With IT roles fading, what next for CIOs?

Budgets and control are moving outside the IT department, with about 37 percent of technology spending now happenning outside of IT, claims Avanade in its latest research. “The consumerisation of IT is fundamentally changing the workplace, while more and more business units are procuring their own IT services and support. A survey of 1,003 C-level executives found more than one-third of a company’s total technology purchases are now made by people who don’t sit in the IT department.

Majority of business leaders-79 percent of C-level executives - believe they can make better and faster decisions without the involvement of IT.
[caption id=“attachment_79848” align=“alignleft” width=“300”]  Image: Thinkstock[/caption]
“But that doesn’t mean the CIO’s role is diminishing,” claims the study. Instead, the study revealed a fading boundary for today’s IT departments. Increasingly, CIOs and IT staff are playing the role of business advisors by providing best practices and consulting expertise to both internal stakeholders and external partners.

More from Biztech

Future Group - Reliance Retail Deal approved by CCI RBI ban on cryptocurrencies takes effect; prohibition could force investors to tap the black market

In fact, more than eight in 10 survey respondents said they are comfortable with IT staff interacting directly with important clients and partners in a consultancy role. And, 66 percent of companies plan to expand the role IT plays as business advisor in the next year.

“However, while IT has more opportunity to drive innovation and serve as a strategic advisor, the IT department is still responsible for the maintenance and support of existing systems and applications. This is creating a phenomenon known as “two-speed IT” - where IT staff must balance the support of legacy systems with the need to continuously innovate in order to solve business problems. Even with new client-facing opportunities, time spent managing legacy systems continues to distract the agenda. Today, IT staff spend an average of roughly 14.5 hours each week simply maintaining systems that are already in place,” says Avanade.

Research shows a new “services broker” model for IT is taking hold. More than one-third (35 percent) of IT departments act primarily as services brokers today. This model promises to accelerate the transition by IT staff to business advisors while easing the distraction of traditional maintenance tasks. Among companies whose IT departments act primarily as brokers, 58 percent report they will expand the role of the IT department as services brokers in the next 12 months.

As IT takes a new approach to the business, survey respondents expect the influence of IT to grow, new IT skills to be in demand, and new outside partners to help drive IT initiatives. Ultimately, executives, business managers and IT staff see IT contributing more to achieving business goals.

While traditional IT roles are fading, the bottom line is that these changes are good for both IT and the business. As companies plan expanded roles for IT staff, the majority (68 percent) of these same companies report their IT departments contribute more to accomplishing the objectives of the business than they did just three years ago. And that’s something to be excited about.

Read the full survey here.