2014 State of the CIO

Our 13th annual State of the CIO research reveals a big split. One quarter (25 percent) of the 722 CIOs we surveyed report that the IT group is perceived by colleagues as a true business peer—or even a game-changer—that can create and launch new products and open new markets. These first-class CIOs are driving business innovation, cultivating partnerships and developing business strategy. But toiling far from that exalted place, we find the 48 percent of CIOs who acknowledge that their IT groups are viewed as a more traditional cost center or IT service provider.

The vast majority of CIOs agree that their role is more challenging, and more important than ever to the business. But then there’s that significant minority of CIOs who feel sidelined (28 percent). Digging into our survey results, those “sidelined” CIOs are more likely to head up a “cost center” IT group – probably under intense pressure to cut IT costs – at the same time they’re watching shadow IT increase. The sidelined CIOs also say that they’re asked to be more innovative, but aren’t sure how to do that. These are troubling signs at a time when businesses need innovation to avoid being wiped out by digital disruption.

Our global survey of CIOs shows some differences in the priorities of CIOs in North America versus other locations. More than three quarters of North American IT executives will be seeking ways to improve the use of data and analytics (76 percent), significantly higher than their peers outside of North America (69 percent). CIOs in regions outside of North America appear to be more focused on performance and cost: 46 percent report that improving the IT budget performance will be a high priority, compared to 35 percent of North American CIOs; and 37 percent rate cutting overall IT costs as a high priority, compared to 23 percent of North American CIOs.

Sixty-one percent of CIOs in our survey have part of their compensation tied to a specific corporate revenue or profit goal. These CIOs also report having far different priorities and expectations than the 38 percent of CIOs whose pay is not tied to financial performance. Those priorities and expectations fall into the category of strategic, outward-facing items, such as improving products and services, addressing increasing competition and enabling growth in emerging markets. The 61 percent are also more likely to command higher salaries and spend time cultivating the IT-business partnership.