Thought-provoking responses from 200 global IT executives in a new Deloitte Consulting LLP survey reveal formidable roadblocks to the alignment of IT and corporate strategies.

Although a shared IT/business agenda is seen as a highly desirable goal with significant profitability and productivity benefits, achieving alignment proves difficult because of conflicting opinions among corporate executives about the role IT should play in the business.

Similarly, alignment is impeded by confusion among IT executives between their view of the desired role for IT and the actual role that IT plays in the business.

The comprehensive Deloitte Consulting survey, which gathered responses on a range of IT alignment issues and was conducted in October 2003 by IDG Research Services Group, presents a striking acknowledgment by IT executives that alignment is very important, but that efforts to achieve it have been largely unproductive. In fact, 96 percent of IT executives predict that a “significant” or “moderate” positive bottom-line impact could be achieved in their businesses if an IT strategy were specifically developed to serve the corporate strategy.

This report details the survey results and provides analysis, commentary, charts, CIO case studies and some advice. The goal is to help executives recognize the work yet to be done to gain IT/business alignment, understand the impact of misalignment and mitigate its costly, disruptive effects.