Digital business must be the focus of CIOs

 

The role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) can often be a varied one. In the past, it may have been simple enough to get the backend infrastructure off of the ground and say ‘job done’. However, today’s CIO’s must be as focused as anyone on the overall objectives of the business.

Drawing from their experience with tech and channeling it into their enterprise’s strategic planning is a real skill, and one that is set to become more vital in years to come.

The visionary role of the CIO

According to research from Gartner, 75 per cent of the 2,810 CIOs it surveyed across the globe believe their leadership style will have to change from ‘control’ to ‘visionary’ by 2018. Ultimately, many will have to adopt an ‘adapt or die’ mentality and ensure that the rest of the enterprise does too when it comes to digital innovation.

“Incrementally improving IT performance isn’t enough to grasp the digital opportunity. CIOs need to flip from legacy to digital in terms of information and technology leadership, value leadership and people leadership,” explained Gartner vice president Andy Rowsell-Jones.

Asia Pacific and the rest of the world

Business intelligence and insights remain the top priority for CIOs across Asia Pacific and Japan, according to Gartner. However, the trends differ when compared with other parts of the globe.

For example, cloud and mobile will be at the heart of digital innovation in the Asia Pacific and Japan, while data center infrastructure and enterprise resource planning will take prominence in other parts of the world.

Gartner found that IT budgets are on the rise in general, which is great news for the vast majority of CIOs. However, with more capital supporting their endeavors, other members of the C-suite are likely to want tangible results against that investment.

CIOs can achieve this by pursuing the most progressive digital innovations today, in order to stay ahead of their rivals and peers alike tomorrow.