Hackett: To Drive World-Class IT and Strategic Alignment, the Best CIOs Earn a Seat on Corporate Management Committees, Report D
February 14 2006 - 9:30AM
Business Wire
Only slightly more than half of all typical CIOs sit on their
company's management committee, while world-class CIOs universally
earn this senior leadership position, enabling them to much more
effectively align IT with business goals and objectives, according
to Book of Numbers(TM) research from The Hackett Group, a strategic
business advisory firm and Answerthink (NASDAQ:ANSR) company.
Hackett's research also identified several other key factors
enabling CIOs to improve strategic alignment. World-class CIOs are
more than three times more likely to report directly to their
company's CEO or Chairman than typical CIOs. World-class IT
organizations also hire managers and professional staff with far
greater business knowledge and a much higher percentage have
advanced degrees than at typical companies. Finally, world-class
CIOs have completely eliminated parts of their IT organizations
that report locally, and drive significantly higher levels of
centralized reporting. "One of the consistent themes we see in our
research is that the SG&A functions which perform the best are
more closely aligned with the business," said Hackett IT Practice
Leader Doug Barta. "This is particularly true in IT. World-class IT
organizations go beyond supporting the business at a basic level,
helping identify and leverage competitive opportunities. "One
fundamental way to ensure that IT is optimally aligned with goals
and objectives of the business is to have its most senior executive
involved in decision-making at the highest levels of the company,"
said Mr. Barta. "There are few new initiatives in which technology
does not play a critical enabling role. But in many typical
companies, since the CIO doesn't have a seat at the senior
management table, these initiatives are planned without adequate
input from the IT organization. The result is that the technology
component is flawed, costlier than envisioned or delivered late -
any one of which can sink an otherwise worthwhile new project."
According to Hackett Senior Business Advisor Scott Holland, "CIOs
that report to the CEO are much more likely to be a business
executive with deep operational, sales, or marketing experience.
But at companies where the CIO reports to the CFO, they are more
likely to be focused on technical expertise, maximum efficiency,
and cost control. This doesn't put them in the best position to
drive strategic value." To see the full version of this research,
please visit the Hackett Research Insight Center at
http://www.signup4.net/Public/ap.aspx?EID=PRCA11E. More information
on The Hackett Group is available: by phone at (770) 225-7300; by
e-mail at info@thehackettgroup.com; or on the Web at
http://www.thehackettgroup.com. The Hackett Group The Hackett
Group, a strategic advisory firm, is a world leader in best
practice research, benchmarking, and business transformation
services that empirically define and enables world-class enterprise
performance. From the 2005 acquisition of REL, a global leader in
generating cash improvement from working capital, Hackett also
offers Total Working Capital Management services to liberate cash
flow from operations through improved working capital, reduced
costs and increased service quality. Hackett uniquely backs up its
research and advice across sales, general and administrative
(SG&A) and supply chain activities with performance metrics
gathered through 3,500 benchmark studies over 14 years at 2,000 of
the world's leading companies, including 96% of the Dow Jones
Industrials. Book of Numbers is a trademark of The Hackett Group.
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