Intelligent Fin.tech Issue 07 | Page 64

EXPERT FORECAST : BANKING AND FINANCE
Sebastian Grady , President of Strategic Initiatives , Rimini Street
a Digital Transformation project . Perhaps one reason for the slow progress is a level of concern about how risky transformation is with nearly half of CIOs ( 48 %) compared to CTOs ( 40 %) worried about such change being risky – this compares to the average of 43 % of respondents across EMEA .
That sense of risk is perhaps informed by an understanding of the internal and external pressures organisations are facing
The biggest challenge for CIOs asking for funds to invest in Digital Transformation is the market context . as they consider Digital Transformation initiatives . The top three challenges are resources being allocated elsewhere ( which is the biggest concern for both CIOs and CTOs ), followed by worries about being locked in by vendors to existing enterprise software contracts and needing to weigh up the security and risks involved in transformation . As organisations plan their IT strategies for 2023 , they are very concerned about justifying to the board that the IT expenditure is delivering value to the business ( the biggest concern for CIOs ), ensuring the successful implementation of IT initiatives ( the biggest concern for CTOs ) and preventing burnout and keeping up morale among employees .
The tech skills shortage also came through loud and clear . Among the top three concerns respondents said the cost of living means salary expectations cannot be met for new and existing staff . They are also seeing more recruits demand a four-day week working policy , which organisations are not set up to provide and senior executive teams are demanding a return to the office which is putting off recruits . The knock-on effect for existing teams is that they are struggling with workloads due to having to constantly fight fires which means they are becoming less productive . Existing teams are having to rely more and more on external partners to
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