• Top-performing enterprises are accelerating digital innovation and leveraging emerging technologies to come out stronger on the other side of the pandemic.
• Organisations that have increased their use of digital channels to reach customers are 3.5 times more likely to be a top performer than a trailing performer.

2021 will be a race to digital, with the spoils going to those organisations that can maintain the momentum built up during their response to the pandemic, an industry expert said.

“Nothing, yet everything, has changed for the CIO. The support for remote work that the Covid-19 pandemic brought on might be the biggest win for CIOs since Y2K. They now have the attention of the CEO, they have convinced senior business leaders of the need to modernise technology, and they have prompted boards of directors to accelerate enterprise digital business initiatives,” Andy Rowsell-Jones, Distinguished Research Vice-President at Gartner, said.

CIOs must seize this moment because they may never get another opportunity like it, he said.

According to 2021 Gartner CIO Agenda survey gathered data from 1,877 CIO respondents in 74 countries and all major industries, top-performing enterprises are accelerating digital innovation and leveraging emerging technologies to come out stronger on the other side of the pandemic, which has arguably been the most significant “turn” in 2020, according to Gartner, Inc.’s annual global survey of CIOs.

In 2021, he said that CIOs must build on the momentum they created for their enterprises.

“The better CIOs perform for the business, the more the business will ask of them next year,” he said.

The CIO survey revealed four ways CIOs can make a difference in digital business acceleration and long-term agility – win differently, unleash force multipliers, banish drags and redirect resources.

Win differently

CIOs can help the enterprise anticipate the increasingly digital interactions expected by customers. In India, 76 per cent of survey respondents said that demand for new digital products and services increased in 2020, with even more respondents (84 per cent) reporting that it will increase in 2021.

 “This is a watershed moment for CIOs. There is no going back to the way business used to be,” Rowsell-Jones said.

The survey uncovered two areas of customer digitalisation where top performers* are significantly more aggressive than typical performers: the use of digital channels to reach customers and achieve citizen engagement, along with the rate of introduction of new digital products and services. Nine out of ten of the top performers are pursuing digital channels, and almost three-quarters are introducing digital products faster.

Organisations that have increased their use of digital channels to reach customers are 3.5 times more likely to be a top performer than a trailing performer.  

“Those at the top have gone all-in on digital business, and they have developed the capabilities to allow them to do it,” Rowsell-Jones said. 

Unleash force multipliers

Respondents were asked to characterise certain changes related to enterprise IT leadership trends as a result of the pandemic. Roughly 70 per cent of CIOs deepened their knowledge of specific business processes to advise the business, and the same proportion did more to measure and articulates the value of IT. 

“Although the Covid-19 response appeared to be a simple exercise of deploying PCs, it created profound opportunities for CIOs,” Rowsell-Jones said. 

“CIOs were able to refocus IT leadership around digital business acceleration and remodel the enterprise’s core technology. At one point or another, every CIO got a chance to shine during the pandemic.”

Banish drags

The survey found that CIOs can help accelerate digital by systemically seeking out and eliminating drags (e.g., detrimental employee productivity as many staff move to working from home and falling cost competitiveness due to rapid changes in business conditions during Covid-19). 

While most respondents reported they were behind in sales volumes during the pandemic, only 29 per cent of top performers in India reported a decrease in sales volume versus 45 per cent of typicals and 62 per cent of trailings. 

However, there were still a few areas that stood strong: Respondents reported increased performance for new business initiatives, acquisitions, cost competitiveness, and employee productivity.

Although revenue took a big hit, Rowsell-Jones said that CIOs decided to fight back rather than go into a defensive crouch. 

When asked about shifts in demand, 58 per cent of top performers reported an increase in demand from new post-Covid customers versus 49 per cent for the typical group and 37 per cent for those trailing. 

Redirect resources

Survey respondents projected a two per cent IT budget increase for 2021, on average – slightly down from the 2020 survey (2.8 per cent). To direct investments and people toward new business priorities in the Renewal phase, top performers are leaning into this shift more than typical or trailing performers, with 63 per cent of top performers stating funding for digital innovation has increased and only 52 per cent of typical performers reporting the same. 

Organisations that have increased their funding of digital innovation are 2.7 times more likely to be a top performer than a trailing performer.

 “Top performers got a head start because their CIOs faced fewer constraints. They were more likely to secure additional IT funding to support experimentation than their typical and trailing counterparts,” Rowsell-Jones said.