Indian CIOs will invest more than 25 percent of their IT budgets in digital technologies: EY-CIO Klub survey

A new survey by Ernst and Young (EY) and the CIO KLUB has found that CIOs will invest more than 25 percent of their IT budgets in new technologies, especially digital, in its annual survey titled SMAC 3.0: Digital is Here.

According to the survey, 29 percent respondents said their IT budgets would increase more than 10 percent; 35 percent said their IT spend would be between 0-10 percent, as compared to last year.

An interesting trend was the impact of social media. Fifty four percent respondents said social media has been really effective in engaging with customers and enhancing collaboration. Thirty three percent respondents stated that they believe that social media will surely accrue benefits for them in the upcoming years.

Among all the respondents who have considered data analytics to be important for the organization,56 percent agreed that social media is a major contributor to the success of its implementation. This implies that organizations can use the power of social media, integrate an analytics module to it, and provide specific results to users based on their browsing patterns and online profiles, the survey noted.

The uptake on mobility continued to be on a rise with 52 percent respondents having budgeted for mobility in the current financial year.

Cloud computing final got the acceptance, as 57 percent CIOs agreed that they are reaping the benefits of investments made in cloud-based technologies. Of these, 30 percent CIOs are from the infrastructure, real estate and technology verticals.

The survey also highlighted cyber security as a board-level agenda. It is difficult to achieve ROI by investing further in prevention technologies. Seventy three of the respondents feel that to address cyber security risks, investments in a mix of preventive and detective technologies is necessary.

There been a generic trend where smaller organizations will have a larger focus on increasing sales as compared to curtailing costs or improving margins. This focus shifts in favor of margin improvement for larger organizations. As gauged by the survey responses, matured and more established sectors such as automotive, banking and financial services, manufacturing, power and utilities believe improving margins to be their top IT driver. In contrast, growing or maturing sectors such as retail and consumer products, infrastructure, technology, and life sciences voted for increasing sales to be their primary IT agenda.

Nitin Mehta, Director, IT Advisory Services, EY said, “Increasing sales and market share; and focusing on margins will be the key drivers for IT innovation in FY15-16.”

Devendra Parulekar, Partner and India Leader, Cybersecurity, Advisory, EY, said, “Based on the significant enhancements of disruptive technologies, there will be a significant shift for CIOs with respect to managing their internal users and external service providers. CIOs are implementing self-service technologies to allow business users to get more control over their service needs (thus imparting a Do It Yourself-DIY over the earlier Do It For Me-DIFM attitude).

Radhakrishna Pillai, Vice President, CIO Klub, added, “The evolution of analytics is outstanding. From legacy basis reporting, analytics has advanced to entering into the minds of the customer and providing them with a solution to their needs.”

Source:  Ciol.com