IT-intensive industries 51% 53% 67% 38% strongly agree that hold a seat at the show clear potential of CIOs within IT- they are taking the executive management to provide a stronger intensive industries lead in pioneering new table, compared with and more strategic are highly engaged on digital approaches just 17% of CIOs in all engagement with the core strategic issues. within their business. industries. business on digital transformation. Executive summary Digital technologies — including social media, the cloud, data Some of our key findings include: analytics and mobile — are rapidly emerging as disruptive forces for businesses across all industries, from retailers and banks through to carmakers and energy companies. They are fundamentally CIOs see digital as a major changing the ways in which consumers interact with these companies, while also opening up new business models at the heart 1opportunity to fulfill their career of these firms. aspirations. These changes are already apparent to nearly all of us as consumers. Just think: when did you last book a private flight From Nestlé’s push into direct online selling as a without going online? Or go into a bank branch to transfer funds? consumer brand, to Caterpillar’s creation of new lines of Or use a phone book to find a restaurant’s number? With every services for clients, CIOs at all kinds of firms are using month that passes, more services go digital: from checking and digital technology to transform their businesses. These adjusting your home’s energy usage via a mobile app, to borrowing exciting possibilities align closely with the career a stranger’s car for an hour to pick up something urgent, or lending aspirations of CIOs. However, even in IT-intensive money to a tiny business you’ve never heard of in a foreign country industries, only half (51%) strongly agree that they are in exchange for a better rate of return. All of these services now taking the lead in pioneering new digital approaches exist, and more are created every day. within their businesses, showing much scope for This presents a huge opportunity for CIOs, especially those with the development here. aspiration, as detailed in our previous The DNA of the CIO report, to have a bigger and more influential role within the business. But, as our new report shows, grappling with any digital transformation Proactive CIOs within IT-intensive requires a shift in the skills, approach and mindset of a traditional sectors are better suited to CIO. Of course, given the varying priorities and constraints in 2transform their businesses, and different companies, some CIOs face a tougher battle to embrace digital than others. Ultimately, though, it is up to each CIO as an their careers. individual to take the proactive action to move their organization toward the digital era, rather than waiting to passively to react. Companies investing the biggest share of their overall To help provide fresh insights and lessons on what it takes to revenue in IT — typically IT companies, telecommunications succeed as a CIO in this digital era, this research sought to identify firms, banks and life sciences firms — ought to be ideally those leading CIOs who are most likely to be pioneering on this placed to take the lead on digital. As might be expected, issue. To do so, we talked to over 180 CIOs and CTOs from a range CIOs at these firms usually have more prominent roles of highly IT-intensive industries, as a proxy for those who are likely than their peers elsewhere. For example, 53% hold a seat to be investing in digital, and compared these individuals with those at the executive management table, compared with just in other sectors. Most revealingly, a core subset of this group of 17% of CIOs in all industries. They also more often IT-intensive IT leaders — those who are most strategically engaged recognize the skills needed for success, such as in their jobs — were seen to stand out from their peers — in terms of communication and leadership, strong strategic both influence and satisfaction. Career choices these CIOs have engagement, and a clear focus on growth. More broadly, made en route to the top helped to verify the findings. a majority of IT-intensive industry CIOs (67%) show clear potential to provide a stronger and more strategic engagement with the business on digital transformation. 44 | B| Born torn to be digito be digitalal