• 
• 

Published on October 20, 2007

The IBM CIO Leadership Forum Survey showed 84 per cent of CIO respondents believed technology was significantly or profoundly transforming their industries, yet only 16 per cent felt their companies were taking full advantage of the potential of information technology (IT). IBM found that the state of business and technology points to the need for change in how technology was integrated into the core business.

Research also indicates the relationship required between the CIO and the chief executive officer (CEO) to ensure that IT organisation continues to drive business innovation and growth. IBM's 2006 Global CEO Study showed "extensive integrators" were increasing revenue 5 per cent faster than their competitors. CEOs who extensively integrated business and technology reported greater customer satisfaction, speed and flexibility than did their less-integrated peers.

The IBM CIO Leadership Forum Study was conducted with more than 170 CIOs from leading companies around the world and highlights the increasingly strategic role that technology and the CIO play in generating innovation and growth for their companies.

Additionally, comprehensive research conducted among CEOs - the IBM Global CEO Study2 of 750 CEOs - indicates most companies face a gap in their integration of business and technology, impeding customer satisfaction, speed and flexibility.

Nearly 80 per cent of the CEOs interviewed rated business and technology integration of great importance, but only 45 per cent felt the two were integrated to a large extent in their enterprise. Interestingly, extensive integrators reported revenue increases three times as often as companies that were less integrated, with that group increasing revenue 5 per cent faster than their competitors.

The survey also shows that CIOs see themselves at the nexus of a radically reshaping business landscape. They believe their unique end-to-end view of business allows them to see first-hand the role of technology as an enabler and source of competitive advantage, and they want a greater voice in capitalising on that opportunity. Yet, today many companies still have the CIO siloed as a support function rather than engaged as a business leader and strategic partner for process and culture change. CIOs want to forge stronger relationships with the CEO and other business leaders to turn this around.

The CIOs surveyed believed they could begin to address this gap by getting involved earlier in the strategic decision-making process, forging stronger relationships with CEOs and other business leaders, leading high-profile transformation projects and being measured more on innovation and growth versus more traditional performance and cost metrics.

The Nation