What CEOs Expect From IT Investment
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Influential Asset
63% of surveyed global CEOs perceive of "quite high" or "very high" value in using digital tools to make strategic decisions, and 56% said the same about using digital tools for risk-related decision-making. -
Appealing Advantages
51% of those surveyed said emerging as a digital champion is "very important" in maximizing digital investments, and 52% cite the need to gain a clear vision of how tech can help achieve competitive advantage. -
Top Value-Drivers for Digital Technologies
Increasing operational efficiencies: 88%, Providing data and data analytics: 84%, Enhancing the customer experience: 77% -
Distinctive Developments
50% said mobile tech for customer engagement is strategically "very important" to their organization, and 48% said data/data analytics is. Another 31% cite the Internet of things as being strategically very important. -
Good News/Bad News
61% see more growth opportunities than they did three years ago. But nearly the same percentage also see more threats to growth than they did three years ago. -
Growth Inhibitors: Compromising Position
61% are concerned about cyber-threats impacting their company's growth, up from 48% who felt this way in 2014. -
Growth Inhibitors: Speed Bump
58% have reservations about the rapid pace of technological change affecting their company's growth, up from 47% last year. -
Growth Inhibitors: Competing Interest
54% are concerned about new market entrants impacting their company's growth, up from 46% in 2014. -
Win-Win Proposition
47% of CEOs said they will collaborate in joint ventures, strategic alliances or informal collaborations to gain access to new/emerging tech, and the same percentage said they'll do so to gain access to new customers. -
Trailblazers
54% have either entered a new sector or sub-sector in the past three years, or have considered doing so.
CEOs no longer perceive of tech operations as some esoteric organizational function that they can keep at a distance. In fact, the majority of corporate leaders believe IT plays an essential role in making strategic decisions, according to a recent survey from PwC. Its "18th Annual Global CEO Survey" report indicates that CEOs want to emerge as "digital champions," while using tech to achieve competitive advantage. However, they also feel that certain aspects of the digital landscape–especially network attacks–can threaten growth. The rapid pace of tech change also presents challenges and, as a result, a notable share of CEOs said they'll form partnerships to access new and emerging IT. "To navigate this digitally led economy, business leaders will need to understand how technology can improve their operations and bring them closer to their customers; embrace collaboration both inside and outside the business; and identify a rich and varied talent pool," according to the report. "More than anything, though, they'll have to develop a flexible vision that allows them to pinpoint their company's strengths, even as their customers, sectors and markets change in front of their eyes." More than 1,320 global CEOs took part in the research.