Almost two-thirds (63%) of organizations now allow technology to be managed outside the IT department, a shift that brings with it both significant business advantages and increased privacy and security risks, reveals the 2019 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey.
When IT spending is managed away from the direct control of the chief information officer, companies are twice as likely to have multiple security areas exposed and are more likely to become victims of a major cyber-attack.
The largest technology leadership survey in the world, analyzing responses from organizations with a combined technology spend of over $250 billion, reveals that for those organizations where the IT team is formally involved in decision-making around business-led IT, business advantages include improving time to market new products (52% more likely to be “significantly better than their competitors”) and employee experience (38% more likely to be “significantly better than their competitors”).
However, 4 in 10 (43%) companies are not formally involving IT in those business-led IT decisions. These organizations are twice as likely to have multiple security areas exposed than those who consult IT2, 23% less likely to be “very or extremely effective” at building customer trust with technology, and 9% more likely to have been targeted by a major cyber-attack in the last two years. These risks are uncovered at a time when cyber security reaches an all-time high as a board priority (56% vs. 49% last year).
The huge opportunities to capitalize on the value of business-led IT, but also manage its risks, come at a time of significant change for the business, the CIO, and the IT department, as the survey reveals:
Fewer CIOs sit on the board – although the influence of the CIO remains intact (66% this year view the role as gaining influence compared to 65% in 2018), fewer CIOs now sit on the board – dropping from 71% to 58% in just two years.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation are driving huge change – as the IT department is being tasked by its board to use AI/automation to improve efficiencies (up 17% this year as a board priority), this is leading CIOs to expect that up to 1 in 5 jobs will be replaced by AI/automation within 5 years. However, 69% of CIOs believe that new jobs will compensate for job losses to AI/automation.
Skills shortages – technology leaders are struggling to find the right talent with skills shortages at their highest level since 2008. The three most-scarce skills are big data/analytics (44%), cybersecurity (39%) and AI (39%).
“Today’s CIO is more collaborative and aligned with the rest of the business than ever before,” said Anna Frazzetto, Chief Digital Technology Officer & President, Technology Solutions, Harvey Nash Inc. “IT budgets are increasing, companies are getting more creative and they’re investing in innovation. With digital now a part of every piece of the business, the CIO is the key influencer at driving the direction of the IT roadmap.”
Steve Bates, Global Leader, CIO Advisory Center of Excellence, KPMG International, said, “There is no longer business strategy and technology strategy, it’s simply strategy with technology driving it. This research clearly shows that organizations putting technology in the hands of value-creators and connecting the front, middle and back office are winning in the market. The future of IT is a customer obsessed, well governed, connected enterprise.”
“Companies are having the hardest time in more than a decade finding the technology talent they need,” said Sean Gilligan, President, Technology Recruitment, North America, Harvey Nash Inc. “The need for data analysis remains the number one concern, demand increases for AI and cyber security skills, and requests for skills like cloud and mobile development remain constant. One of the growing trends we are now seeing is the client requesting professionals who have more of a hybrid of skills -someone with expertise in multiple cloud platforms, a software engineer experienced in DevOps, or a front end developer who can do mobile. Having these blended capabilities is a major asset for companies of all sizes, but it is rare.”
Digital leaders perform better
Digital leaders, which are organizations that consider themselves “very effective” or “extremely effective” at using digital technologies to advance their business strategies, performed better than their competitors on every aspect surveyed:
These aspects included time to market (53% vs 34% for the rest), customer experience (65% vs 49%), revenue growth (55% vs 43%) and profitability in the last year (50% vs 37%).
Digital leaders are also more likely to introduce major new changes to products and services in the next three years (55% vs 39% for the rest), and focus on making money – 76% of CEOs in digital leader organizations want their technology projects to “make” rather than “save money,” compared to 58% for the rest.
Gender diversity initiatives are failing big tech
74% of IT leaders feel their diversity and inclusion initiatives within their teams are at most moderately successful. There has been only minimal growth in the number of women on tech teams, 22% this year compared to 21% last year, and no change in the percentage of female technology leaders at 12%.
First signs of quantum computing
Although quantum computing3 is at such an early stage, 4% (107 global organizations) have implemented quantum computing to at least some degree – with big pharmaceuticals, financial services and energy organizations making bets in this area.
One-fifth (22%) of organizations implementing quantum computing were based in the United Kingdom, followed by 19% in the United States, and 7% for both Australia and the Republic of Ireland.
IT leaders reporting budget increases – highest for 15 years
More technology leaders reported increases in IT budgets under their control than at any time in the last 15 years.
The jump in those reporting increases (from 49% to 55%) is the largest seen, with the one exception of 2010, when organizations were still clawing their way out of the global recession.
For technology projects where the CEO prefers to “save money” almost half (45%) of respondents report budget increases compared to just 38% last year, suggesting many CIOs are investing to save, for instance through automation.
About the Survey
In its 21st year, the 2019 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey is the largest IT leadership survey in the world in terms of number of respondents. The survey of 3,645 CIOs and technology leaders was conducted between December 13, 2018 and April 4, 2019, across 108 countries.
For more information about the survey and to request a full copy of the results, please visit www.hnkpmgciosurvey.com or email [email protected]. Follow the conversation on Twitter at #hnkpmgciosurvey.
About Harvey Nash Inc.
Harvey Nash Inc. is the North American division of the Harvey Nash Group, a global professional recruitment firm and IT outsourcing service provider. Harvey Nash has helped over half the world’s leading companies recruit, source and manage the highly skilled talent they need to succeed in an increasingly competitive, global and technology driven world. With 2,500 employees in 36 locations across Europe, Asia and North America, Harvey Nash has the reach and resources of a global organization, and it fosters a culture of innovation and agility that empowers all employees across the world to respond to constantly changing client needs. Harvey Nash works with clients, both big and small, to deliver a portfolio of services: IT recruitment, IT outsourcing/offshoring and executive search.
To learn more, please visit www.harveynashusa.com. Follow us: www.twitter.com/harveynashusa and www.facebook.com/harveynashusa.
Source: KPMG LLP
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