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UK CIOs beaten to boardroom by French
Zut alors...

By Natasha Lomas

Published: Thursday 19 June 2008

CIOs in the UK are far less likely to be appointed to the board than their counterparts across the channel.

Less than half (48 per cent) of UK IT chiefs sit on the board, compared to more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of CIOs in France - which has the most CIO-friendly boardrooms in Europe, according to a survey.

Bottom of the heap for boardroom promotion is Sweden, where just 26 per cent of CIOs sit at the top table, followed by Germany (42 per cent) and Spain (44 per cent). The UK is fourth worst, with Finland, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland all faring better than Blighty.

The survey also found there is a tendency for CIOs to be left out of the strategic business decision-making process.

More than a third (35 per cent) of respondents said IT is called on to help deliver strategies only after they have already been determined, while just 13 per cent said business strategies are only signed off if IT has committed to them.

The survey is based on the responses of CIOs, senior IT managers and department heads across 500 European businesses, and was commissioned by application infrastructure software company, Progress Software Corporation.