The most successful companies in the world use IT resources to strategically create competitive advantages, a new report claims.

Challenging the common business view that IT is just a business support function, the Hackett Group's report showed that successful organisations typically spend seven per cent more on information technology than their rivals.

The report's author Nicholas Carr showed that IT should be treated as basic and vital business infrastructure. He adds that increased IT investment more than pays back its costs in improved finance, procurement and human resources performance.

"It's easy for CIOs (chief information officers) to find themselves on the defensive," explained Hackett's senior business advisor, Erik Dorr.

"They've heard from reputable experts that IT is just a support system, a cost centre where the less you spend the better.

"We agree that not all IT investments are good ones, and it's certainly true that in many cases IT investments can't be easily justified through a conventional financial ROI (return on investment) analysis.

"But that doesn't mean that the ROI doesn't exist. It's there, and the best companies know how to find it, and turn it to their advantage."

A recent report showed that many of London's small businesses were considering outsourcing IT services to make the most of the advantages of these technologies.