CIOs Must Be Decisive and Resourceful in 2009

gfmstudio — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:52:16 +0000

Meeting the challenges of 2009 requires CIOs to lead their organizations and enterprises through decisions that have no simple answers. CIOs need to lead and have the foresight to look at IT in new ways. They will demonstrate this leadership through four imperatives:
• Be decisive in setting priorities on actions that raise enterprise effectiveness, with a focus on improving business process, using business intelligence to raise visibility, and enhancing workforce effectiveness.
• Do the “first things faster,” as changing economic conditions render a large project irrelevant. CIOs need to apply a prioritization process to their schedule and recognize that other important priorities can wait. They need to place greater emphasis on the schedule (when) rather than the priorities (why).
• Be resourceful in restructuring IT to raise its productivity and agility, because the business will not reduce its demand for IT just because CIOs have fewer resources.
• Modernize the technical infrastructure, as new technologies offer lower cost, use less energy, deliver better performance and provide greater capacity; the business will need all of these in the immediate future.
“These imperatives form the basis for the CIO agenda and its focus on making the enterprise more effective,” Mr. McDonald said. “Every CIO will start at a different place, facing unique challenges and setting his or her own agenda to marshal the resources needed to make the right decisions and deliver results across the enterprise.”
This year’s survey collected data in the midst of the economic changes in the fourth quarter of 2008. As such, it provides a snapshot of CIO plans, priorities and budgets for 2009 as they stood at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009. They represent Gartner’s best current indication of CIO plans at this time. Given the volatility of current markets, Gartner EXP plans to conduct a follow-up survey in late first quarter or early second quarter of 2009 as enterprises establish new guidance on their 2009 budgets.

Additional comments from Mr. McDonald regarding the 2009 CIO Agenda survey are available on the Gartner YouTube channel at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5E69WhGwOA0, as well as on Mr. McDonald’s blog on the Gartner Blog Network at http://blogs.gartner.com/mark_mcdonald/.

Gartner EXP worldwide survey of more than 1,500 CIOs shows IT Spending to be flat in 2009

gfmstudio — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:48:45 +0000

CIOs Plan on Same Budgets as Last Year, but IT Leaders Will Spend Differently in 2009

STAMFORD, Conn., January 14, 2009 — As enterprises face a challenging economic environment, IT spending budgets will be essentially flat with a planned increase of 0.16 percent in 2009, according to results from the 2009 CIO survey by Gartner Executive Programs (EXP).

The worldwide survey of 1,527 CIOs was conducted by Gartner EXP from September 15 to December 15 2008 and represents CIO budget plans reported at that time. Flat IT budgets were found across enterprises in North America and Europe, with slight increases in Latin America and a slight decrease in Asia/Pacific.

The Gartner EXP CIO report “Meeting the Challenge: The 2009 CIO Agenda” represents the most comprehensive examination of business priorities and CIO strategies. The CIOs surveyed represent more than $138 billion in corporate and public-sector IT spending, encompassing 1,527 enterprises across 48 countries and 30 industries.

“In 2009, executives face challenging global economic conditions that have not existed for more than 50 years,” said Mark McDonald, group vice president and head of research for Gartner EXP. “This environment is reflected in IT budgets, priorities and strategies as one third of CIOs reported no change in their budget from 2008, while 46 percent reported a slight increase, and 21 percent reported a cut in IT budgets.”

“All CIOs will face the need to restructure their budgets, cutting in some areas and investing in others, including those reporting no change in their overall spending level,” Mr. McDonald said. “Enterprises expect IT to contribute results in an uncertain economy. CIOs need to be decisive and resourceful in building an effective enterprise that can meet current and future challenges. Leading enterprises recognize the seriousness of economic conditions, but they are not paralyzed by them. Their leaders have confidence in their ability to use IT to achieve results.”

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CIOs Must Be Decisive and Resourceful in 2009

Gartner EXP worldwide survey of more than 1,500 CIOs shows IT Spending to be flat in 2009