CIOs must use technology to strengthen the customer experience and eliminate costly internal distortions, analyst group Gartner has warned.

A global survey of more than 2,300 CIOs in 45 countries found that IT organisations will have to deliver on multiple priorities without an increase in their IT budget.

Technology leaders who concentrate on ICT as a force of operational automation, integration and control will lose ground to those who see technology as a business amplifier and source of innovation, the analyst warns.

Mark McDonald, group vice president for Gartner Executive Programs and Gartner Fellow, said: “Technology’s role in the organisation is increasing. This does not mean, however, that the role of the IT organisation is increasing. 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.” McDonald said although the current economic conditions may tempt CIOs to force IT back into cost-cutting mode, senior executives expect technology and the IT department to address the tough challenges. IT budgets are expected to be flat, increasing just 0.5%, with declining IT budgets in North America and Europe, according to the study.

Gartner’s Top 10 CIO Business and Technology Priorities for 2012

• Increasing enterprise growth
• Analytics and business intelligence
• Attracting and retaining new customers
• Mobile technologies
• Reducing enterprise costs
• Cloud computing (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS)
• Creating new products and services (innovation)
• Collaboration technologies (workflow)
• Delivering operational results
• Legacy modernisation
• Improving efficiency
• IT management
• Improving profitability (margins)
• CRM
• Attracting and retaining the workforce
• ERP applications
• Improving marketing and sales effectiveness
• SecurityExpanding into new markets and geographies
• Virtualisation


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