Nearly 1,000 global executives were asked questions about the use and satisfaction by their companies with 25 of the most popular management tools and techniques. To qualify for inclusion in the survey, a tool had to be relevant to senior management, topical and measurable.

Of the 25 tools surveyed, technology-influenced tools included customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management and knowledge management. CRM has the lowest defection rate of all the tools surveyed.

"The business landscape is littered with technology disasters, leading some experts to wonder if IT even matters to competitive strategy," said Darrell Rigby, senior Bain partner and survey founder. "But our survey shows that technology's influence on management tools is maturing and that nine in 10 executives feel that information technology can create significant competitive advantages."

Bain's survey reveals important insights into technology-oriented management trends and potential impacts on technology budgets. Sixty percent of executives feel their IT is completely aligned to their business strategy. And 86 percent said innovation is more important than cost reduction for long-term success.

Other findings of the survey:

• Two tools that had appeared to be fads in previous years made a resurgence in 2004 from their satisfaction rankings in 2002: business process reengineering and total quality management.
• RFID was by far the least used tool, used by 13 percent of companies surveyed
• Change management programs, a management tool that often accompanies technology initiatives, had one of the lowest satisfaction scores
• Usage rates for the individual tools vary by region. CRM was ranked first in overall use by Asian companies, second in overall use by European companies, but ninth overall by North American companies.

The odds of success vary widely for different tools, said Rigby. For example, 22 percent of those who use RFID reported that they were extremely satisfied with the tool, while only five percent said they were dissatisfied. So though RFID currently ranks at that bottom of the list of tools used, it demonstrated relatively high satisfaction among users -- potentially portending an increase in future use.