Going gets tough - IT gets going

Beverley Head
Tuesday, 21 June 2011 10:41

Business IT - Technology

With the global economy stalled in the doldrums, large enterprises are looking to chief information officers to save them money and provide the technical underpinnings to take them into new markets. Put simply, big business is looking to IT to pull its chestnuts out of the fire.

According to the 2011 Gartner-Forbes survey of US company board directors, more than double the usual number of directors are expect IT to deliver high to extremely high 'strategic contributions' to the business. Last year 32 per cent of board directors' responses fell into this bracket - that has now risen to 66 per cent as US enterprise leaders realise that the financial doldrums aren't going to be easily overcome and they need all the help they can get to survive and prosper.

Almost 100 company directors in enterprises with revenues of $US1 billion plus were asked about their opinion about business prospects and IT expectations.

In a media release Gartner said that 73 percent of board directors surveyed believe that the economic situation is tough and will remain so for the foreseeable future, but 51 percent said they are still focused on growing revenue. 'The tension between these two views means that CIOs will need to plan for the systems that will be required for growth but build in flexibility should circumstances change amid high levels of uncertainty,' according to Gartner.

Many global CIO are already aware of the expectation. For its most recent CIO survey, IBM interviewed over 3,000 global CIOs and found that they see their mandate as being a combination of expansion, transformation, generating leverage and adopting a pioneering approach.

According to the IBM study CIOs were focussed on refining business processes and enhancing collaboration; changing the industry value chain through providing technology to allow relationships to improve; streamlining operations and increasing organisational effectiveness; and introducing technology to underpin innovative products, markets and business models.