Wang calls for bigger corporate investment in IT

Charles Wang used this week's Computer Associates World conference in New Orleans to spell out a stark warning for companies ignoring the impact of new technology on their business.

He said ecommerce meant companies have to be constantly on their toes as new competitors could appear from anywhere at anytime.

He claimed the only way around this problem was to bring IT to the centre of business strategy the department and the people in it should be viewed as central, not just to decision making but also to driving the business forward.

Wang claimed it was time to stop looking at the IT department as the place to cut operating costs for the company and see it as the place that moved the company forwards, generating new money and new business opportunities.

Wang said companies should look to the IT department to add revenue to the top line not just shave it off the bottom. For example, he said a company spending 5 per cent of revenue on IT which wanted to cut costs could, if successful, achieve savings of ten per cent - this would merely bring spending down to 4.5 per cent.

Wang said: "Building business is about creating wealth, creating value, not about saving money. Businesses aren't open to save money."

Frank Coyle, IT director at John Menzies Distribution, echoed Wang's comments. He told Silicon.com: "If the IT director is not on the board then he spends all his time keeping up with business change."