About 50% of the board directors are willing to invest in IT as a means to change the rules of competition and had IT as the highest priority for investment in 2012, tied with investments in sales, according to the second annual Gartner-Forbes 2012 Board of Directors Survey.
The survey by Gartner and Forbes polled 175 board members in March and April of 2012 regarding their perceptions of the key business issues facing their organisations, and the contemporary aspect of their attitudes toward IT.
Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst Jorge Lopez said board directors clearly have a top priority to invest in IT and leverage IT for competitive advantage.
"These forward-looking and proactive attitudes are being made although more than half of the survey respondents replied that they are preparing for a market recession," Lopez added.
"It underlines the fact that that the investments they plan to make are essential to growth and even survival, and that they are willing to throw the investment gauntlet down now, rather than later."
The priorities of the board directors in this survey were directly centered on customers, building better ways to drive the business forward through better core competencies, working on sustaining competitive advantage, or innovation.
Gartner analysts said all of these are proactive efforts to acquire, retain or develop customers and markets.
About 86% of respondents said they believe that IT’s strategic contribution to the business will increase by 2014.
Gartner fellow and vice president Mark Raskino said the best strategy for the CIO is to select projects that drive the strategic priorities of the firm.
"Although this seems obvious, in practice, it is challenging to drive consensus on what that exactly means," Mark added.
"CIOs need to review project elements with the CEO and key board sponsors, so they can understand that the project is designed to enhance their priorities in a meaningful way."
The research firm said the fastest-rising priority is pursuing greater diversity in the business portfolio, which will drive mergers and acquisitions (M&As).
Gartner recommends that IT leaders review their plans for integrating acquired company systems and should also prepare for divestitures as the investment portfolio is restructured for lower risk.
According to the survey, the top five priorities of the board were attracting new customers, retaining and enhancing existing customers, focusing on core competencies, maintaining competitive advantage
and fostering innovation.
The top spots were dominated by issues that have a direct connection to revenue and profit and the fastest-rising priorities point to the rise of pursuing greater diversity in the business portfolio, which is usually a move to reduce the overall risk of an enterprise.
As boards seek ways to extend their competitive advantage increasingly look to IT as a source of that advantage, Gartner believes that IT-enabled business models will be useful as advances in technology continue to gain ground, and the reputation of IT as a means to improve productivity persists, the survey found.
