UK CIOs poor at establishing good rapports

According to the survey by IMPACT, whose members include over 100 IT directors among the FTSE 250, chief information officers in the UK have worse relations with their CEOs than their colleagues in the rest of the world.

Fewer of the British professionals believe that their CEO's want them to make a broader strategic contribution to the business than is the belief among a global sample.

The survey of 114 CIOs and IT directors, completed in the third quarter of 2000, was managed by the LBS and the results compared with a similar global survey of executives published last year.

According to Colin Palmer of IMPACT, UK IT management professionals see change management as the key, while the international sample see themselves primarily as business strategists.

"Aspiring CIOs must invest in developing relationships at the highest level," said Palmer.

Only a quarter of the UK CIOs polled claimed to have an excellent relationship with their CEO, compared with 39 per cent of the international pool. While both groups believed they had board support, the international level was higher, at 72 per cent, than that for the UK, 68 per cent. The gap widened for expected support in five years time, with figures standing respectively at 83 and 73 per cent.

By Geoffrey Davies