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| Gartner CEO and Senior Business Executive Survey Shows 52 Percent of CEOs Have a Digital Strategy |
2013 will be a turning point year as CEOs and senior executives, by a ratio of more than four to one, plan to increase IT investment in 2013, rather than cut it, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. The 2013 Gartner CEO and Senior Executive Survey found that, as macro uncertainties abate, 78 percent of CEOs now feel able to plan their 2013 and 2014 investments and growth. The survey results show that while major political and economic uncertainties obstructed business investment last year, the fog is now clearing, and digital will play a prominent role in CEOs' 2013 plans.
"This is the year when business leadership teams must commit to investing bravely and deeply to redevelop the technology and information capability of their firms," said Mark Raskino, vice president and Gartner fellow. "After more than a decade of modest investment and sorting out the basics, it's time to think ahead. Business leaders tell us they recognize the need to invest in e-commerce, mobile, cloud, social and other major technology categories, and the capabilities they enable. That can't be done from within existing IT budgets alone."
Gartner's CEO and senior executive survey showed that many business leaders think they have a digital strategy, as 52 percent of survey respondents said that they have a digital strategy.
"CEOs and leadership teams must crystallize what they mean by digital strategy and work with a small subgroup from the executive team to define what 'digital' means and how it manifests in the broader business strategy," said Jorge Lopez, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "They must ensure all elements of the digital strategy link clearly to the core business strategy, and that they do not form an independent, possibly distracting, program of change."
Business leaders intend to change the mix of leadership talent needed to make that change — with chief data officers, chief digital officers and new heads of innovation on the way. The survey found that 19 percent of business leaders expect to see a chief digital officer by 2014, and 17 percent expect to see a chief data officer.
"CIOs should embrace growing digital, data and innovation needs, and not stand back from them," said Mr. Lopez. "CIOs who intend to stay with their firms for longer than two years should be developing digital business, business information governance and innovation leadership capabilities in themselves and in their teams. CIOs who intend to retire or step back into other roles should help their organizations by incubating next-generation talent in the areas of digital media, information exploitation, and digitally enabled product and service innovation. This can be done inside as well as outside the IT department."
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[Full Article]
Apr-14-2013 |
| Social Media Settles In Among the Inc. 500 |
The adoption of blogs by the Inc. 500 has increased 7% in the past year as more CEO’s begin to contribute. At the same time, there is new evidence that social media results in a financial ROI by way of the recruiting effort, according to the latest benchmarking study conducted by Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., Senior Fellow and Research Co-chair of the Society for New Communications Research and Director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
The new report is the outcome of a statistically sound study of the 2012 Inc. 500 list. The study examined these institutions to quantify their adoption of social media tools and technologies, as well as plans for investment, monitoring and measuring their online strategies. This is the sixth year that Barnes has tracked social media usage by this sector, and it is the only statistically sound longitudinal study of its kind.
Key findings of this study include:
44% of Inc. 500 companies have a corporate blog. This is an increase of 7% after remaining stagnant for years. 63 % of CEO’s report contributing blog content as this mature tool enjoys a bit of resurgence.
81% of Inc. 500 companies use LinkedIn, an increase of 8% since the 2011 study. LinkedIn has replaced Facebook as the tool of choice for these fast growing companies compared to the 2011 report.
67% of Inc. 500 companies use Facebook, a 7% decrease from 2011. While the use of Facebook has dropped this past year, Inc. 500 companies increased their use of LinkedIn and Twitter.
One third of the Inc. 500 companies report the ability to financially determine the return on their social media investment. Of those, 19% believe they have cut costs in their recruiting efforts due to their social media investments.
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[Full Article]
Apr-14-2013 |
| 57% of Finance Executives say Their Companies are ‘Fair’ or ‘Poor’ at Ensuring Big Data and Similar IT Projects Yield Expected Returns |
At a time when Big Data and other cutting-edge information technology (IT) is being actively evaluated in boardrooms everywhere, 57% of senior finance executives at large and midsized North American companies say their companies are either “fair” or “poor” at ensuring that such “improve-the-business” IT projects are actually yielding expected financial returns. And almost none (3%) rate their companies as “excellent.” That’s according to a new survey of more than 150 senior finance executives by CFO Research in collaboration with AlixPartners, the global business-advisory firm.
The survey also finds that more than two-thirds of financial executives (66%) give their companies a “C” or “D” when it comes to measuring financial returns from discretionary IT projects, such as Big Data ones, designed to improve or add to a company’s business and profits. (Only 5% gave their companies an “A.”)
Meanwhile, at the other end of the IT spectrum, the survey reveals that “keep-it-running” IT costs – non-discretionary support and maintenance systems – are cannibalizing funds available for business-improving IT. A plurality of respondents (49%) estimates that, over the past two years, their company has maintained approximately a 70-30 ratio of keep-it-running to improve-the-business IT spending, and of that amount, a solid majority – 63% – believes that their company’s spending is weighted too heavily toward keep-it-running IT services, and that a greater share should be directed to improve-the-business IT projects.
The survey also shows that, despite massive IT investments in recent years, companies aren’t getting enough of the kind of information they need to successfully run and grow their businesses. In fact, no less than 71% of the executives polled say their companies should have access to more robust business information for the money spent on IT. In addition to desiring more robust information on product profitability (cited by 42%) and customer profitability (41%), there was also strong interest in having better access to information about customer acquisition (33%), revenue (32%), price elasticity (31%), customer attrition (29%) and promotions effectiveness (25%).
