Dive Brief:
- CIOs are moving from the back office to become active business drivers. In the next two years, compensation will reflect that with 80% of IT executives' earnings based on IT's contribution to business growth and performance, according to IDC Worldwide CIO Agenda 2019 predictions. CIOs that don't empower IT teams to disrupt, scale and innovate "will fail in their roles."
- The majority of CIOs, 70%, will have to cut costs while improving IT agility and driving innovation. They will be confronted by a host of privacy and ethics questions as they apply data, artificial intelligence and machine learning to the business to seize new opportunities. By 2022, 65% of leaders will have to modernize governance policies to accommodate these changes.
- In the next three years, 65% of CIOs will push agile and DevOps practices into their organization to boost innovation, change and execution, according to IDC. With a slim talent pool for newer technologies, developing skills internally and retaining talent will be differentiating strategies for a successful CIO.
Dive Insight:
CIOs have to create an agile and nimble business, meeting the imperatives of digital transformation while juggling the curveballs of budgets, culture change and talent shortages. They must take risks, but also ensure they are driving profit.
The changing workflows and processes are making CIOs culture custodions, responsible for slowly changing the habits and mindsets of their teams and sustaining the momentum over long periods of time.
As customers demand more of their providers, CIOs also have to take greater efforts to step outside of their organization and work with the client, as well as devise the flexibility to meet customers where they are in the digital transformation or product journey.
Empowering the CIO and giving them the close ear of the CEO and senior management team is crucial to integrating IT throughout business operations.
