The IT Transformation Imperative

Driving meaningful change to make tangible difference

An important part of the CIO’s role has always been to monitor technology industry developments and figure out when and how to take new ideas and solutions on board. But more recently it seems as if a whole range of trends have reached inflection points over a very short space of time – not least in areas such as cloud, DevOps and AI/ML. The widespread digital transformation that ensued was then accelerated by recent global events. In this research report, we look at how the IT organisation itself needs to change in order to keep up and get ahead.

Key Takeaways

CIOs agree that IT transformation has become critical

Against the backdrop of recent health-care and geopolitical disruption, and the ongoing march of digital transformation, 85% of CIOs in a recent study agreed that internal change is necessary within the IT organisation to keep up with demand.

The changes taking place are fundamental and broad

IT transformation is not just about systems modernisation or the shift to cloud. Over the past two years, CIOs have defined change agendas covering everything from business alignment through application lifecycle activities to risk management.

Activity is firmly centred on driving business outcomes

While most initiatives in this space are focused on changing the way IT operates, the actual objectives include improving the top and bottom lines, enhancing business innovation and competitiveness, and driving customer-related success.

There’s still lots to be done and challenges to overcome

For the vast majority of initiatives declared in our study, work is either still ongoing or just kicking off. However, progress is often constrained by time and resource limitations, skills shortfalls, or fighting with inflexible legacy systems and processes.

The need for help from partners is strongly recognised

Five out of six CIOs say they can’t go it alone and are either using or seeking help from partners to fill skills, experience, knowledge and resource gaps. A range of services is seen as relevant, with a particular focus on more targeted offerings.

Download the Research Report to read more…

Dale Vile

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Dale is a co-founder of Freeform Dynamics, and today runs the company. As part of this, he oversees the organisation’s industry coverage and research agenda, which tracks technology trends and developments, along with IT-related buying behaviour among mainstream enterprises, SMBs and public sector organisations.