One big reason companies are over-spending on IT or spending on it in the wrong places, reports the survey, has to do with governance and discipline around IT programs. For example, 72% of respondents said that factors other than a carefully considered business case (e.g., internal politics, personal persistence/willingness to be a “squeaky wheel”) influence the priority and funding of “improve-the-business” IT projects much more often than they should. Meanwhile, when asked who in their company should have a greater voice in whether to fund such projects, 45% said sponsors from business or functional units and 28% said the finance function. By contrast, when asked who today is primarily responsible for deciding funding, just 14% said business sponsors and only 7% said the finance function.
By the same token, when it comes to “keep-it-running” IT spending, 62% of finance executives say that kind of spending is currently either kept at the corporate level (within the IT department) or only partially charged to business units, neither of which is necessarily optimal for controlling such costs. Moreover, more than two-thirds of those surveyed (66%) say that keep-it-running and improve-the-business IT spending is budgeted together at their companies.
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[Full Article]
Mar-10-2013 |
| Cloud and CRM will Drive Enterprise Software Spending in 2013 and 2014 |
Greater adoption of on-premises and software as a service (SaaS) will drive a modest increase in worldwide software spending through 2014, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. Gartner conducted the large-scale enterprise IT spending study through the third quarter of 2012 for analysis of enterprises' IT budget spending plans for 2013 and 2014.
Regions with higher IT maturity, such as North America and Western Europe, expect lower or no budget increases over the next two years, while developing countries with immature IT infrastructure, such as Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia/Pacific, will experience the largest budget increases in software spending.
Survey results show new software licenses (on-premises, including applications) continue as an important priority in emerging regions, with 69 percent of respondents expecting new software license budgets to increase in 2014, compared with 47 percent from mature regions. The regional differences relate to the amount of mature systems with maintenance and technical support fees. Less mature regions, with little or no infrastructure, will typically spend more on new software licenses (on-premises, including applications), while more mature regions with mature infrastructure tend to spend more on software maintenance and support (including license updates and/or technical support).
As economic pressures increase and other factors come into play, such as resource limits and skill shortages, organizations have expressed overwhelming interest in cloud computing and other options that externalize IT. In North America, interest in SaaS/public cloud is significantly higher than in other regions, with more than 60 percent of respondents increasing their budget in SaaS/public cloud within the next two years. Organizations in other regions show more interest in hosted applications (single tenant), with Asia/Pacific the highest, with 34 percent of respondents increasing their budget on hosted applications.
The survey also revealed that customer relationship management (CRM) has edged past enterprise resource planning (ERP) as the top application software investment priority. This further validates a business focus on enhancing customer experience, with both mature and emerging regions emphasizing investments in CRM. Survey respondents indicate that their top three application software investment initiatives for 2013 are CRM, ERP, and office and personal productivity tools.
Security software topped infrastructure software investment priorities, driven by the evolution of new threats, as well as by changes in working practices. While companies increasingly perceive the mobility of their workforce as a strategic advantage, there is growing awareness of the damage caused by security breaches. More and more organizations are accepting the need to have more-open connectivity with business third parties and assessing third-party security and defining how to securely communicate are becoming critical factors.
Virtualization infrastructure software, ranked as the third-highest priority for increased spending, continues to grow, with most organizations moving toward 70 percent virtualization (especially in North America) within the next several years. However, virtualization is not among the top three priorities in Europe or Asia/Pacific, mainly due to the already high virtualization rates in those regions.
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[Full Article]
Mar-10-2013 |
| Improved Proactive Care, Mobile Self-Service Tools Can Increase Service Provider Net Promoter Scores |
Amdocs, a provider of customer experience systems and services, announced the findings of a global consumer survey that explores the link between proactive care tools, customer satisfaction and call center traffic.
The survey revealed that the vast majority of customers would recommend their service provider to family and friends if they received relevant, proactive notifications from their provider and had simple self-service apps on their mobile device. Conducted by analyst firm Coleman Parkes, the survey found that in addition to helping to increase customer satisfaction, the measures could also decrease call center traffic.
Key survey findings include:
Proactive services and self-care can improve NPS: 84 percent of consumers said they would be more likely to recommend their service provider if the provider was able to identify and pre-emptively resolve potential issues affecting them; 83 percent said they would be more likely to recommend their provider if they were offered easy-to-use and consistent self-service via their mobile device
Consumers willing to embrace proactive care and self-service: 83 percent said they would follow proactive notification instructions, rather than call the contact center, to resolve issues affecting them individually; 76 percent would use a mobile app rather than call the contact center
Current proactive notifications and self-service tools ineffective and can increase call center traffic: 73 percent of consumers said proactive notifications at present were not useful; and 24 percent of all notifications resulted in a call to the contact center, adding to costs instead of reducing them. Of the consumers who use mobile self-service apps, 78 percent said they are hard to use
Lack of consistency, personalization in consumer interactions with service provider: 65 percent of consumers said their service provider does not know them and fails to provide a personalized service during interactions; only 17 percent said they receive a consistent response across channels from their service provider
Poor experience holds consumers back from mobile shopping: 72 percent of consumers have attempted to purchase a product or service online but 51 percent abandoned the purchase as it was too complicated; 79 percent said they would be more likely to complete an online purchase if they could switch between channels to continue transactions
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[Full Article]
Feb-10-2013 |
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