Colombia. Nearly two-thirds, 63 percent, of organizations allow technology to be managed outside of IT, a change that brings with it significant business advantages, but greater privacy and security risks.
That's one of the main findings of the Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO 2019 survey. When IT spending is managed outside the direct control of areas run by Chief Information Officers (CIOs), multiple security issues and large-scale cyberattacks are twice as likely to be exposed.
The world's largest technology leadership survey analyzes the responses of organizations with a combined technology spend of more than $250 billion, revealing that in the decisions in which the IT team is involved, they achieve advantages that include improving the time to market new products (52% more likely to be significantly better than their competitors).
However, four out of ten companies (43%) do not formally involve IT teams in those decisions that directly concern them and that would favor the business, these organizations are twice as likely to have multiple security drawbacks and are exposed to be less effective in building customer trust with technology.
It also increases by 9% the possibility of being the target of a cyber attack with a highly negative impact. These risks are discovered at a time when cybersecurity is reaching an all-time high as a board priority; 56% compared to 49% in the previous edition.
This panorama opens a great opportunity to capitalize on the value of the IT area in companies, but also to manage their risks, since they live moments of significant changes:
• Less contact, more influence: Fewer CIOs are on boards today, but 66% believe the role is gaining relevance compared to 65% in 2018. The decline from being an active part of the boards went from 71% to 58% in just two years.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are driving a big change: a large percentage of boards of directors are responsible for the IT department to use automation and artificial intelligence to improve the efficiency of companies, CIOs estimate that one in five jobs will be replaced by these technologies within the next five years. This is likely to lead to a significant reorganization of roles across the enterprise, yet 69% believe the new jobs will make up for job losses from AI and automation.
• Skills shortages: Technology leaders are struggling to find the right talent, as there is currently a high percentage of skills shortages (the highest level since 2008). The scarcest skills are presented in three themes: big data/analytics (44%), cybersecurity (39%) and artificial intelligence (39%).
"In an age where anyone with a smartphone and credit card can set up an IT system, there are incredible opportunities and great risks. Companies that strike the right balance between innovation and governance will be the winners. At the same time, boards are asking their technology team and CIO to prioritize automating jobs. How organizations adapt to automation is increasingly a priority, and many are not quite ready," said Albert Ellis, CEO Harvey Nash.
Digital leaders, better performance
In organizations where leaders implemented digital technologies to advance their business strategies, they performed better than their competitors in all aspects surveyed:
These included time to market, 53% vs 34%; customer experience, 65% vs 49%; revenue growth, 55% vs 43%; and profitability in the last year, 50% vs 37%.
Digital leaders are also more likely to introduce "major new changes to products and services" over the next three years (55% vs. 39%), and focus on making money: 76% of CEOs in leading digital organizations want their technology projects to "do" rather than "save" money.
Quantum computing appears
Although Quantum Computing is at an early stage, 4% (107 global organizations) have implemented it to some degree, having a significant reception in the sectors: pharmaceutical, financial services and energy organizations.
A fifth (22%) of organisations implementing quantum computing are based in the UK; 19% in the US and another 7% in Australia and the Republic of Ireland.
High budget increases
Technology leaders reported that they achieved increases in IT budgets under their control and managed to be the highest in the last 15 years. For technology projects where the CEO prefers to "save money," nearly half (45%) of respondents report budget increases, suggesting that many CEOs are investing to save through automation and signifying increased areas in charge of CIOs.
