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CIOs meet growing challenges head-on

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 02 Oct 2015
Last night's Brainstorm CIO Banquet attracted 350 guests, of which close to a hundred were CIOs.
Last night's Brainstorm CIO Banquet attracted 350 guests, of which close to a hundred were CIOs.

The majority of chief information officers' (CIOs') roles in SA are changing.

This is one of the biggest takeaways from the Brainstorm CIO Survey 2015, which attracted 188 responses from local CIOs, up from 158 last year when the survey was introduced.

The survey results were presented in Hyde Park last night at the Brainstorm CIO Banquet, which attracted 350 guests, of which close to a hundred were CIOs.

Asked what is changing in their roles, more than half of the CIOs (52%) alluded to digital migration, closely followed by competition or disruptive forces in the industry (51%). Thirty percent pointed to globalisation, bring your own device, or shadow IT (30%), mergers and acquisitions (23%), and the emergence of the chief digital officer (10%).

"This year's survey showed a marked shift in CIO perceptions," says Jon Tullett, ITWeb's news analysis editor and content strategist. "The data shows us a definite growth in the strategic roles CIOs are playing, with a strong focus on business alignment, company-wide productivity and efficiency, and new business development."

CIOs' perception as a strategic business partner is also stronger, and that is backed up by commitment from the business in a definite improvement in IT budgets, he explains. A strong 87% said they believed IT is seen to be a credible partner to business, versus 78% who did so in the previous study.

Asked what statement most closely describes how IT is a business innovator at their organisations, half of the CIOs said: "IT is seen as a support of business innovation but not as an innovator." Some 28% said IT is viewed as a major source of innovation for the business. The survey also found only 7% have IT budget specifically for innovation.

Speed challenge

CIO roles are changing because of the increased pressure they are working under, says Telkom CIO Len de Villiers.
CIO roles are changing because of the increased pressure they are working under, says Telkom CIO Len de Villiers.

The biggest concern for local CIOs (77%) is the inability to implement projects fast enough to meet business goals. This is followed by lack of skills (70%), inadequate budget to meet goals (66%), pressure to achieve compliance with regulations (66%), and legacy constraining new developments (61%).

It also emerged that the majority of CIOs (56%) spend most of their time aligning IT with the business, while 35% spend theirs on driving business innovation, with 30% on IT governance.

Business intelligence is the most popular technology CIOs are deploying in-house, the survey determined. As to the technologies they are outsourcing, hosting of Web, content and applications came tops.

The survey also discovered most CIOs (56%) are looking to drive company-wide process innovation when quizzed about their focus areas for innovation and digital transformation.

Although the Internet of things (IOT) is a huge topic today, only 14% are focusing on it for innovation. Tullett says this is a big disconnect, as IOT was at the forefront of discussions at this week's Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Cape Town. "There may be a disjoint between South Africa and the rest of the world."

In comparison with last year (31%), more companies (57%) are now actively involved in internship programmes, according to the study.

"While skills remain a high concern, nearly twice as many CIOs indicated their organisations are actively engaged in IT internships and apprenticeships. Unfortunately, there are also some dark clouds: the South African economy is putting a damper on IT projects and hiring."

CIOs are in no doubt about the scale of the challenges they face, says Jon Tullett, ITWeb's news analysis editor and content strategist.
CIOs are in no doubt about the scale of the challenges they face, says Jon Tullett, ITWeb's news analysis editor and content strategist.

Tullett notes there is a drop in satisfaction with suppliers this year, too, notably in the specific areas CIOs highlight as being most important to them, such as strategic alignment and time to market.

"As an industry, there are positive signs, but it's still a tough market and CIOs are clearly in no doubt about the scale of the challenges they are facing."

Speaking at the event, Telkom CIO Len de Villiers said CIO roles are changing because of the increased pressure they work under.

From the survey results, it is evident there is more pressure on CIOs to deliver, he noted.

"IT is the fastest-changing industry in the world," said De Villiers. "The lifespan of IT solutions is now one to three years, while the career time in firms for CIOs is two to three years. Everything in companies today is dependent on IT."

About the survey

Brainstorm CIO Survey 2015, run in association with Telkom Business, was conducted online during August and September. It was by invitation only, targeting CIOs from SA's top 1 000 corporates, as well as public sector organisations.

The executive summary of the results will be published on ITWeb next week, while the full research report is due in December.

The 2014 results report can be viewed here.

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