Why Do So Many Companies Shortchange Innovation?
Companies are still allocating a much greater share of the IT budget to routine operational and maintenance needs rather than to innovation-driven initiatives.
40% of the CIOs and other business-focused tech leaders surveyed said their organization's overall IT budget has increased by 10% or more over last year's.
On average, 55% of tech budgets support operational and maintenance needs, while just 13% fund innovation.
54% of the survey respondents said their organization is undergoing a major IT transformation, and 31% said their company is experiencing a high level of disruption due to this transformation.
43% of the respondents said legacy infrastructure presents a major hindrance to IT transformation efforts, and 39% cited a tech culture that is not agile when it involves change.
64% said their organization is focusing on and investing in the cloud, and 46% said that at least 20% of their apps, infrastructure and platforms are now run in the cloud.
44% of the survey respondents said their organization is focusing on and investing in agile processes.
39% said their company is using offshore resources to support or augment IT functions.
While IT budgets are on the rise, companies are still allocating a much greater share of the funding to routine tech operational and maintenance needs rather than to innovation-driven initiatives, according to a recent survey from Protiviti. The resulting report, "From Cloud, Mobile, Social, IoT and Analytics to Digitization and Cyber-Security: Benchmarking Priorities for Today's Technology Leaders," covers the wide range of technology topics referenced in its title. And the report indicates that, comparatively speaking, there is greater organizational commitment to innovation and digital transformation than in prior years. (But there is clearly a lot of room for improvement.) With this commitment, CIOs and other C-level leaders expect to develop new functionalities and cost savings, while more effectively adopting emerging technologies and aligning IT with the business. Investments in the cloud will support many of these efforts, but companies must overcome barriers such as security and privacy risks to maximize cloud opportunities. Business and tech leaders "have made stunning progress in terms of delivering increased levels of value during the last few years," said Kurt Underwood, managing director and global leader of Protiviti's technology consulting practice. "Yet more progress is needed to ensure that data-centric security and privacy matters remain top of mind in the design and operating effectiveness of cyber-security controls. Many digitization initiatives can quickly create new cyber-security vulnerabilities. Without the right oversight, capabilities and metrics, management teams and boards are too often getting blindsided by data breaches." Nearly 400 C-suite executives, including CIOs and other business-focused tech leaders, took part in the research.