Forecast for Management 2009: CIO Challenges and Priorities

This IDC study presents further results from IDC's Forecast for Management Survey, 2009. CIOs believe the situation was difficult enough when they had to deal with an onslaught of disruptive technologies transforming IT (e.g., service-oriented architecture [SOA], software as a service [SaaS], convergence, and Web 2.0). Now, that transformation is taking place in an economic pressure cooker. Whilst we used to talk about using IT as a tool for business transformation, that business transformation was generally considered voluntary. Now, thanks to the global economic crisis, there is business transformation whether CIOs like it or not. This report explores the current challenges faced by CIOs, and key business or organisational issues emerging from these challenges.

"Not surprisingly, cost reduction is cited as the biggest challenge faced by CIOs in ANZ as the global financial turmoil has dealt a major headache to businesses, with 27.6% of CIOs stating this as their biggest challenge. In today's business world, CIOs must provide improvements in performance and functionality whilst keeping costs low. The recruitment and retaining of skilled staff is ranked as the second most challenging factor at 10.3%, as organisations that trim down and consolidate job functions are in the market to poach for the top minds and skills available in the market, and also in an anticipation of an upswing in the economy. In fact, recruiting and retaining skilled staff has moved from 9th position into 2nd position in the last five years. This is a significant rise in terms of challenges for Australian CIOs. This certainly correlates with another challenge that has risen into the top 10: IT staff skills development," says Melissa Martin, senior market analyst, IDC Australia.