Bridging IT and finance

CIOs are forging better relationships with CFOs, according to the findings of a study from Cutter Consortium. In particular, CIOs and CTOs are learning more about business models and processes and the financial relationship between business and technology.

IT advisory firm Cutter polled 157 US workers in a variety of positions about their perceptions of CIO/CTO/CFO interaction." The data shows that more than 70% of respondents believe that the relationship between the CIO and/or CTO - and their CFO - is at least pretty good. This is an important finding given how complex and difficult technology investment decisions have become," says Steve Andriole, a senior consultant at Cutter.

Almost a third - 31% - of survey participants described this inter-departmental communication as good and 41% rated it as pretty good. In an opposing view, 14% of respondents rated the communication between these c-level executives as poor, while 2% described it as horrible. The remaining 12% were unsure.

"In some forward-thinking companies, technologists actually rotate with business professionals - and sometimes even with finance professionals. When they come back to the ranch, they have a good understanding of costs, benefits, debt, amortization, and corporate ROI," Andriole says. "When finance professionals spend time in a technology rotation, they come to understand the challenges of software licensing, outsourcing and vendor management."

When asked about the success CIOs/CTOs have in selling technology projects to financial managers, 24% of respondents said this group does well and another 40% said the IT executives do fairly well. On the other hand, 17% said the executives do a poor job in this area, and 2% categorized efforts as horrible. The remaining 17% were unsure.

Based on these findings, Andriole speculates that business and technology responsibilities will intermingle. "If these trends continue, we're likely to see a blending of business and technology responsibilities without the stovepipe titles and reporting relationships to which we're accustomed," he says.

• Bookmark this page
• Share this article
  •  
  • facebook
  • slashdot
  • digg
  • Reddit
  • stumbleupon
  • linkedin
  • twitter
• Got more on this story? Email Computerworld
• Follow Computerworld on twitter

• Share
  Share this article

  •  google+
  • facebookfacebook
  • slashdotslashdot
  • diggdigg
  • RedditReddit
  • stumbleuponstumbleupon
  • linkedinlinkedin
  • twittertwitter
• print
• email
• Bookmark