Technology budgets and decision-making is migrating away from IT departments, and IT is taking on new roles in the enterprise.
This is according to Avanade's global survey on the changing role of IT, which reveals that 37% of technology spending now happens outside of IT, because the majority of business leaders (79% of C-level executives) believe they can make better and faster decisions without the involvement of IT.
The research states that 37% of budgets allocated in 2014 for technology are now controlled by business departments outside of IT. This means more than one-third of a company's total technology purchases are made by business people who do not report to the CIO, says Avanade.
The findings of the study demonstrate that IT is increasingly playing the role of business advisor to both internal stakeholders and external partners, says Avanade.
According to the research, 83% of C-level executives say they are comfortable with IT staff interacting directly with important clients and partners in a consultancy role, while 66% of companies are planning to expand the role IT plays as business advisors in the next year.
To make this shift, business leaders want IT to build skills in key areas that will help them source innovative technologies that solve business problems for employees, customers and partners in an increasingly digital world, says Avanade.
Companies planning roles for IT as business advisors and service brokers see positive results, reporting that IT staff has the needs of the employees in mind, notes Avanade.
The research adds that 71% of C-level executives have an employee-centric culture and 68% of companies report that their IT departments contribute more to accomplishing the objectives of the business than they did three years ago.
However, Avanade says time spent managing the same old legacy systems continues to distract the agenda for IT staff with 36% of IT staff's time spent managing and maintaining legacy systems.
This leads to a situation known as "two-speed IT" where IT staff must balance the support of legacy systems with the need to continuously innovate in order to stay ahead of the competition, notes Avanade.
"The tilting balance of control over technology decisions and budget has created a real tension between IT and the business and requires IT to rethink its approach, learn new skills and grow its influence," said Peter Drube, country managing director, Avanade.
"Forward-looking companies are positioning their IT staff as business advisors and see IT contributing more to accomplishing objectives and driving positive business results than ever before."
The research was conducted earlier this year; it surveyed 1 003 C-level executives, business unit leaders and IT decision-makers in 19 countries.
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