64 percent of organizations are adapting their technology strategies in the midst of unprecedented global political and economic uncertainty.
89 percent are maintaining or ramping up investment in innovation, including in digital labor, and more than half (52 percent) investing in more nimble technology platforms, according to the 2017 Harvey Nash / KPMG CIO Survey.
The proportion of organizations surveyed that now have enterprise-wide digital strategies increased 52 percent in two years. Organizations with a chief digital officer have increased 39 percent over last year.
Organizations also report a huge demand for enterprise architects—the fastest growing technology skill this year, up 26 percent compared to 2016.
32 percent reports their organization had been subject to a cyber-attack in the past 24 months—a 45 percent increase from 2013. 21 percent say they are “very well” prepared to respond to these attacks, down from 29 percent in 2014.
“From an organizational and cultural perspective, the CIO is now faced with a full transformation to digital, enterprise-wide,” said Harvey Nash President and CEO Bob Miano.
“In order to stay ahead of the unprecedented levels of disruption and change facing today’s CIOs, they have needed to become more strategic and functionally integrated,” said Denis Berry, KPMG principal and U.S. CIO Advisory leader.
Almost one in five CIOs (18 percent) report their organizations have “very effective” digital strategies.
CIOs at these digitally-enabled organizations are almost twice as likely to be leading innovation across the business (41 percent versus 23 percent), and are investing at four times the rate of non-leaders in cognitive automation (25 percent versus 7 percent).
Almost two-thirds (61 percent) of CIOs from larger organizations are already investing or planning to invest in digital labor.
CIOs love their jobs, and are more likely to be involved at the Board level
The number of CIOs who are “very fulfilled” in their role is at a three-year high—rising from 33 percent in 2015 to 39 percent this year.
For the first time in a decade, more than seven in ten CIOs (71 percent) believe the CIO role is becoming more strategic.
92 percent of CIOs joined a Board meeting in the past 12 months.
However, the CIO life span is just five years or less (59 percent), although many want to stay longer.
Big data/analytics remains the most in-demand skill
While the fastest-growing demand for a technology skill this year was enterprise architecture, big data/analytics remained the most in-demand skill at 42 percent, up 8 percent over last year.
Risks of project failure
Weak ownership (46 percent), an overly optimistic approach (40 percent), and unclear objectives (40 percent) are the main reasons IT projects fail.
More than a quarter (27 percent) of CIOs say that a lack of talent is the cause of project failure.
