CIO priorities
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Improving business processes and business intelligence are at the front of the CIO's mind.
Chief information officers will experience increasing pressure to help business transformation in 2006, according to a survey by Gartner Executive Programmes (EXP), a unit of analyst group Gartner.
The annual survey, which involved 1,400 CIOs from across the world, found that improving business processes was the top priority for CIOs for the second year running. Business intelligence topped the list of technological priorities for 2006.
”The survey results make it very clear that business expectations of IT have changed dramatically and executives are expecting the CIO to move beyond concerns about cost, security and quality to help grow the business,” said Dr Marcus Blosch, vice president at Gartner EXP.
“Security breaches and disruptions”, which ranked second among business priorities for CIOs in 2005, dropped to seventh place in 2006. “This does not mean that security is no longer an issue,” said Blosch. “Rather, it indicates that in 2006, the business expects IT to be secure and is looking to the CIO to keep it that way.”
Among the challenges facing CIOs in 2006 identified by the survey were “strengthening the information value chain”, so that the business can make better use of its information, “building IT business skills” and “getting close to the customer”.
Two out of three CIOs surveyed thought that their department’s potential to add value to the organisation was impaired by the business itself.
”The distinctions between companies using technology effectively and those who do not are becoming clearer for the CIO and for the business,” said Mark McDonald, head of research for Gartner EXP.
