Managing IT risk, expanding into new markets, and recruiting skills will dominate the agenda for local CIOs in the next three years.
This is according to Gartner's latest Executive Programmes CIO survey, which involved 1 600 CIOs in 41 countries across 27 industries, conducted between September and December last year.
George Ambler, executive partner for Gartner Executive Programmes, reflected on the findings of the report at the Gartner Predicts 2010 event held in Sandton last week.
“People are focusing on productivity, while at the same time trying to reduce costs. Globally, you see an emphasis on business processes, reducing enterprise costs, and increasing the use of information,” said Ambler. He added that from a South African CIO perspective, the focus is very similar, in terms driving improved processes and ensuring efficiency.
Overall, CIOs' business priorities for 2010 continue to reflect economic difficulty, with an immediate focus on current operations, states the report. But by 2013, CIOs see a renewed focus on innovation and customers.
Local respondents' priorities were mostly in line with their global counterparts for the current year, although there were some telling differences. Improving enterprise workforce effectiveness is significantly less of a priority locally, while expanding into new markets and geographies is a significantly higher focus, notes Gartner.
“This focus on expanding into new markets could form part of a growth strategy to expand into Africa,” said Ambler, adding that by 2013, this item becomes critical.
Strategic focus
In terms of CIOs' top strategies for the next three years, Ambler noted the extreme emphasis on cost-cutting has subsided - local CIOs ranked it as a six on their priority list. “Let's be honest, if it's not in the top five, it's not really a priority.”
Another divergence was South African CIOs' focus on implementing IT improvements, which scored a 10, while coming in at four for global respondents.
Ambler said the fact that South African CIOs don't see the need to improve IT processes is worrying. “If CIOs don't see the need to improve processes in their own divisions, how are they going to speak to the organisation about improving business processes?”
He also questioned how CIOs planned to drive productivity without re-engineering processes in the IT division.
Another top priority for SA's CIOs was risk management, which Ambler noted could be linked to the focus on expanding into new geographies.
He adds that the survey began in September, when the King III Code on Governance was released, so risk concerns may have been top of mind.
Skills conundrum
A mere 27% of CIOs think they have the right number of skilled IT resources, yet only 19% have the development of skills as a top five strategy, according to the report.
This means more than half of CIOs surveyed do not have the required number of skills, and do not have the building of IT personnel's skills as a top concern. “So you don't have the right number of skills, but you're not doing anything about it,” noted Ambler.
According to the report, this is a major concern, as the quality and capability of IT staff are primary CIO responsibilities. Furthermore, CIOs are not confident in their ability to attract and develop IT personnel. “Average CIO confidence in this ability is 6.6 out of 10 - the lowest confidence level among all CIO strategies.”
“It's not so much about upskilling people, but about recruiting the right skilled individuals,” said Ambler. South African CIOs are giving this more attention than their global counterparts, however, with a score of seven versus the international 10.
Commenting on the gap between recruiters' demand for skills and the number of qualified professionals without jobs, Ambler noted the skills being produced at universities are often not needed in the market. “Many businesses don't need a desktop programmer, for example, but rather an IT professional with business analysis capabilities.”
Gartner stresses that CIOs must reverse this trend of under-investing time and attention in building IT skills. “They will not be able to transition to IT's future without transitioning the skills of IT personnel.”
The firm adds that CIOs need to rebuild and enhance the skills of IT professionals, so executive trust and involvement in technical matters can be translated into business credibility.
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