Information officers are increasingly important
Companies see technology as critical to their success
A new IBM study of more than 3,000 global chief information officers (CIOs), including 168 in Asean, shows that their role is seen as fundamental by top management. Some 68 per cent of the companies interviewed ranked technology as critical to the success of their business, and 58 per cent said they had embarked on large-scale integration of business and technology.
At the same time, CIOs are aware of their CEOs' priorities and are aligned with their business agendas. Their shared, top-three focus areas are strengthening relationships with customers, developing the skills of employees and gaining insight and intelligence from data. Asean CIOs are more closely aligned and more focused than their global peers when it comes to insights (89 per cent to 79 per cent), clients (76 per cent to 71 per cent) and people skills (79 per cent to 66 per cent).
IBM's 2011 Global CIO Study is an analysis of face-to-face interviews with CIOs of organisations of every size, across 71 countries and 18 industries. Titled "The Essential CIO", the findings reinforce the increasingly strategic role that CIOs are playing as leaders of innovation and growth.
A shared executive agenda with a clear mandate is empowering CIOs worldwide to help the business get the most out of technology, and as the ability to extract insights from structured and unstructured data increases in value, CIOs are also moving closer to the locus of power in their organisations.
"With technology becoming both an enabler of competitive advantage and embedded in every facet of the enterprise, the role of the CIO has never been more essential," said Parnsiree Amatayakul, managing director of IBM Thailand. IBM's research suggests that CEOs better understand the importance of technology. They increasingly rely on CIOs to turn data into usable information, information into intelligence and intelligence into better decisions. As a result, CIOs are assessing multiple means to make better use of burgeoning data stores.
The IBM study found that four out of five global CIOs (Asean 86 per cent; global 83 per cent) see business intelligence and analytics as top priorities, as they seek ways to act upon the growing amounts of data now at their disposal. When asked how they will translate data into intelligence, CIOs named master data management (Asean 73 per cent; global 68 per cent), customer analytics (Asean 72 per cent; global 66 per cent), data warehousing (Asean 74 per cent; global 64 per cent) and visual information dashboards (Asean 69 per cent; global 64 per cent) as the key means.
Although it was already on the 2009 list of priorities, cloud computing took a giant leap. Now that it has come of age, it is rising more than any other CIO priority with 60 per cent (Asean 57 per cent) of CIOs ready to embrace cloud computing over the next five years as a means of growing their businesses and achieving competitive advantage - nearly double the number in the same study two years ago. Specifically, Asean CIOs cited rationalisation of application portfolio (Asean 20 per cent; global 23 per cent) and utilising cloud services (Asean 23 per cent; global 12 per cent) as top activities to control and reduce legacy costs.
CIOs are also increasingly turning their attention to mobile computing to keep pace with the fast-changing marketplace. As the proliferation of mobile devices with enhanced functionality and mobile applications that support business productivity and new market opportunities continue to grow, mobile computing and mobility solutions are now seen by nearly three-quarters of CIOs (Asean 68 per cent; global 74 per cent) as a game-changer for their businesses.
As the role of the CIO itself transforms, so do the types of projects they lead across their enterprises. Simplification is a driving issue for CIOs as more than 80 per cent said they plan to lead projects to simplify internal processes (Asean 86 per cent; global 84 per cent). This allows CIOs to focus less time and resources on running internal infrastructure, and more time on transformation, innovation and business value to help their companies grow revenue.
"It is a positive affirmation that the CIO is no longer looked upon as a technologist but is now recognised for bringing value to the business beyond IT infrastructure and processes," added Parnsiree. "While cost cutting is here to stay as CIOs strive to do more with less, and drive creativity and innovation, there are still [many] opportunities and [much] value to be leveraged from the cloud, business analytics and optimisation technologies to help businesses infuse technology into products, services and processes."
