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May 14, 2013

CIOs urged to swap control for influence

Technology leaders must swap control for influence in a new Digital Age, according to researchers

By Duncan Macrae

More than one in five CIOs believe that their direct control over technology has diminished since the start of the recession, according to new research, while the proportion of companies where more than 10% of technology spend lies outside the control of the IT department has almost doubled to 40% in the past three years.

Despite this, the 15th Annual CIO Technology Survey 2013, found that CIOs see their roles as growing in importance, but recognise that their value is increasingly driven through collaboration and influence, rather than direct control.

The survey was conducted by Harvey Nash in association with TelecityGroup, presenting the views of more than 2,000 CIOs and technology leaders across 20 countries.

According to the study, the proportion of IT departments where 10% or more of IT spend is controlled outside the IT department has increased from 23% in 2011, to 33% in 2012, to 40% in 2013.

The survey also highlighted that marketing, sales and specialist digital teams are increasingly becoming technology ‘owners’. One third of digital projects are owned and run by marketing alone and a further 42% are jointly run by IT and marketing.

There has been a growth in Bring Your Own Device, with 46% of those surveyed expecting the proportion of their IT estate to be owned and managed directly by users to grow over the next year.

The research also noted a continuing trend of using external providers rather than internal teams. A total of 43% of those surveyed expect to increase spend on outsourcing, almost three times as many as those expecting a decline in spend (16%). A further 27% of IT departments employ a quarter or more of their team on a flexible basis – the highest it has been since the survey started tracking this factor in 2010.

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