Few City bosses have heard of the tech industry's latest three-letter acronym, SOA (service-oriented architecture).

Just one in 10 City department chiefs has heard of SOA, lagging well behind their German counterparts - 32 per cent of whom are in the know.

While eight of out 10 (82 per cent) said IT plays a crucial role in helping them do their job, only half (51 per cent) of respondents in the UK said they have a dedicated plan for how IT should support their business objectives within their department, compared to 77 per cent of German respondents, according to the research commissioned by software company Ilog.