More than 70 percent of companies admit the importance of IT infrastructure in optimizing revenue and profit, but 22 percent have a well-defined enterprise IT infrastructure strategy, said a survey by IBM.
The IBM study reveals the need for an improved level of collaboration between IT and business leaders.
“Today’s IT leaders are responsible for more than overseeing technology breakthroughs, but they are also integral to advising chief executives about the organization’s business strategy,” said Tom Rosamilia, senior vice president of IBM Systems & Technology Group and IBM Integrated Supply Chain.
IBM Institute for Business Value’s report called Continuing the IT Infrastructure Conversation: Why Building a Strong Foundation Requires More Than Technology covered 750 CTOs, CIOs and other senior technology executives from a variety of industries and company sizes in 18 countries.
The report suggests that IT organizations need to build stronger relationships with business leaders to capitalize on IT trends for competitive advantage and deliver the capabilities for business success.
IT organizations can increase the value they provide to the business by repositioning the role of IT as an advisor and a valued service provider, collaborating across the ecosystem and developing the right mix of skills and capabilities to meet changing IT infrastructure needs.
The IBM research report suggests that organizations need to rise to the challenge of developing the next generation of IT professionals that have developed new skills beyond traditional technology competencies.
81 percent of Strategic IT Connectors recognize IT infrastructure plays an important role in enabling competitive advantage. This group is also more prepared to adjust to trends in the marketplace such as cloud, analytics, mobile and social – and more likely to identify themselves as outperforming their industry peers in terms of revenue growth and profitability.
More than 40 percent said that business leaders will be involved in making decisions about cloud computing and IT architecture over the next three years. 30 percent of organizations effectively collaborate with the business to provide IT infrastructure solutions.
23 percent says their organization is good at collecting, analyzing and documenting performance measures. This lack of information on metrics and measurement makes it difficult to demonstrate the value of IT to an organization.
Many CIOs recognize that in an environment where IT infrastructure is becoming more critical, their ability to manage the business of IT remains a work in progress.
In July, another IBM report noted that less than 10 percent of organizations said their existing IT infrastructure is fully prepared to meet the demands of mobile technology, social media, big data and cloud computing.
Baburajan K
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