Top IT Service Issues Facing CIOs in 2009
Posted on 07. May, 2009 by Sunit Prakash in General
Over the past few weeks, a number of survey results outlining the top challenges for CIOs have been released. ITIL, which was in the top 3 issues in 2008, slipped to number 6 in 2008 on the CIO’s agenda in a New Zealand study by Fairfax’s CIO magazine.
Coincidentally, silicon.com’s study of CIOs also put ITIL at exactly the same spot for UK CIOs for 2009
Some may think that IT Service Management has slipped in importance. I would suggest that effective IT Service Management remains not only relevant, but even more so given the current negative economic environment. Some of the items that have forced themselves into the CIO agenda ahead of ITIL are driven by cost constraints, the very same driver that keeps ITIL on the agenda. These include virtualisation and cloud computing; and one could argue, possibly governance as well.
CIOs are being asked to shave 10-30% of their spend; no one is saying to them that they can perform less work as well. If anything, CIOs are being forced to do more with less. This means standardisation, consolidation and rationalistion – exactly the benefits the ITIL freamework delivers.
The only other item that makes it to the top 5 then that is not cost driven is around information security – and this continues to be a sign of the times.
The research also says, there are new demands for IT to improve its efficiency – around energy, the environment and IT’s consumption of resources. The “greening” it IT has started. The “leaning” of IT is not far behind.
Here below are : CIO NZ predictions published in Dec 2008 for 2009, silicon.com’s CIO UK Technology Plans 2009 & CIO NZ Issues and Challenges in 2008 for comparison :
CIO : Major IT Service Issues predicted for 2009 in Dec 2008 by Ovum for New Zealand
1. Competing for the Cloud
2. Quality assurance and information security
3. High-pressure IT
4. Retained organisations
5. Fixing BPO
6. Waste not, want not – meaning a focus on disciplines such as ITIL and a drive to improve infrastructure maturity
7. Enterprise 2.0
8. Economic flux
http://cio.co.nz/cio.nsf/news/45A370B518B42B60CC25751C000B9D9E?Opendocument&HighLight=2,2009,issues
Silicon.com’s UK CIOs Agenda 2009: Are you spending where they’re spending ?
1. Security – mentioned by 62 per cent
2. Virtualisation – mentioned by 54 per cent
3. IT governance and measurement, rated a priority by half of respondents
4.Enterprise business applications with most emphasis given to ERP and CRM projects
5. business intelligence
6.Itil was ranked at number six on the list
7.Mobile was the hottest topic for CIOs in 2007, now at number 7
8. Outsourcing was mentioned by a quarter of the CIOs
9. Offshoring also got a mention in the survey
10. open source, often seen as a means of cutting the cost of software licensing;
11. Software as a service was given a similarly low priority;
http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/cio-agenda-2009/cios-technology-plans-unveiled-39400384.htm
CIO : Issues and Challenges New Zealand 2008
1. Devolving of the CIO role
2. Negative economic impact
3. SOA and ITIL going strong
4. The cost of compliance
5. Sustainability spreads its wings
6. Demand for telecommunications transparency and flexibility
7. Consolidation and virtualisation
8. Communications taken to a new level
9. Mixed reaction to vendor mergers
10. Staff recruitment and retention issues worsen
http://cio.co.nz/cio.nsf/specials/282F593A089898EFCC257448001B0A37?Opendocument&HighLight=2,MIS100,2008
Disclaimer :
All copyrights acknowledged., Sunit
