The above can be considered to be the oversubtle conclusion drawn by the management and technology consultancy Accenture which was presented today in Kronberg. The survey was based on 302 telephone interviews carried out by Accenture in December and January with one half of these interviews done with business unit managers and the other half with persons in charge of information technology (IT).
According to the findings the majority of German managers are not sure whether their IT departments will be beneficial or rather detrimental to their companies productivity over the next few years to come. 77 percent of the persons in charge of IT are inclined to a rather pessimistic evaluation. Another finding of the study is the fact that there is a direct correlation between, on the one hand, the commitment shown for IT matters by a company´s managing directors and, on the other hand, the increase in production due to information technology. Even more worrying than this is, however, the conviction demonstrated by the majority of the persons surveyed (55 percent of IT managers, 51 percent of business unit managers) that something is wrong with the cost-benefit ratio of IT investments. According to the survey one quarter of IT managers even anticipate a decrease in the growth of production due to the use of IT. This and many other findings are available directly on the Accenture website. 