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Published on Tuesday, 18 September 2012 06:36
As CIOs in Asia continue their push for growth, a focus on cost structure, people and processes reflects their integral role in the business, according to Gartner.
Speaking recently in Singapore, Gartner executive programs group vice president for Asia Pacific Linda Price said the priorities of CIOs were becoming closely aligned with those of their global counterparts.“This is the first time we’ve seen such an alignment and it shows Asia and the rest of the world are becoming one,” she said. “Globalization is having a huge impact on the global CIOs’ view of business.”
Ten Business and Technology Priorities
The business and technology priorities of Asian CIOs are strongly aligned with their global counterparts, with a few notable differences. Leading the technology priority list for Asian CIO’s this year are business intelligence and analytics, mobile technologies and cloud computing.
Top 10 Business Priorities Asia Rank Global Rank Top 10 Technology Priorities Asia Rank Global Rank
Increasing enterprise growth
1
1 Business intelligence and analytics
1
1
Attracting and retaining new customers
2
2 Mobile technologies
2
2
Reducing enterprise costs
3
3 Cloud computing
3
3
Creating new products or services (innovation)
4
4 Customer relationship management (CRM) applications
4
8
Consolidating, standardising and streamlining operations
5
- Collaboration technologies
5
4
Improving efficiency
6
6 Enterprise resource applications
6
9
Expanding into new markets or geographies
7
10 IT management technologies
7
7
Managing and delivering operational results
8
5 Security technologies
8
10
Improving profitability (margins)
9
7 Legacy application modernisation, upgrade or replacement
9
6
Improving quality of products and services
10
- Virtualisation desktop, server and storage
10
5
Source: Gartner Executive Programs (2012)
Reducing enterprise costs did not make the top ten business priority list for CIOs in Asia in 2011, but ranked number three on the list worldwide. Since then, however, it has become the third most important business priority in 2012. In line with this, Asian CIOs are also focused on consolidating, standardizing and streamlining operations, but this did not feature on the priority list of their global counterparts.
Business intelligence and analytics increased in significance from fifth in 2011 to lead the priority list in 2012. This is largely due to CIOs combining analytics with other technologies to create new capabilities, such as analytics plus supply chain for process management and improvement; analytics plus mobility for field sales and operations; and analytics plus social for customer engagement and acquisition. Customer relationship management applications were a new entry into the top ten technology list this year, rising straight to fourth position. This supports the focus of Asian CIOs on attracting and retaining new customers in 2012.
IT Budgets
CIOs in Asia reported an average IT budget increase of 5.4 percent over 2011, better than the nominal 0.5 percent worldwide average increase. Fifty seven percent of CIOs in Asia expected an increased budget this year, compared to 45 percent globally; 28 percent said their budget would remain flat (compared to 36 percent globally); while 15 percent of CIOs in Asia and reported that budgets would decrease from 2011 levels, compared with 19 percent globally. “Europe and America are going into a very difficult period and our view is that more companies are decreasing their IT budget. Asia remains a bright spot," Price adds.
The CIO Role in Asia
The current tenure of CIOs in Asia averages 3.5 years, compared to a global average of 4.6 years. Also, 58 percent of Asian CIOs report to the CEO in their organization, compared to 42 percent globally. CIOs in Asia estimate that they spend 60 percent of their time on IT related activities and responsibilities, and the remainder on broader business activities and responsibilities, similar to how CIOs around the world spend their time.
----Gartner
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