In its 20th year, the Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey 2018 is the largest IT leadership survey ever undertaken, with just under 4000 responses from chief information officers (CIOs) and technology executives across 84 countries.

The 2017 survey revealed how investment in the cloud has continued to grow. In the 2018 survey, the CIO role continues to change as organisations themselves are forced to transform. The CIO role is transforming as organisations strive to be customer-centric in an environment of increased risk and aim to make a success of digital.

Traditional focus areas like data privacy and security are more important than ever but in order to remain competitive, IT leaders must turn the risks associated with utilising customer data into enablers for driving new revenue growth.

Indeed, the report shows that those managing the balance most effectively, with the customer at the heart of their digital strategy, are significantly more profitable.

Investment in mobile technologies is not far behind. Newer technologies, like blockchain, virtual reality, and
robotic process automation are the focus of only a small proportion of organisations’ investment in niche sectors and have yet to ‘break out’ into wider adoption.

Highlights of the 2018 survey findings include:

• Customer-centric organisations are 38 percent more likely to report greater profitability than the ones that are not
• Making a success of digital strategy is proving complex, with almost eight in ten CIOs (78 percent) feeling that their digital strategy is only moderately effective or worse.
• Chief digital officers (CDO) are proving their worth. Organisations with a CDO, either in a dedicated or acting role, are over twice as likely to have a clear and pervasive digital strategy than those without one (44 percent versus 21 percent).
• Almost a quarter (23 percent) more respondents than in 2017 are prioritising improvements in cyber security as cybercrime threats reach an all-time high; however, only a fifth of the respondents feel well prepared for a cyber attack.
• Security and resilience skills see the biggest jump in skills shortages (increasing 25 percent year-on-year), but big data and analytics remains the number one skill in short supply for the fourth year in a row.
• Female IT leadership continues on a slow upward trend, in 2018 year reaching 12 percent (up from 10 percent in 2017), and women represent just one in five on technology teams.
• Investment in shadow IT continues to grow, with 44 percent of organisations now having at least 10 percent of their IT spend outside the control of the CIO. Embracing this trend may be key to success.
• Cloud investment continues to grow, with 70 percent reporting significant or moderate spend, closely followed by mobile solutions (57 percent). Investment in newer digital technologies is increasing but still relatively small in comparison. 

For further insights and to download your copy of the Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey 2018 results, please feel free to contact me / visit our website.

E: pranesh.kara@kpmg.co.za
W: www.kpmg.com/za