'Mind the Gap': diagnosing the relationship between the IT organisation and the rest of the business

Abstract The senior management of many organisations are continually disappointed with the benefits and value which they perceive they are getting from their investments in IT. This frustration with IT, and in particular with the IT function, has seen many organisations choose to rid themselves of the ‘problem’ altogether by outsourcing IT activities to a third party. The fact that there is a separate organisational unit responsible for IT activities has led to the emergence of gap between this so called IT organisation and the rest of the business. Culture is often used to explain the gap as if this somehow justifies an organisations inability to effectively leverage IT. However, the premise underlying this article is that culture is an excuse for rather than a cause of ineffective application of IT for business benefits and value. The clear message from this article is that achieving high performance from IT is not just about the IT function's ability to build, maintain and deliver systems, but is an organisational wide activity requiring a strong business/IT partnership. A framework grounded in the research literature, which identifies the elements to manage in creating high performance from IT, is developed and operationalised. The findings of an exploratory survey are presented and research and practitioner implications developed.