For the first time, the CIO's vision of the future is almost identical to that of the CEO, says IBM in its latest CIO study.
The tech giant says 60% of worldwide organisations are ready to embrace cloud computing over the next five years as a means to grow their businesses and achieve competitive advantage.
The IBM study, entitled 'The Essential CIO', released this week, interviewed 3 000 CIOs across the globe.
Werner Lindemann, VP Systems and Technology Group at IBM, points out that the role of the CIO has never been more essential to enable competitive advantage in the business.
“This study provides key evidence of how the capabilities of IT are aligning perfectly with the aspirations of business leaders.
“The winners will be those companies that understand the power of technologies like cloud, analytics and mobility, and can harness that power to transform their businesses.”
This year's study reflects an increase in the focus on cloud, particularly in media and entertainment, which rose to 73%; automotive (70%); and telecommunications (69%).
IBM says from a country standpoint, seven out of 10 CIOs in the US, Japan and South Korea, and 68% in China identify cloud as a top priority. This is dramatically up from 2009, when CIO interest in cloud hovered at about a third in each of these countries, it adds.
The IBM study also found that more than four out of five CIOs (83%) see business intelligence and analytics as top priorities for their businesses.
CIOs are also increasingly turning their attention to mobile computing to keep pace with the fast-changing marketplace, it emerged.
IBM states that mobility solutions are now seen by nearly three-quarters of CIOs (74%) as a 'game-changer' for their businesses - up from 68% in 2009.
An additional key finding revealed that simplification is a driving issue for CIOs, as more than 80% plan to lead projects to simplify internal processes.
According to IBM, as with previous years, cost-cutting is here to stay as CIOs strive to do more with less and drive creativity and innovation.
Research compiled by analyst firm Gartner found that businesses in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions are increasingly investing in cloud computing technologies to boost business efficiency and reduce costs.
The research firm states that 3% of CIOs in EMEA have the majority of IT running in the cloud or on software-as-a-service, but over the next four years, CIOs expect this number to increase to 43%.
Lightweight Internet service-based technologies have resulted in organisations being able to spend between 35% to 50% of their IT budget on innovation and growth, says Gartner.
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