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INDUSTRY NEWS


12 May 2008

IT permeating corporate boards


IT departments are now twice as involved with strategic business issues as they were five years ago, new research from the Service Desk Institute (HDI) has revealed.

The organisation, which provides training for service desk and IT support specialists, conducted the research on behalf of Hornbill Systems, a supplier of enterprise service management (ESM) software.

It found that the increased role of IT is reflected in the fact that IT service management is being raised up the corporate agenda, with 65 per cent of surveyed firms now having IT representation at board level, compared to 58 per cent in 2003.

Patrick Bolger, chief marketing officer of Hornbill Systems, said: "In the last five years we have seen IT change from being an outside function to one that is core to the business. Users throughout organisations are dependent on IT to work, which in turn has increased visibility of systems, problems and the IT teams."

The research also indicated that there has been a significant rise in IT involvement in strategic planning, with 56 per cent of IT departments now involved in the business process, up from just 31 per cent five years ago.

According to previous research by the HDI and Hornbill Systems, nearly 85 per cent of all projects to consolidate service desks are completed in budget and one time, with the centralised service desks reporting increased productivity, reduced costs and higher customer satisfaction.

© 2006 Adfero Ltd.

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