CIOs Prepare for Major Disruptions

If the only constant in life is change, then CIOs are living quite the eventful life.

In a recent survey from Harvey Nash and KPMG, titled “CIO Survey 2015: Into an Age of Disruption,” a range of tech topics, including the state of talent recruitment, business strategy and overall IT priorities, are explored.

Nine out of 10 survey respondents believe that digital disruption will impact their organizations within the next decade, and 61% said they think they’ll capitalize on this disruption better than their current and future competitors.

“The speed of technology is what’s driving IT today,” said Bob Miano, president and CEO of Harvey Nash USAPAC. “Disruption is the norm now, so it’s about how fast companies can innovate. Pressure to produce at an accelerated pace is felt across all vertical markets, and has direct ties to the talent war.”

Within this disruptive paradigm, CIOs are expected to deliver consistent and stable IT performance for the business, while relying on tech to drive revenue and cut costs. It’s a tricky balancing act, but the efforts of IT teams and tech leaders have the potential to propel an organization through the tricky waters of disruption.

Here are a few statistics that stood out in the survey:

*Three-quarters of surveyed tech leaders said their organization does not have a chief digital officer or someone who serves in that capacity.

*34% said the CMO leads digital business strategy, while 26% said it’s the COO. Only 14% said the CIO leads this strategy.

*66% of CIOs are primarily focused on IT projects that make money for their organizations, as opposed to 34% who are most interested in tech projects that save money.

*59% said that a tech skills shortage will likely prevent their organization from keeping up with the pace of change.

More than 3,690 global organizational decision-makers–the majority of them CIOs, CTOs and other tech leaders–took part in the research.

Patrick K. Burke is senior editor of CIO Insight.