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Pitch Cost-Cutting, But Deliver Process Gains

When proposing emerging technologies to business executives, CIOs are using a new argument: cost reduction. Process improvement remains the top corporate goal for using new technologies, but executives are clearly responding more to the financial pitch.

And while much of the talk around emerging technologies involves competitive advantage, very few CIOs cite it as a top corporate goal, and even fewer say it’s an important element for gaining executive support.

There’s also some divergence in the tools used to meet these corporate goals. Unified communications rates highly in improving processes and cutting costs; wikis help with processes, but much less in cost reduction, while the inverse is true for storage virtualization. When it comes to technologies already deployed, advanced processors top the list, but their ability to improve processes, lower costs or boost revenue rates far lower than that of other highly deployed tools like voice over IP and server virtualization.

On the other hand, buzzworthy technologies like Web video, information technology infrastructure library (ITIL) and enterprise search have far lower deployments and recognized benefits.