Last year, Boots, the UK high street chemist, and the retailer House of Fraser did away with the position of chief information officer, a move which heightened speculation that this animal, only recently evolved from less exalted creatures, was on the way to becoming an endangered species.

The apparent logic behind their decision was that the company's computer systems could be managed perfectly satisfactorily by a data processing specialist. The job of aligning IT strategy with the objectives of the business would fall to the chief financial officer.