What with the increasing impact of the millennials market, wearable tech, and Big Data, 2015 introduced a range of new challenges to chief information officers (CIOs).
Moving into 2016, IT leaders will be shouldering more and more responsibility for driving the digital transformation within their companies, overseeing day-to-day operations, and managing positive change.
This is all more easily said than done. A recent survey by Gartner Executive Programs, entitled ‘Building The Digital Platform’, asked CIOs what their biggest obstructions to success were. Seven major issues were discovered.
- IT Recruitment: Lack skilled staff resources was by far the biggest problem standing in the way of CIOs achieving their strategic objectives. 22% of the CIOs surveyed reported large talent gaps in the market, particularly surrounding roles that deal with Big Data, analytics, and information management. They said there was also a shortage of candidates with business acumen. What’s more, Gartner has reported that staff shortages have been the biggest barrier for success to CIOs for the last four years. Many IT leaders are now looking to nurture talent and see investment in skills development as a platform for long term success.
- Budget Constraints: Coming in second place, 15% of the CIOs said that they were not receiving the funding needed to foster digital transformation and bring about successful change within their companies. Companies need to take a more joined-up approach to budgeting for their IT strategy across all departments if they want to progress.
- Company Culture: 12% of CIOs surveyed said that the structure of their organisations and ingrained company habits made it impossible to bring about much needed change. It takes a strong IT leader to stand up for their views and steer a company in the right direction through IT.
- IT Alignment With Business: In fourth place, 11% of CIOs felt that there was a disparity between the IT team’s and the company’s strategic objectives. To achieve core business targets, IT leaders must work alongside key stakeholders and heads of department to align their strategies and look for opportunities for cross departmental budget sharing and collaboration.
- Technology Challenges: Legacy applications and security issues were the biggest challenge to 9% of the CIOs questioned. Managing legacy systems can be a serious burden for many companies as it takes up a lot of the IT department’s time, which subsequently restricts their ability to innovate ground-breaking new solutions.
- Capacity For Change: 8% of CIOs simply believed that their company lacked the ability, willingness, or desire for change which shackled them from driving for growth.
- Management Backing: The remaining 8% of CIOs believed that board or management committee did not fully understand the IT department’s ideas for growth and so did not back their plans nor their funding requests. For any IT leader to be successful, he/she needs a board that believes in his/her ability to provide a technology strategy that achieves the company’s objectives for growth. Without this support, a CIO cannot foster change.
Crimson are an IT consultancy, technology solutions provider, and an IT recruitment agency. If you would like advice or guidance on any of the issues outlined in this blog please email marketing@crimson.co.uk or call 01675 466 477.
