You are here: silicon.com > Management > IT Director

IT Director

5 years ago... silicon.com launches IT on Board campaign

And what are we still saying?

Tags: cio, boardroom, it director

By silicon.com

Published: 23 October 2003 15:15 GMT

23.10.98 Today sees the start of silicon.com's first editorial campaign - 'IT on Board'. For Europe to remain competitive in a changing economy, technology must be placed at the centre of every business agenda. The best way to achieve this is by getting IT directors on the board, according to campaign manager, Graham Hayday.

He believes the reasons for the lack of IT people at board level are two-fold. First, some IT staff are reluctant to get to grips with the business environment in which they work. Second, the business managers themselves often have a limited understanding of technology - and are reluctant to learn.

If the gap between business and technology is to be bridged, both IT and business must move towards each other.

23.10.03 You may well ask what's changed. We think progress has been made. The internet and tech boom saw more companies realise IT and communications must be at the centre of what they do. However, it was arguably only when the downturn started to bite that many of those in charge of technology made the necessary moves.

Let's not forget that business has been around a lot longer than IT. There will always be those heads of companies who don't understand 'computers' or who just want to know what they can enable. That may sound like the behaviour of a Luddite to some but it's fair enough. Those running IT departments and looking strategically at technology have therefore had to learn more about their businesses.

There hasn't been a rush of board-level IT director appointments. There are still relatively few CIOs across Europe. But that doesn't mean progress hasn't been made.

silicon.com's first campaign was a limited success - it mainly raised awareness of what needed to be done. The challenge now is to keep on making strides.

If you are a CIO, IT director or equivalent at a large or small company in the private or public sector and want to be part of silicon.com's exclusive new CIO Jury pool, or you know an IT chief who should be, then drop as a line at editorial@silicon.com.

  1. Zones
  2. Management
  3. Networks
  4. Software
  5. IT Services
  6. Hardware
  1. Verticals
  2. Public Sector
  3. Financial Services
  4. Retail & Leisure

Naked CIO Naked CIO: Social networks are useless for finding a job 'Quantity over quality' approach poisoning professional networks

Peter Cochrane Peter Cochrane's Blog: Uneconomics We must move away from short-termism to prevent next economic crisis


  • Jobs
General Manager/Operations Manager - Building Product Supply

We specialise in Field Sales , Marketing , Management and Board level appointments across the whole of the UK. The directors & consultants are ...

Data Centre Sales Executive - Data Centre Solution Sales

Through their strategically placed Data Centres they offer tailored solutions to house and protect mission-critical IT equipment for some of the ...

Assistant Branch Manager - Building Products

We specialise in Field Sales , Marketing , Management and Board level appointments across the whole of the UK. The directors & consultants are ...

Agenda Setters 2009
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.





Quick Sitemap Links: