"You can see how large IT shops struggle with this; just take a look at the banks where IT builds a fortress to try and combat this problem."

Bartlett agrees, and believes the reporting lines for CIOs are also important.

"If the whole business is under cost pressure, every line of business will look to IT for savings through things like automation," she said.

"As a CIO my agenda may be set by the pervasive cost-cutting theme across the company but equally I'm trying to be innovative.

"Your role can be determined by whether you report to the COO or the CFO, who have different agendas."