Gartner Executive Programs

Gartner Executive Programs' Worldwide Survey of More Than 2,300 CIOs Shows Flat IT Budgets in 2012, but IT Organizations Must Deliver on Multiple Priorities
Survey Shows CIOs are Using Technology to "Amplify" the Enterprise STAMFORD, Conn., January 18, 2012— IT organizations will have to deliver on multiple priorities without an increase in their IT budget, as CIO IT budgets are expected to beflat, increasing just 0.5 percent, with declining IT budgets in North America and Europe, according to a global survey of CIOs by Gartner, Inc.'s Executive Programs. The worldwide CIO survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2011, and it included 2,335 CIOs, representing more than $321 billion in CIO IT budgets and covering 37 industries in 45 countries. The Gartner Executive Programs report,"Amplifying the Enterprise: The 2012 CIO Agenda" represents the world's most comprehensive examination of business priorities and CIO strategies. "Technology's role in the enterprise is increasing. This does not mean, however, that the role of the IT organization is increasing," said Mark McDonald, group vice president for Gartner Executive Programs and Gartner Fellow. "CIOs concentrating on IT asa force of operational automation, integration and control are losing ground to executives who see technology as a business amplifier and source of innovation. Effective leaders use technology, which includes IT, to strengthen the customer experience and eliminate costly internal distortions. They are using technology to 'amplify' the enterprise." "In the face of continued economic uncertaintyand government austerity, business strategies call for a combination of growth and operational efficiency. As reflected in the 2012 CIO Agenda survey findings, effective leaders see customers as the key factor in both of these strategic components, with the customer experience their focal point in reconciling potentially conflicting goals," Mr. McDonald said. "Present economic conditions may temptCIOs to force IT back into cost-cutting mode, but senior executives expect technology — and this includes IT — to address the tough challenges by amplifying enterprise strategies and operations." CIO's increasingly see technologies such as analytics/business intelligence, mobility, cloud and social in combination rather than isolation to address business priorities. Changing the customer experiencerequires changing the way the company interacts externally rather than operates internally. Analytics/business intelligence was the top-ranked technology for 2012 (see Table 1) as CIOs are combining analytics with other technologies to create new capabilities. For example, analytics plus supply chain for process management and improvement, analytics plus mobility for field sales and operations,and analytics plus social for customer engagement and acquisition.

Table 1 Top 10 CIO Business and Technology Priorities in 2012

Top 10 Business Priorities Increasing enterprise growth Attracting and retaining new customers Reducing enterprise costs Creating new products and services (innovation) Delivering operational results Improving efficiency Improving profitability (margins) Attractingand retaining the workforce Improving marketing and sales effectiveness Expanding into new markets and geographies

Ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Top 10 Technology Priorities Analytics and Business Intelligence Mobile technologies Cloud computing (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS) Collaboration technologies (workflow) Virtualization Legacy Modernization IT Management CRM ERP Applications Security

Ranking1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Source: Gartner Executive Programs (January 2012) Sixty-one percent of enterprises responding to the survey say they will be improving their mobile capability over the next three years. The majority have a mobility strategy that calls for becoming a market leader in their industry — so there will be significant competition as everyone seeks to be "above average" in its...