Half of business leaders in Ireland and the UK have indicated that they are either not yet ready or have no plans for digital transformation of their business.
This is one of the key findings of new research from Ricoh. Carried out by Coleman Parkes Research in by May and June of this year among 735 business and IT decision makers from across Europe, with respondents from Ireland, the research sought to gauge readiness to take advantage of the digital transformation opportunities for business. It revealed that although the overwhelming majority of business leaders (84%) believe the CIO is well-equipped to drive digital transformation, only 17% of businesses in Ireland and the UK are allowing them to lead activity in this area.
The task of optimising business critical processes is ranked by business leaders as the number one activity that is having the biggest positive impact on business growth. However, CIOs are currently least able to change it, with just 10% believing they are empowered in this area.
The research shows that there is a clear opportunity for the CIO to step up to help shape the digital strategy and company growth, if empowered by the business to do so.
Somewhat curiously, the top attribute of a successful CIO, according to business leaders, was having a marketing background, with technology expertise next and followed by business critical process optimisation expertise. Yet few respondents said that the CIO was currently empowered to change corresponding elements of a successful digital strategy, such as customer engagement and supply chain (both at 21%).
The survey also highlights that CEOs (35%) are most likely to lead digital transformation projects with just 17% of businesses entrusting their CIO with the task. Just over half (52%) of the businesses polled said that the CIO sits on the board.
"The research insights show that half of Irish businesses are still in the digital dark ages and are currently unprepared to drive digital transformation," said Matthew McCann, sales director, Ricoh Ireland.
"During a time, when much more technology-led change is anticipated, businesses will need to be able to adapt quickly to new client demands, economic conditions and to maintain a competitive advantage. To meet the challenges posed by this change, IT management should no longer be side-lined as a supporting role, instead CIOs must be further empowered to influence business models, client interaction and employee productivity.
"By starting with business critical processes-the number one ranked activity to impact business growth-CIOs can combine technology expertise with commercial acumen to review, and change the organisations traditional ways of working. In turn they will gain much more than cost savings. The business will benefit from being able to move forward with a more productive and agile working model where employee knowledge sharing is enhanced and they are more responsive to client needs. In the longer term, with these strong foundations in place the CIO can focus on the core business areas and successfully lead the organisation into a brighter digital future."
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