Lack of relevant skills is the main reason companies are failing to align their IT to their business needs, say CIOs at top firms.
The survey revealed that only half of the CIOs were currently improving that alignment.
This was despite the fact that 74% of them believed that better prioritisation of IT spending based on business needs was a critical IT management goal.
Respondents said that the primary drivers for alignment were a desire to avoid spending that yields a low return on investment, and the need to ensure fulfilment of business-side demand.
Respondents in the UK, Germany, Australia and Japan were significantly more likely than those in the US to rate their organisations as successful in reaching such an alignment, CA said.
According to the survey, US IT executives are also more likely to be dissatisfied with their organisations' performance in improving service to end-users, controlling costs, and other goals than their counterparts overseas.
However, US respondents are more likely than those in other regions to be satisfied with their deployment of automation and virtualisation initiatives.
Worldwide, 53% of respondents claim that the biggest barrier to improved alignment is shortfalls in staff skills. In the UK and Germany though, only 40% see skills as the primary obstacle - while 37% indicate that their most significant challenge is inadequate technology integration.