Survey paints picture of isolated IT director struggling to add value

According to recent research, European IT directors are worrying about their increasing isolation from the rest of the business. 79% are concerned that their IT strategy isnít aligned to the wider picture. 78% say that their opinions arenít voiced or valued at board level and 23% say that they arenít involved in any strategic decision making - even where it has an impact on IT.

Overall, a further 14% worry about not being valued by the business. The isolation is so acute that nearly a third (30%) of IT directors fear that the lack of proven benefits from existing IT strategy could ultimately cost them their jobs. 29% say that a loss of control at work is causing them to feel stressed.

The survey of 700 European IT directors was undertaken by Synstar, the managed IT services and business availability provider and a company of Hewlett-Packard. George Williams, head of marketing and communications at Synstar, comments:

ìFurther results of our research indicate that IT directors enjoy working on IT strategy - 36% say itís their favourite part of the job. However, they probably find it difficult to be taken as seriously as theyíd like to be as they are all too often viewed by the board as operational rather than strategic experts.

ìIT directors wanting to break the mould could employ a third party managed services company to handle their operational tasks ñ leaving them more time to show off their hidden abilities to the rest of the business.î