Business intelligence and analytics, mobile technologies and cloud computing top the technology priority list for Asian chief information offiers (CIO) this year, according to the 2012 Gartner Executive Programs (EXP) CIO Agenda survey.
Gartner EXP group vice president for Asia Pacific Linda Price said that the priorities of CIOs in Asia were becoming more closely aligned with those of their global counterparts.
"This is the first time that we’ve seen such a tight alignment and I think it shows that Asia and the rest of the world are becoming one," Price said.
"Globalization is really having a huge impact on the global CIOs’ view of business."
Asian CIO’s business and technology priorities are aligned with their global counterparts, with a few differences.
Last year, reducing enterprise costs ranked number three on the list worldwide but did not make the top ten business priority list for CIOs in Asia.
Since 2011, reducing enterprise costs has become the third most important business priority in 2012.
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Asian CIOs are also focused on consolidating, standardising and streamlining operations, but reducing enterprise costs did not feature on the priority list of their global counterparts.
Business intelligence and analytics increased in significance from fifth in 2011 to lead the priority list in 2012 due to CIOs combining analytics with other technologies to create new capabilities.
New entry in the top ten technology list this year was customer relationship management applications which raised to fourth position in the list.
Customer relationship management applications supports the focus of Asian CIOs on attracting and retaining new customers in 2012.
CIOs in Asia reported an average IT budget increase of 5.4% over 2011, better than the 0.5% worldwide average increase.
According to survey, 57% of CIOs in Asia expected an increased budget this year, compared to 45% globally and 28% said their budget would remain flat, compared to 36% globally.
In the survey, 15% of CIOs in Asia reported that budgets would decrease from 2011 levels, compared with 19 % globally.
"Europe and America are going into a very difficult period and our view is that more companies are decreasing their IT budget. Asia remains a bright spot," Price said.
The current tenure of CIOs in Asia averages 3.5 years, compared to a global average of 4.6 years.
The survey also revealed that 58% of Asian CIOs report to the CEO in their organization, compared to 42% globally.
CIOs in Asia estimate that they spend 60% of their time on IT related activities and responsibilities while the remaining 40% will spend on broader business activities and responsibilities, similar to how CIOs around the world spend their time.
