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By silicon.com, 23 October 2003 15:15

NEWS 23.10.98 Today sees the start of silicon.com's first editorial campaign - 'IT on Board'. For Europe to remain competitive in a changing economy, technology must be placed at the centre of every business agenda. The best way to achieve this is by getting IT directors on the board, according to campaign manager, Graham Hayday.

He believes the reasons for the lack of IT people at board level are two-fold. First, some IT staff are reluctant to get to grips with the business environment in which they work. Second, the business managers themselves often have a limited understanding of technology - and are reluctant to learn.

If the gap between business and technology is to be bridged, both IT and business must move towards each other.

23.10.03 You may well ask what's changed. We think progress has been made. The internet and tech boom saw more companies realise IT and communications must be at the centre of what they do. However, it was arguably only when the downturn started to bite that many of those in charge of technology made the necessary moves.

Let's not forget that business has been around a lot longer than IT. There will always be those heads of companies who don't understand 'computers' or who just want to know what they can enable. That may sound like the behaviour of a Luddite to some but it's fair enough. Those running IT departments and looking strategically at technology have therefore had to learn more about their businesses.

There hasn't been a rush of board-level IT director appointments. There are still relatively few CIOs across Europe. But that doesn't mean progress hasn't been made.

silicon.com's first campaign was a limited success - it mainly raised awareness of what needed to be done. The challenge now is to keep on making strides.

If you are a CIO, IT director or equivalent at a large or small company in the private or public sector and want to be part of silicon.com's exclusive new CIO Jury pool, or you know an IT chief who should be, then drop as a line at editorial@silicon.com.