Want innovation? Look no further than IT, say CEOs

Forget all the talk about lack of 'business-IT alignment.' A new survey reveals CEOs view their IT departments as the best thing they have going when it comes to innovation.

Olympus Corporation of the Americas’ recently released findings of a Harris Interactive survey of the attitudes of 304 Fortune 1000 executives toward enterprise innovation.  IT is viewed as having been the most innovative function within executives’ own companies during the past 10 years (44 percent), beating customer service, marketing and sales. IT is also seen by far as the most likely focal point for investment (60 percent) and continued innovation (63 percent) over the next two years.

While IT is seen as the main proponent of innovation, executives and managers in this area of the business may also be stymied by short-term priorities. IT departments are often so busy fighting fires and trying to keep the lights on with an overstretched staffs that long-term efforts end up on back burners. Here’s where a close partnership with the business side can make a difference, and keep exciting new innovations on the top of the priority list.

Many of the innovations that companies are depending on to compete in a hyper-competitive global economy — analytics, e-business, automation, cloud, and yes, SOA — are all about IT.

The study had some other interesting findngs as well. For example, most CEOs want an innovation culture as a way to attract and retain employees, and most say there’s too much short-term thinking to focus on innovation.

An executive summary of the survey is available here.