New Zealand Tech chiefs closer to CEO's- newspaper article

AUSTRALIAN and New Zealand technology chiefs tend to enjoy a closer relationship with the chief executive than their global counterparts do, according to research. The Global IBM CIO Study, involving 2500 chief information officers from 78 countries, shows the role is increasingly strategic. CIOs act as visionaries, business leaders and drivers of innovation and financial growth. The 129 CIOs interviewed in Australia and New Zealand were largely from medium-sized distribution and other businesses. Sixty per cent worked in organisations with between 1000 and 10,000 employees. The research, "The New Voice of the CIO", finds tech chiefs in these small and medium businesses have a closer relationship with the chief executive than their global counterparts, because the organisations are smaller with fewer management layers. CIOs in regional businesses have more influence on business strategy than their global counterparts. Seventy-seven per cent of Australian and New Zealand CIOs also hold a seat on the senior management team, compared with 54 per cent internationally.The study shows 98 per cent of the region's CIOs cited virtualisation as the key tool to enhance their organisation's competitiveness, compared with 77 per cent of all CIOs surveyed globally. As well, 94 per cent of the region's CIOs identified business intelligence and analytics as the next best way to enhance competitiveness, compared with 83 per cent globally.
"What we found overall is that in Australia and New Zealand, CIOs had to focus on more priorities than CIOs globally," Mr Stubbs-Race said. "If we drill down they have to focus on virtualisation, business intelligence and analytics and it seems the global folk have been doing it a little longer." The study reveals that data reliability and security are increasingly urgent concerns. Some 83 per cent of Australian and New Zealand CIOs planned to make extra investments in risk management and compliance, compared with 72 per cent globally. The survey also reveals that 39 per cent of Australian and New Zealand CIOs view cloud computing as strategic and plan to use it, even in the technology's relatively early stages.
Other key findings include that 67 per cent of the region's CIOs see green IT as a key strategic focus. The data also confirms that CIOs are focusing on mobility systems and unified communications, collaboration and social networking tools, and Web 2.0 projects to enable more effective communication for employees, customers and partners. style="font-style:italic;">