What You Need To Know About Gartner’s 2015 CIO and CEO Survey Analysis
It’s pretty much a given that staying competitive in business requires holding on tight to the explosive intersection between technology and business. It can sometimes feel like you’re constantly riding the peak of a new, disruptive wave, but the only way to stay ahead of competitors is to stay right there on the edge.
With regards to this, I want to share a hugely relevant and insightful report. Gartner’s analysis of their 2015 CIO and CEO surveys takes into account the responses of over 2,800 CIOs and 400 CEOs. The report comes to a number of interesting conclusions and offers a handful of helpful recommendations for both business and IT leadership.
The surveys found that whereas CEOs and CIOs think similarly about certain issues, there are major differences in perspective and priority that need to be addressed in order to streamline and strengthen the enterprise as a whole.
Where CEOs and CIOs Agree
- There seems to be no disagreement between CEOs and CIOs with regards to the digital revolution.
- Both business and IT leaders see their roles as critical in leading their companies on the significant and necessary journey into digital relevancy.
- With more and more CIOs seeing digital innovations in information and technology as drivers of opportunity, CIOs are poised to strategically leverage IT in order to meet business needs.
- There is no disagreement between CEOs and CIOs when it comes to security and digital vulnerability issues.
- It is a crucial take-away from this report that both business and IT must collaborate in order to act more urgently on cyber-risk management and industry disruption threats.
Where CEOs and CIOs Don’t Agree
- It is clear with regards to the allocation of resources that CEOs prioritize front-office IT, while CIOs focus more on back-office IT and the renovation of core systems.
- Further, CIOs and CEOs are misaligned on long-term planning and do not share the same scenario development strategies.
Gartner’s report offers insights into these differences in perspective and advice for both business and IT moving forward. Much of the change involves ‘flipping’ roles towards a shared commitment to digitalization in the categories of information/technology leadership, value/risk leadership, and people/culture leadership. It also gives specific recommendations for CEO and CIO collaboration in terms of investment support and long-term strategy.
If you’re involved in business or IT at any level, reports like these will help you stay in the loop with your industry and profession. If you’re interested in this report, we’ve made it available to you for a short time at no charge here.