I/T EXECUTIVES HAVE MUCH WORK TO DO COMPANIES STRUGGLE TO ALIGN BUSINESS STRATEGIES, I/T PRIORITIES CSC SURVEY OF INTERNATIONAL I/T EXECUTIVES SHOWS THEIR USERS DEMAND MORE EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- The single greatestchallenge confronting chief information officers throughout the world is toassure that the priorities of their information technology organizations arein line with the business strategies of their corporations, according to asurvey of almost 600 I/T executives from around the world by ComputerSciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC). The company's 11th Annual Critical Issues of Information SystemsManagement Study revealed that 72 percent of the 594 information technologyexecutives polled ranked "Aligning I/T and Corporate Goals" as their topconcern. This urgent message was underscored by the fact that this is thefourth consecutive year the alignment of corporations' business strategiesand I/T priorities was rated as the top challenge. "Information technology can no longer simply support a business -- itmust be effectively used to help drive success," Van Honeycutt, chairman,president and CEO of CSC, observed. "The relationship between a corporation's information technologyorganization and its corporate strategy has to be synchronized. Otherwise,companies run the risk of having mediocre business practices which candamage relationships with customers, employees and trading partners. TheWeb can help companies align I/T and business issues by enabling them tocommunicate and transact with these three global audiences almostinstantaneously and in a secure environment." Most I/T executives around the world indicated they were concerned aboutthe lack of their department's contribution to the effectiveness of theircompanies. In fact, almost 66 percent of this year's respondents felt theusers of technology within their companies would rate the overalleffectiveness of information systems only as average or acceptable, ratherthan good to excellent. This is a significant increase from 1996 when 55percent felt the information systems of their companies would be viewed onlyas average or adequate by users. "This shows that from the I/T executives' perspective, things are notimproving but are getting worse," Honeycutt pointed out. "CIOs arefrustrated at the slow pace of getting this important strategic corporateresource aligned with the business strategies of their companies. "And interestingly, these concerns are shared by information technologyexecutives in North America, Europe and Asia/Pacific almost equally,"Honeycutt pointed out. "Clearly, no one international region is furtheralong toward achieving this critically important goal." CSC has queried I/T executives on critical technology issues since 1988.The 594 respondents to this year's survey include chief information officersand vice presidents and directors of technology departments representingorganizations in 11 different areas such as financial services, healthcare,consumer goods, retail, chemicals, energy and government. Of the totalrespondents, 36 percent represented North America organizations, 16 percentwere from European companies while 48 percent were from companies in theAsia/Pacific region. I/T Budgets Increase, But Hardly Keeping Pace; Alternatives Sought In another key finding, the CSC survey showed that budgets of more thanhalf of I/T departments throughout the world have increased. Yet, accordingto the executives, in year-to-year comparisons, the I/T budgets increasedsix percent in 1997 and only 6.2 percent in 1998. "Essentially, I/T departments have been required to keep pace withtechnological breakthroughs and rapidly increasing demands with little inadditional resources," Honeycutt said. "Consequently, I/T executives areincreasingly turning to alternative means such as outsourcing as theycontinue to try to align their information systems with corporatestrategies." According to the survey, more companies than ever before are outsourcingdata-intensive activities and infrastructure as ways to reduce or maintaincosts while acquiring new skills in key areas such as ERP. Some 78 percentof North American respondents have outsourced and almost 20 percent plan todo more. In Asia/Pacific 80 percent of the companies have outsourced and 30percent will do so in the future, while in Europe, almost 70 percent of theorganizations are outsourcing. Survey Highlights Y2K Preparations Perhaps no other technology issue has generated as much global attentionrecently as remedial preparations for the impact the Year 2000 will have ontechnology systems. Of those surveyed, 16 percent reported