BUYERS SIDE “Digital transformation has given technology a new front seat that’s really driving the business,” he continued. For CIO and CIO-types, digital transformation has necessitated whole new levels of understanding into just about every element of business and operations. It would seem, in their present situations, that CIOs could use a good deal of trusted advice, possibly more than ever before. And that trusted advisor must be able to advise on a lot more than the tech. IT decision makers, quite frankly, need “big picture” trusted advisors. Of course, it’s not lost on us that this is a time when momentum is moving toward self-service and automated channels, and some very large forces are behind the push. Even so, it’s not hard to argue that IT departments are facing unprecedented pressures. In addition to supporting an expanding and increasingly mission-critical infrastructure, IT executives are being tasked with finding ways to accelerate growth, discover and drive revenue, improve CX and EX, monetize proprietary technology, and sometimes even create and drive organizational strategy. In a recent survey of more than 1,300 IT operations professionals by IT and security management provider Kaseya, the most popular budget driver for 2023 was “business growth,” coming in just ahead of both security and the updating of outdated infrastructure. To make the shift from delivering outcomes to discovering outcomes, IT leaders will need to acquire deeper understanding of many, if not all, lines of business. After all, IT touches everything, and with the rapid pace of innovation and some transformative technologies brewing, often LOB department heads will be unaware of what solutions are available and what can really help. In some cases, no one yet knows how and where certainly technologies will be applied. The “killer app” could be a highly customized and personalized solution that hasn’t even been conceived yet. More than likely, IT pros will be expected to push innovation into business segments. In turn, CIOs must be able to communicate across large and complex buying circles that can include leaders representing sales, supply chain, HR, customer experience, marketing, etc. Being influential within those buying circle will require CIOs to discover, explain and “sell” the ROI of technology deployments within each business segment, necessitating a deeper understanding of the challenges, processes and objectives of those business segments. “CIOs will need to find business champions to vouch for the important contributions IT is making to their area,” advised analysts at Info-Tech Research Group. “CIOs should develop their handle on how KPIs influence revenues and costs. Keeping tabs on normalized year-over-year revenue comparisons can help demonstrate that IT contributions are making an impact on driving profitability,” they continued. For organizations that have migrated significant resources from on-premises data centers to the cloud, Info-Tech even recommends CIOs appoint a type of “cloud economist” to closely monitor cloud usage and adjust it to financial expectations, particularly when cloud-based data IT Department’s Top 2023 Budget Drivers Business growth 32% Updating outdated IT infrastructure 29% Security incidents or concerns 28% Innovation and strategic initiative(s) 28% Digital transformation 27% Regulatory compliance 27% Economic concerns 25% Remote workforce management 22% Competitive pressure 11% Other 2% Source: Kaseya ‘2023 IT Operations Survey’ Planned Changes to IT Investment Strategy in Response to Market Environment Investing in new digital services/solutions in response to market changes 67% Accelerating movement to opex (cloud) versus capex (premises) technology solutions 62% Increasing use of third-party service providers 55% Delaying some IT initiative due to shifts in budget and/or strategy 45% None of the above 1% Source: MarketPulse Research 14 CHANNELVISION | JULY - AUGUST 2023
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