CeBIT 2010: CapGemini warns of business/IT misalignment

Andy Mulholland: IT departments and CTOs must work together

HANNOVER: Businesses leaders and IT departments need to work together more closely to make the most of new technologies, but risk moving further apart owing to differing goals in the enterprise space, CapGemini's chief technology officer has warned.

Speaking at CeBIT today, Andy Mulholland cited a Gartner survey of 1,500 enterprises which showed that the goals of business leaders and IT departments are rarely aligned.

Mulholland explained that many chief executives are using IT to make money and work across firewalls within the market in order to increase revenues, but that IT chiefs are not always aware of this motivation.

"Business models are changing due to IT, but it is important that IT managers and chief executives are in communication about how they approach the changes that the IT world is creating, especially in the cloud," he said.

Mulholland added that new opportunities in the cloud have persuaded many companies to see IT as a new way to drive revenues, rather than merely an overhead that had to be factored into budgets. The problem is that IT departments are often not consulted on these issues.

"In the past the question was how to run IT for as little cost as possible. But now business leaders want to make use of services, particularly software-as-a-service models, but don't think it has anything to do with IT," he said.

As a result, it is important that IT departments are aware of these changes, and that chief technology officers are aware of their organisation's business goals.