CIOs 'lack vision and fail to innovate'

CIOs and the IT department are in danger of being relegated to the role of support function because of a lack of vision and technology innovation.

A new report by the London School of Economics (LSE) and PA Consulting warns IT innovation is often stifled because of a focus on automation and streamlining.

It says the current explosion in blogs, online trading communities such as eBay and virtual worlds such as Second Life show customers want richer, IT-enabled interactions that blur the traditional boundaries.

Patrick Kelly, head of IT consulting at PA Consulting, told silicon.com: "This so-called information age is just beginning. There's a lot of exciting stuff going on out there - banks using Second Life to design branches, energy companies using it to design petrol stations, financial services companies sharing internal blogs with customers."

Dr Carsten Sorensen, senior lecturer in information systems at the LSE, admitted some of the new web 2.0 technologies are still finding their feet in a business context.

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But he added: "Companies need to listen to customers. Take the next step and use technology as a platform to engage people in discussion."

Gartner has also warned that technology is being seen less and less as a force for driving business growth by CEOs because of a lack of vision by IT leaders.

Steve Prentice, VP and distinguished analyst at Gartner, speaking at the analyst's annual Symposium in San Francisco this week, said the IT industry is missing visionaries who can challenge conventional wisdom.

He said: "CEOs are looking for new ideas and many just don't see them coming from the IT department - too many of whom are waiting for someone else to make the first move. Inside too many enterprises there are too many people waiting - waiting to be spoon-fed a pre-packaged solution for how to apply technology to their specific problem."

Gartner's advice for CIOs is to set up an "office of transformation" think tank that works with consumer research and searches for new ideas, concepts, processes and new technologies that can help drive business growth.