Companies need to carefully plan their business objectives and match these with supply-chain priorities to determine their most effective IT investments, a new report suggests.

A survey by IDC found that 71 per cent of firms said that increased quality and customer satisfaction was their top business objective.

Despite this, roughly half (48 per cent) said that reducing material, manufacturing, and/or logistics was their top supply chain strategy.

Kimberly Knickle, the program director and lead analyst on the research, explained that this showed that many firms were still looking at cost strategy in their supply chains, "as opposed to speed, flexibility, or service-enhanced supply chain strategies".

To improve the situation, Ms Knickle said that firms should focus on using IT systems to manage supply chain performance.

"Ideally, companies should map their business objectives with supply chain priorities to make the most effective IT investment," she added.

"The survey results indicate that many companies have a gap between their overall objectives and how they execute in the supply chain."

According to recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent).