Chief information officers are changing their business
infrastructures to focus on innovation rather than just running IT,
a global survey has revealed.
CIOs are taking advantage of new and emerging technologies that
can deliver financial returns, according to the
IBM survey of 2,500 CIOs
in 78 countries, including the UK.
Business intelligence and analytics top the list, with 83% of
respondents turning to these technologies to improve the
competitiveness of their organisations.
CIOs typically spend 55% of their time on innovation and growth
rather than operations, the survey showed.
With increased focus on data analytics, the survey report said
data reliability and security have emerged as top concerns for
CIOs.
Some 71% of respondents said they plan to make additional
investments in risk management and compliance.
CIOs are also increasingly turning to technologies like
virtualisation, service oriented architectures, service management,
cloud computing and green IT, the survey found.
Over 70% of CIOs said they are rolling out or planning
virtualisation projects to cut energy costs.
The same proportion said they expect to build a centralised
infrastructure in the next five years and more than half expect to
implement standardised business processes.
"Clearly the role of the CIO is changing dramatically," said Pat
Toole, CIO of IBM.
CIOs are trying to standardise routing processes and simplify
existing infrastructures as well as play a central role in driving
new business models, he said.
"It is not surprising that the amount of time they are now
spending on driving new kinds of growth for their companies is
growing considerably," said Toole.
Other technologies CIOs said they are using to boost internal
and external communication include mobility tools, unified
communications, collaboration tools, social networking and Web 2.0
projects.