IT departments have been told so often they don’t understand the business that many are now fearful of standing up against bad C-level technology decisions.
That reticence, added to a lack of access for IT to top executives, is hampering businesses’ ability to make the most of data. Only 11 percent of CIOs feel strongly they have enough access to business leaders, according to research from Hitachi Data Systems.
“The biggest problem with IT is sometimes we are scared to challenge the ideas that come out of the CEO or the CFO,” Ray Ford, CTO at accident management service provider Accident Exchange, told a recent Hitachi round table in London.
“You go in there and say, ‘Hang on a minute. That is just not a good idea — as we say in polite circles. They’ll think, ‘Well, what the hell are you? If we’re not here, you won’t be in business’.”
Even in areas such as which data can be legitimately mined, flaws and issues can be traced back to the earliest stages of a project, according to Ford.
