CAIRO: A new global study of over 2,500 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) indicates that the implementation of analytics, to increase competitive advantage and improve business decision making, is the current top priority for CIOs. Over 80 percent of respondents identified business intelligence and analytics, the ability to see trends in large amounts of data, as the best way to enhance their organizations competitiveness by allowing them to make more informed decisions pertaining to correlations seen in the data. The survey entitled The New Voice of the CIO was carried out by IBM and represents the insights of CIOs from 78 countries, 19 industries and organizations of all sizes. "CIOs are investing in business analytics capabilities to help them improve decision-making at all levels, Pat Toole, CIO of IBM, said in a statement. "In addition, in this challenging economy, CIOs understand that analytics can be key to new growth markets, whether it's new ways to manage a utility grid or smarter healthcare systems. Another key focus area, as seen in the survey, is aimed at reducing energy costs. 76 percent of the respondents maintained that they would continue on the path to dramatically lower energy costs by either undergoing, or planning to undergo, virtualization projects. Also revealed by the survey is the increasingly urgent concern posed by data reliability and security, with 71 percent of CIOs planning to make additional investments in risk management and compliance. The trend for increased data security is also reflected in Egypt s continued drive towards more secure information technology infrastructure. Most of all, what the survey highlights is the ever changing role of the CIO. In the past the CIOs job has been solely concerned with the running of internal infrastructure and reducing costs, now they are beginning to spend more time on transformations, helping their companies grow revenues. The duality of the role of the CIO, to be both a visionary and pragmatist, a value creator and a cost cutter, is an issue [we, the CIOs] have to deal with everyday, said Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, CIO and director of the Office for Technology, New York state. In the study, CIOs also identified their top visionary projects that were currently being worked on and those that they foresaw implementing in the future. These projects ranged from process improvement to taking advantage of financial impact technologies, such as business intelligence and analytics, green IT and cloud computing. Given the challenging global business environment that the world is currently witnessing, it is encouraging to see that companies remain eager to innovate and develop new technological advantages as they drive efficiency forwards. "The role of the CIO is changing dramatically, said Toole.
