Analysts Discuss How EMEA CIOs Need to Become More
Business-Oriented at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2018, March 5-7 in Dubai, UAE
DUBAI,
United Arab Emirates – 19 November 2017 — For 82 percent of Europe, Middle
East and Africa (EMEA) CIOs digital business has led to a greater
capacity for change and a more open mindset in their IT organization, according to Gartner, Inc.'s
annual survey of CIOs. On average, EMEA CIOs
have increased the amount of time they spend on business leadership — up from
30 percent three years ago to 41 percent today. This indicates that as digital
transformation accelerates, the role of the CIO is changing.
"While
IT delivery is still a responsibility of the CIO, achieving revenue growth and
developing digital transformation were identified most often as top business
priorities for organizations in 2018. If CIOs want to remain relevant, they
need to align their activities with the business priorities of their organizations,"
said Andy Rowsell-Jones, vice
president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.
Twenty-six percent of the
CIO
respondents in EMEA said they expect their jobs to become more business-oriented,
and 22 percent expect a greater focus on analytics. They identified business intelligence and analytics
(26 percent) and digitalization (17 percent) as technology areas that will help
their businesses differentiate themselves and succeed.
Gartner analysts presented the survey findings during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in
Barcelona, Spain. The 2018 Gartner CIO Agenda Survey
gathered data from a record 3,160 CIO respondents in 98 countries and all major
industries, representing approximately $13 trillion in revenue/public sector
budget and $277 billion in IT spending. 1,069 CIO respondents were from the EMEA
region.
Digital Business Is
Changing the CIO's Job
"'Digital' is
here and is mainstream," said Mr. Rowsell-Jones. "CIOs are moving
from experimentation to scaling their digital business initiatives." In this context, the challenge for CIOs is to grow these initiatives to deliver economies of scale and scope. The survey
revealed that 29 percent of the CIO respondents
in EMEA are designing digital initiatives, 29 percent are delivering them, 15 percent
are scaling them
and 4 percent are at the "harvesting" stage.
Some CIOs in EMEA are struggling to scale their digital business
initiatives. The survey revealed that the biggest barrier is culture.
Forty-eight percent of EMEA CIOs identified "culture" as the biggest hurdle
to scaling up from the initial phases of digital business transformation.
"Culture is not specifically labeled," said Mr. Rowsell-Jones.
"You can't change what you don't make explicit. Start by clearly
articulating why change is required from a business point of view, then delve
into what specifically will change."
The CIO Role Is Widening
Adoption of digital technology is increasingly forcing the role of the
CIO to widen. Forty-six percent of the EMEA CIO respondents are in charge of
the digital transformation within their organization, and 41 percent are
responsible for innovation. Furthermore, many of EMEA CIOs said their organization
has already deployed, or is experimenting with, digital
security (76 percent), the Internet of
Things (39 percent) and artificial
intelligence (28 percent).
Putting in Place the Right
Digital Team Structures
CIOs have a number of ways in which to develop digital business in their
organization. The survey found that in EMEA, 47 percent of the CIO respondents
have a dedicated digital business team. It also revealed that few of these
teams (16 percent) are made up of IT associates only. For 47 percent of CIOs
their digital business team will run as a separate digital team that reports to
business unit leaders or to the CEO directly, and for 23 percent of them that
team will report directly to the CIO.
"Your role as a CIO is transforming in light of the accelerating
adoption of digital business and the fast pace of technological innovation,"
concluded Mr. Rowsell-Jones. "It no longer suffices just to be responsible
for IT delivery, and it is of paramount importance to address broader business
objectives as well. The time has come to master your new role as a business executive."
Gartner clients can learn more in the report
"The 2018 CIO Agenda: Mastering
the New Job of the CIO."