Latest survey results from Gartner and BT indicate to the same direction that top management including CIOs and CEOs is bullish and open to investment to accelerate digital transformation in enterprises.
Gartner CEO and senior business executive survey of 400 senior business leaders found that CEOs remain confident enough to sanction strategic investments, when it comes to digital business transformation.
“One explanation for CEOs’ optimistic attitude toward digital change may be because they can see how it helps with the product innovations that matter to customers,” said Mark Raskino, vice president and Gartner Fellow.
According to BT’s survey of 1030 senior IT decision makers, CIOs around the world are embracing digital transformation to reinvent their organisations’ processes and systems.
More number of CEOs heading for digital change
Gartner says the number of CEOs choosing to lead business with the aid of digital tools is on the rise.
One of the reasons behind this increase is their understanding that digital business is substantial enough to warrant them leading in the game. Further, CEOs see digitalization as a positive force, not a destructive one.
The CEOs surveyed expect to see substantial digital transformation in their industries, or for their industries to be almost unrecognizable within five years.
BT has launched “The Digital Possible”, a global initiative aimed at empowering CIOs to better embrace digital transformation agendas for large organisations all over the world.
Business priorities remain intact
While being open to accept and become part of the technological change, most top level executives have not made changes in their priorities.
Gartner says 54 percent of its survey respondents remained intact with growth being their priority. The second and third business priorities are customers (31 percent) and workforce (27 percent).
“CEOs seem to be concerned about improving customer service, relationship and satisfaction levels. At the same time, CEOs have become much more concerned about employee issues than a couple of years ago,” Raskino said.
Changing role of CIOs while going digital
BT says the impact of digital is such that the importance of the CIO at boardroom level continued to rise.
It notes that while large organisations across the world embark on technology-led initiatives, large amount of creativity, flexibility and a more dynamic operating model is required.
BT’s research found 65 per cent of CIOs notes rapid changes in the key performance indicator measuring their own performance. The research firm said there is a clear trend putting digital transformation at the centre of all their activities.
“The pace of digital change is creating new opportunities for our customers and those opportunities require quick responses. The role of the digital CIO is one of the most demanding in business. They need to be strategic, creative, growth-minded and cost conscious,” says Luis Alvarez, CEO of Global Services.
Urge for cloud
The BT CIO report 2016 revealed that CIOs are clear on the most disruptive technology trends such as cloud, mobility and collaboration, and data.
According to the report, a fifth of global organisations are already completely cloud-centric. A further 46 percent have more than half their applications and infrastructure in the cloud.
As a response to the increase in digital transformation, BT will announce in the coming weeks and months a new wave of innovative services, accelerating the execution of its Cloud of Clouds portfolio strategy.
Arya MM
editor@infotechlead.com
