Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 19 | Page 21

LATEST INTELLIGENCE Innovation Many businesses face increased competition from both known and emerging sources. Organisations must deliver innovative services and technologies to differentiate themselves from competitors and help internal users become more productive, efficient and inventive. Accordingly, 31% of survey participants cited innovation as their top priority for adapting to change in 2019. Simplicity IT infrastructure complexity tends to increase over time, as additional technologies are added to existing investments. This can present management, security and delivery challenges for many IT teams. Simplicity is key and 17% of survey respondents cite making IT easier as their leading driver for transformation. Speed As competitive pressures increase, the timeframe for many market opportunities decreases. To protect their market share and gain customers, organisations must be the first to respond to changing demand. Consequently, speed is the primary concern for 16% of survey participants. Cost While 48% of IT leaders expect their budgets to increase over the next 21 months, IT teams still need to balance spending to maximise return on existing investments while delivering more innovation and services. As a consequence, reducing costs remains a top priority for 16% of survey respondents. Experience User experience quality can be the difference between a successful and failed product. In a digital world, internal and external users expect high-performing, seamless and intuitive interfaces and experiences. If users have a poor experience with a product, they quickly look for an alternative that meets their needs. As a result, experience is the most important initiative for 15% of survey respondents. People People form the core of every organisation. As technological change accelerates, IT staff must keep their skills up to date to deliver the most business value. To facilitate this, organisations need to promote a culture of learning and provide ongoing training for their staff. Correspondingly, 5% of survey respondents cite people as their primary focus in 2019. Funding priorities To achieve their goals, organisations are shifting funding from existing IT infrastructure to new IT innovation. In fact, investment in new IT innovation is expected to grow from 43% to 55% of overall IT budgets over the next two years. n Download whitepapers free from www.intelligentcio.com/me/whitepapers/ www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 21