CIO pressures and priorities under the spotlight

, Jun 9, 2016

Singapore, 9 June 2016 – For the past three years, Logicalis, an international IT solutions and managed services provider (http://www.logicalis.com), has conducted a global survey of CIO pressures and priorities. 

These studies have been highly effective in uncovering the trends and opportunities that, when realised, can transform IT departments from backroom cost centres to services-led partners to internal line-of-business (LOB) customers. 

In 2013, the survey revealed that 60 per cent of CIO respondents believed LOB managers would gain more power over IT decision-making in the next three to five years. 

A year later, the 2014 survey, which polled top IT pros in 24 countries, showed this to be true: One in four CIOs admitted they had lost control of information and communication technology (ICT) spending and acknowledged that the balance of power in ICT spending had already shifted decisively toward line-of-business executives.

Last year, the 2015 survey found the trend accelerating.  Shadow IT was a reality for 90% of CIOs, withalmost one third (31%) of CIOs globally routinely side-lined when it comes to making IT purchasing decisions. 

The remedy, the survey showed, was to transform IT departments from technology focused to services focused.  To do that, IT needed to become a broker of technology services – and the first step toward this service-defined enterprise model, experts agreed, was to embrace a software-defined data centre. 

Tellingly, the survey found that CIOs are freeing themselves from the day-to-day operational tasks, with 38% spending at least 50% of their time on strategic activities.

Have CIOs now fully embraced this transformation? To find out, Logicalis is conducting a new survey, and CIOs and other top-level IT pros are invited to take part.

Joanne Nelson, Vice President, International Marketing, Logicalis Group, said: “The world is changing fast for IT departments and CIOs.  People have become accustomed to buying the services they need on demand from a variety of providers, and if IT can’t deliver what line of business users and managers need to do their jobs, they’ll turn elsewhere to procure those services. 

“This is an issue for CIOs, for two reasons.  First, it is about maintaining control over the IT department and, second, it’s about the CIO remaining relevant in his or her job.  The aim for many, it seems, is to be seen as a business partner rather than a cost centre within the company.  How are they doing? It’s an issue so important and so pervasive that Logicalis is now conducting its fourth annual global survey to find out.”

This year’s global survey will be available online until August 1st 2016. CIOs and other top IT pros are invited to participate.  The survey results will be available for download from the Logicalis web site at www.ap.logicalis.com in Q3 2016.

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