference in Orlando, Florida. He said the three big challenges that face IT directors in 1999 are networking developments, the skills crisis and outsourcing issues.

"Bandwidth is key - networks have become the business," Fernandez said. As voice, data and video network services converge, businesses will start putting all their eggs in one basket - so they must make sure these services can take the pressure, he explained.

Fernandez added to the pressure on worldwide governments to address the potentially crippling IT skills shortage. "Soon for every 10 vacancies, only seven and a half will be filled - this problem must be solved," he said.

Outsourcing - the third key issue - is growing in importance, according to Fernandez. "There is increasing need for alignment between business units and IS organisations to reflect this," he advised.

He commented that total IT spending on the Year 2000 problem has risen from 5 per cent last year to a current level of 29 per cent and he expects it to rise to 44 per cent next year.

However his strongest message was to IT directors who need to shape up their business awareness. "IT is key to survival - directors must be business leaders first and technologists second," he warned.

13.10.03: With the economy still struggling and most major companies fighting to keep costs down, IT chiefs are still very much taking care of business.

Just last week at the UK Technology Summit in London, the UK's leading CIOs said that despite interest in mobile, wireless and open source they are focusing on getting the basics right – usually with fewer resources.

Panel member Paul Coby, CIO of British Airways, is a case in hand. Taking up the position just days before the 11 September terrorist attacks in the US and the subsequent collapse of the global travel market he has managed to put IT at the heart of the airline's recovery plan.

His words of advice will ring true in the ears of many IT execs: "There are no technology projects, only business projects."