CIOs increase their strategic role

Chief information officers (CIOs) in the UK believe they have begun playing an increasingly strategic role over the past 12 months, a major survey by Harvey Nash and KPMG reveals.

The survey of 500 CIOs, shows that 76% say their role is more strategy focussed, with 66% expanding their roles to cover logistics, business continuity and corporate change management.

The proportion of CIOs with seats on the board of directors has risen from 43% to 46%. Nearly 60% said their roles were well integrated into the business, an 18% increase over last year.

CIOs are reaping the benefits of greater responsibility with higher salaries, which have risen from £84,000 to £104,000 over the past 12 months. Some 87% of CIOs received bonuses, half of which were over 20% of their salaries.

IT budgets remain healthy, with the majority of CIOs expecting increases in line with inflation, and 47% reporting higher IT budgets over the last 12 months. Eighty-five percent of CIOs outsource and nearly half expect to increase spending on outsourcing in the next year. On average 24% of the IT budget is directed towards outsourcing.