A lack of understanding between organisation goals and their IT departments could be hindering the ability to drive commercial success.

A report carried out by Claranet has revealed that two-thirds of European IT departments do not fully understand the needs of their organisations.

IT departments are essential in the general running of businesses.

If there is no desire to address this rift, whether because of miscommunication or a lack of understanding, it could contribute to the underperformance of a company.

The problem, identified by Jacques Adriaansen, ‎co-founder of Every Angle, “IT cannot keep pace with the rate of change and business users are not able to specify their information requirements adequately”.

>See also: Why IT departments will be unrecognisable come 2020

Indeed, as the Claranet’s survey of 900 IT leaders in mid-market businesses reveals, only 28% of European IT departments believe that they fully understand the needs of the wider business.

It also found that only 26% European IT leaders believe that the wider business has a complete understanding of the role of the IT department.

There is an endemic problem.

“Those IT leaders who aren’t prioritising developing an understanding between IT and the business are harming their own career prospects and the prospects of their business,” comments Andy Wilton, CIO of Claranet.

>See also: Rein in the IT bear: why businesses must take back control

Without a clear line of communication, efficiency, productivity and cost-savings will suffer.

In order to bridge the gap between business management and IT departments a level of interoffice collaboration is required.

On top of this it is fundamental to have the most efficient, and easy to use data systems in place, in order to be able to process the information that makes a business run, quickly and accurately.

“In order to better support the business the IT team must focus more energy on the applications and data that are key to business success, and less on day-to-day technical management and infrastructure maintenance,” said Wilton.

“Working with trusted third parties can help to reduce the burden of these tasks, freeing up the IT department to be proactive and contribute directly to the business’s future.”

>See also: CIOs favour intuition over data intelligence when making decisions – research

In order for a business to succeed it is paramount that all cogs are working as one in the machine.

This can ultimately be achieved, by a unified consensus of the business goals throughout all departments, and through innovative and efficient approaches to processing data.