A review of two leading industry reports seems to be in line with what we are hearing from our clients. Most of you agree that the speed of technological change is impacting your company if not your job specifically. According to Pwc’s 6th Annual Digital IQ Survey, IT departments are pressured to innovate amidst an ever increasing disruptive technology threat and 67% of the 1500 business and IT executives are concerned that the speed of technological change is a threat to their growth prospects.
That concern derives from the lack of power and money invested in IT in many corporations today. For the amount we rely upon IT and in many ways are dependent upon IT, one would think it would get the attention it deserves. The contributor of this article, Mary Shacklett states that “if CIOs are to lead new phases of technology innovation, they need direct access to the CEO, which also means that IT must be recognized as a business function that is sufficiently important to warrant a direct reporting relationship to the CEO.” That is where power comes into play. As for money, Gartner and Financial Executives Research Foundation 2011 reveals that CFOs are responsible for authorizing 26% of all IT budgetary expenditures, while CIOs only have authorization control over 5% of the IT budget. To make matters worse, only 47% of financial executive respondents in the research believe that IT is strategic.
So how do CIO’s overcome the threat of disruptive technology? Just as it says in the title – innovate! Easier said than done? Of course it is! However, the industry is evolving. Schacklett proposes They can begin the process by assuring that they have CIOs in place who are capable of evaluating and recommending transformational technologies, and who have a thorough understanding of the business, along with a recognition that technology for technology’s sake is unacceptable unless it delivers demonstrable value to the business. In short, have a voice and a vision.
Sources:
TechRepublic.com: Mary Shacklett, http://www.techrepublic.com/article/cios-feel-pressure-to-innovate-amidst-disruptive-technology-threat/
PWC Innovating at the Speed of Disruption, http://www.pwc.com/us/en/advisory/digital-iq-survey/assets/innovation-snapshot.pdf
