Euro businesses trail in IT race

Aligning IT goals with those of individual corporations has topped the critical issues list for European IT executives for the second year running.

The failure was found by research group CSC in the CSC Index annual survey of European IT executives. According to John Cooper, European VP at CSC, the survey ? carried out among top IT professionals at leading manufacturers and service providers ? revealed fresh evidence that European organisations are falling behind their US and Asian counterparts in exploiting IT for business advantage.

?Industry figures like [Microsoft CEO] Bill Gates and [Intel CEO] Andy Grove have recently pointed to Europe?s widening technology deficit,? Cooper said. ?European IT executives recognise the urgency of the need to make IT the driver of their companies? plans for long-term growth.?

The report showed that 70 per cent thought aligning IT and corporate goals was the principal concern. Managers said organising and utilising data and instituting cross-functional systems was also an issue. There were also concerns that cutting IS costs and connecting electronically to customers, suppliers and/or partners were in the top five.

Cooper said European firms are slower than US rivals in setting up electronic links to the outside. While 36 per cent were building electronic links internally, just 12 per cent were constructing inter-company information networks.