Alongside the positives the CEO cites negatives that the CIO should avoid. These include that CIOs should not ask for higher budgets unless they can prove real, measurable business value; IT projects must deliver faster and be more flexible, and lastly, 'Do not embarrass me or any of my colleagues about our lack of knowledge of technology'.

Further tactics that Taylor includes relate to performance and perception. He says the perceived performance of IT within the organization is not decided by what the department does, but by what colleagues think the department does. Changing perception is the key to aligning IT and the rest of the business.

Taylor notes that the reason why CIOs and CEOs have a mismatch in communication is because they do not think the same way. CIOs, he says, set service level agreements to present a logical interpretation of meeting performance targets, but that this kind of measure delivers no value to the CEO.

The guide also touches on the subjects of culture and leadership, introducing hidden account management, neuro-linguistic programming, integrating business culture and good old-fashioned internal customer service delivery.

Says Armstrong: "The communication gap between CIO and CEO is symptomatic of a wider cultural communication issue, which must be addressed before the business can effectively align its IT resources with business objectives and achieve the business service management vision. We commissioned this management guide to enable CIOs across EMEA to take control, not through technology per se, but through delivering measurable results against business strategy which is enabled by technology."