BI, value creation key for CIOs: Gartner

CIO - Increasing enterprise growth, reducing costs and attracting new customers are the three areas CIOs are focusing their attention on in 2011, according to the latest research from Gartner.

The analyst firm's 2011 CIO Agenda research, based on the responses of some 2000 CIOs worldwide, indicated most in the position had a clear focus on the growth of their business for the next year, with a priority on improved business intelligence.

“Business intelligence is appearing fairly rapidly, and it’s been number one for several years,” Gartner analyst John Roberts said at a press briefing in Sydney.

“Now does everyone work for an intelligent business where everyone in your organisation has exactly the right information in the right format in the right time to make the possible question? I ask people in business processes that question and most of the time the answer I get is 'no'.”

Roberts said CIOs may become complacent, and need to find new opportunities to innovate in the IT space.

“We’ve digitised more and more of our business processes across our organisation, but still I want you to say there are great opportunities to look for the white space,” he said. “We have an opportunity to change business models thanks to the technologies that we have today.”

Finding new opportunities to create greater business value will be vital, according to Roberts, predicting CIOs could have adverse compensation or bonuses by 2015 if they can't deliver required levels of value to the business. Some CIOs and high-level executives, such as Commonwealth Bank's Michael Harte, already have a certain percentage of their annual compensation based on reliability of systems and customer satisfaction.

With the stakes raised even higher for CIOs in 2011, Roberts said IT leaders are being put in a complicated position of needing to take risks in a time of uncertainty.

“It’s going to be all about risk and placing your bets in a very uncertain world to move forward,” Roberts said. “Reaching that decision point will be something that will impact a lot of people’s minds over the next year or two.”

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9207098/www.cio.com.au894923100

Gartner urges CIOs to harness power of social networking

CIOs need to begin exploiting the potential of social networking technology this year, or risk losing the initiative to other parts of the business, analyst company Gartner warned today.

IT departments face an unprecedented opportunity in 2011 to take ownership of social media, said Ken McGee, vice president and research analyst at Gartner.

The last time an opportunity like this came up was the arrival of the web. That traded away from IT to sales and marketing. Our advice to IT is don't blow it this time," he said.

CIOs will need to understand topics such as cognitive psychology and sentiment analysis, in addition to their traditional technical skills, as social media becomes ubiquitous, Gartner claims.

"There is no greater force on the planet to consumers than the input of people they know or those that are their peers. That cannot be ignored," said McGee.

Social media is only one of a number of technologies that are beginning to transform the IT department from a cost centre into a revenue-generating part of the business.

CIOs will be able to take advantage of context aware computing, pattern recognition technologies and other innovative IT projects, if they want to drive revenue for the business.

"In the past, IT has been a cost centre that helps reduce costs and increase productivity. We have never seen a period where there are as many IT-enabling business drivers that are revenue drivers." he said.

"This is a clarion call to say you better get on board or see the train go by."

McGee advises CIOs to audit their company's top performing products and services, to identify which can benefit from social networking and other revenue-generating technologies.

"This is the year to make a decision whether this applies to you or not. And if it does, you need to start on the path. Apply 50% of your training budget to acquire some of the social science skills needed. Start this year," he said.

By the middle of the decade, companies will be hiring CIOs as much for their ability to generate revenue for the business as for their project skills.

"It is an evolution. As people leave their slots, the CEOs and the boards will say more often than not, we need someone unlike the person who has just left," McGee said.

However, he warns that many CIOs could miss the chance.

"Given the current course and speed, it could go the way of the missed opportunity we saw in the early days of the web. That is why we are offering no apology for getting on the rooftops saying here is an opportunity," he said.