CIO priorities are BI, virtualisation and security, says IBM survey
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Global CIO survey highlights business intelligence (BI), virtualisation and security as key spending areas
Business intelligence technologies are the top priority for more than four out of five CIOs, according to a survey by IBM of over 2,500 CIOs across 78 countries and 19 different industries.
Virtualisation was considered another ‘killer app’, with 76% of CIOs currently planning or undergoing such a project with a view to long-term centralisation of the business.
Security, compliance and risk management were also highlighted, with 71% of surveyed CIOs intending to invest in these areas in the near future.
The role is still split between innovation and operations, however. The survey found that 'traditional’ IT tasks, such as infrastructure and operations management, take 45% of a CIO's time, while 55% is allocated to activities that drive innovation and growth.
It is encouraging to read that business intelligence and analytics is currently the top priority for CIOs. For a financial director in the current economic climate, cash is priority number one and the stability of their business will depend on their ability to forecast the business cash requirements 8-12 weeks in advance.
Previously, in a growth market, businesses have been slow to replace manual purchase ordering processes with a software-based alternative that offers full commitment accounting, centralised control over the corporate budget and more accurate forecasting of the business cash requirements.
Now, there is greater need for eProcurement and the control and accurate forecasting that this can bring. In response to growing demand for a software-based and largely automated process, eProcurement has entered the mass market and is now within the reach of more financial directors, irrespective of the size of their organisation, the financial systems that they operate, the unique requirements of the business or budget.
eProcurement puts control back into the hands of the financial director, requiring every department and every member of staff to utilise an automated purchase ordering process. The business can stipulate purchase ordering requirements such as who should be asked for authorisation in any given situation, and preferred supplier lists to honour preferred supplier arrangements and to ensure best value.
More importantly, requests outside of the budget can be committed to or denied based on knowledge of every commitment that has been made or is pending on the system, at that time. With eProcurement, financial directors really do have full spend control, and the business can make decisions based on real figures and accurate forecasts, never again to be surprised by an unsuspected invoice.
Neil Robertson
Report this comment »CEO
Compleat Software
http://www.compleatsoftware.com