EMEA CIOs more likely to scale digital initiatives

Gartner analysts presented the survey findings during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, which is taking place here until Thursday. The 2019 Gartner CIO Agenda Survey gathered data from 3,102 CIOs, including 921 in 53 EMEA countries, and all major industries.

The EMEA sample represents nearly $5 trillion in revenue/public-sector budget and $79 billion in IT spending. Furthermore, there will be more money spent on IT in future, as IT budgets in EMEA are projected to increase by 3.3 per cent, on average, in 2019.

In parallel, the maturity of digital business in EMEA can be ascertained by looking at the types of jobs that exist internally. In EMEA, 31 per cent of the CIO respondents said their organisations have a cloud architect, 17 per cent have a digital workplace leader, and 13 per cent hired an algorithm designer.

Nearly Half of EMEA CIOs Report Business Model Change

The maturity of digital business is forcing organisations to change business models. Forty-seven per cent of the EMEA CIOs surveyed reported that their organisations have already changed business models or are in the process of doing so. “In this shift, the role of the CIO is key,” said Mr Rowsell-Jones. “This is confirmed by the results of the survey, which showed that 58 per cent of CIO respondents in EMEA are taking a leading role or are heavily involved in the business model change.”

For 39 per cent of the EMEA organisations undergoing a change of business model, the major drivers are the desire to react to changing consumer demands, which include better customer service, and the need to protect their brand reputation. The survey showed that CIOs in EMEA are focusing their efforts to improve the customer experience by making engagement with their organisations easier (49 per cent) and using digital business to reduce the cost of consumers’ engagement (46 per cent).

AI and Data and Analytics Are Game-Changing Technologies in 2019

Digital initiatives are the No. 1 business priority for 29 per cent of CIOs in EMEA for the remainder of this year and next year, which means that spending on disruptive technologies will increase. The survey found that 44 per cent of EMEA CIO respondents will direct the largest portion of their new spending to business intelligence/data and analytics, 41 per cent to cybersecurity and 37 per cent to digital business initiatives (including marketing). These will be the three most funded technology areas in 2019.

Artificial intelligence (AI) came in at sixth for new or increased spending in 2019, but was identified as the No. 1 game-changing technology area, closely followed by data and analytics. Data and analytics, historically the leader in this regard, took second place this year, being identified by 23 per cent of the EMEA respondents. The survey results show a maturing of AI use cases in EMEA. This year, voice interfaces (specifically chatbots) and process optimisation are among the top five technologies that EMEA CIOs have already deployed or will deploy in the next 12 months. “AI has gone mainstream. It’s now a technology that interfaces with customers and internal operations staff,” said Mr Rowsell-Jones.

With regards to implementation, unsurprisingly, given expectations of security challenges and the tightening of regulations, cybersecurity was ranked the top digital deployment technology in EMEA. CIO respondents increased their deployment of cybersecurity year over year, with 86 per cent having already deployed it or planning to do so in the next 12 months. This represents a 10 percentage point increase over last year’s finding.

“This year, EMEA CIOs are excelling at scaling their digital initiatives,” said Mr Rowsell-Jones. “However, they face barriers, including insufficient resources (44 per cent) and business culture blocking change (38 per cent). To continue the positive momentum, it’s paramount that EMEA CIOs build stronger relationships with business executives and promote the value of IT internally.”