Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 22 | Page 21

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TRENDING CIOS IN AFRICA ‘PLAY A CENTRAL ROLE IN DEFINING NEW BUSINESS MODELS’ Analysts examine the results of the Gartner 2019 CIO Agenda that took place at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Cape Town, South Africa. D igital business is maturing and forcing organisations to change their business models and look to IT to help. According to Gartner Inc’s annual CIO survey, half of the CIOs in Africa said their organisation has changed or is in the process of changing their business models and the CIO will have a pivotal role to play. The survey found that 63% of respondents in Africa are taking a lead role or are heavily involved in the decision to change business models. The survey also revealed that IT has a paramount role to play in the change. “For 90% of CIOs in Africa IT is very or extremely important to business model www.intelligentcio.com change,” said Tomas Nielsen, Research Director at Gartner. The survey gathered data from more than 3,000 CIO respondents in 89 countries and all major industries, representing around US$15 trillion in revenue and public-sector budgets and US$284 billion in IT spending. A total of 62 CIOs from Africa were surveyed, representing US$4.4 billion in IT spending. The need for a new foundation The shift in business and operating models means that CIOs must secure a new foundation for IT. Globally, 33% of organisations are scaling and harvesting the results of digital business, while in Africa, only 21% of CIOs are at that stage. “ AFRICAN CIOS ARE STILL CATCHING UP ON THEIR DIGITAL BUSINESS EFFORTS COMPARED WITH THEIR CIO PEERS GLOBALLY. INTELLIGENTCIO 21