that they havealready deployed Y2K remedial solutions. On a regional basis, 21 percent ofNorth American organizations indicated they have deployed Y2K solutions; 16percent of the European respondents have solutions in place; and only 12percent of firms in Asia/Pacific are ready for the new millennium. Another63 percent of the respondents are at various stages of remediation. Theremaining 21 percent of organizations around the world surveyed by CSC areonly now assessing the Y2K problem. A regional breakdown shows that 28percent of the respondents from Asia/Pacific have only reached the initialassessment phase, compared with 17 percent for operations in North Americaand 11 percent for Europe. "Those organizations that are still in the early stages of assessing Y2Ksolutions will clearly suffer negative consequences in 2000, some possiblyas severe as interruptions of mission-critical business processes,"Honeycutt noted. In terms of budget allocations to address Y2K remediation, North Americancompanies will clearly outspend their counterparts in Europe andAsia/Pacific. Upon completion, North American organizations will have spentmore than $16.5 million each, compared to just under $13 million by Europeanfirms and a similar amount by those in the Asia/Pacific region.Interestingly enough, however, European companies have spent more than $5.5million on Y2K remediation to date, more than their North American ($3.8million) and Asia/Pacific ($3.7 million) counterparts. "One possible reason why European companies will not ultimately spend asmuch on Y2K remediation," Honeycutt pointed out, "is because of theirpending expenditures on another massive I/T expense, the European monetaryconversion." For further information about CSC's 1998 Critical Issues ofInformation Systems Management Survey go to http://[email protected]. CSC had $7.1 billion in revenues for the 12 months ended October 2, 1998.Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., the company has 47,000 employees in 700offices worldwide and provides clients with a wide range of professionalservices, including management consulting, information systems consultingand integration, and operations support. More information about ComputerSciences Corporation is available at http://www.csc.com. ATTACHMENT #1 Top 10 Information Technology Issues Worldwide As Ranked In Computer Sciences Corporation's 1998 Critical Issues of Information Systems Management 1. Aligning I/T and corporate goals 2. Organizing and utilizing data 3. Connecting to customers, suppliers and/or partners electronically 4. Integrating systems 5. Cutting I/S costs 6. Instituting cross-functional information systems 7. Capitalizing on advances in I/T 8. Updating obsolete systems 9. Creating an information architecture 10. Improving I/T human resources ATTACHMENT #2 Phase of Y2K Preparation North America Europe Asia Pacific Assessing 16.9% 11.6% 28.3% Renovating 36.8% 36.0% 39.0% Testing 24.9% 36.0% 20.9% Deploying 21.4% 16.3% 11.8% Assessing - Research and evaluate Y2K system failures and required upgrades/changes Renovating - Develop and update appropriate enterprise-wide code Testing - Conduct Q&A assessments Deploying - Implement Y2K solutions for line operations SOURCE: 1998 Critical issues of information Systems Management, Computer Sciences Corporation SOURCE Computer Sciences Corporation NOTE TO EDITORS: For a copy of CSC's 1998 Critical Issues of InformationSystems Management contact Frank Pollare, Director, Public Information, at310-615-1601, [email protected], or any of the contacts on the attached page. VERTICAL INDUSTRY MEDIA CONTACTS: Chemical/Oil/Gas Mary Rhodes: 847-446-5461 [email protected] Federal John Gulick: 703-641-2588 [email protected] Financial Services Marian Kelley: 512-338-3149 [email protected] Healthcare Heather Pacheco: 248-372-3245 [email protected] SERVICE AREA MEDIA CONTACTS: Consulting Lisa Meyer: 973-243-7735 [email protected] Outsourcing Mary Rhodes: 847-446-5461 [email protected] Systems Integration Lisa Meyer: 973-243-7735 [email protected] WORLDWIDE REGIONAL MEDIA CONTACTS: Australia/ New Zealand Donna Bullock: +61-2-9901-1279 [email protected] Belgium Diane Druyts: +32-2-714-7200 [email protected] France Esther Attias: +33-1-4610-2900 [email protected] Germany Michael Erben: +49-6123-33-42 [email protected] Netherlands Bianca van Dulst: +31-20-430-7103 [email protected] Scandinavia David Seifried: +45-36-14-4689 [email protected] United Kingdom Donna Perdue: +44-1252-363-373 [email protected]/ CONTACT: Bruce Plowman, 310-615-0311, [email protected], or Frank Pollare, 310-615-0311, [email protected], both of CSC Web site: http://www.csc.com/