Marketing and IT departments should be more closely linked due to the growth in internet advertising, it has been suggested.

Carl White, the chief executive of online marketing firm ValueClick, said that as firms were finding that reaching their target audience is best achieved over the web, the boundaries between IT and marketing should be blurred slightly.

He told IT Week: "The 40-year-old marketing director who didn't take to digital until late in his career needs all the help he or she can get, so IT can take a consultative role, which is very useful."

However, Mr White claimed that the strict corporate structure still remained in many firms and was reducing efficiency.

Calling for firms to match the new marketing climate, he said: "It's harder for IT to have an influence when departments are siloed, but in those companies there is perhaps an even greater need for IT to have influence.

"There are still technical issues that marketing tends not to get involved in, but IT can actually add value to the marketing department."