Australasia Survey – Strategy, Risk and Governance of IT Investment

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AustrAlAsiA survey: strAtegy, risk And governAnce of it investments

the director, ceo And cio perspective

By Gail Pemberton-Burke Head of CIO Practice, Australasia

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contents

pleAse note: n Some percentages do not add up to 100% due to rounding in the software used for this project.n All dollar amounts shown are in Australian currency.

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contentsWhat was the survey about? . . . . . . . . . .4Who participated in the survey? . . . . . . .5summary of key findings . . . . . . . . . . . .6overall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7survey themes strategic context of technology . . . . .8 Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Legacy-Platform Replacement Driving Innovation Governance Risk Management Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Business-as-usual . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Day-to-Day Technology Operations Financial Reporting of the IT Spend Sourcing Strategies Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 it talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Board CIO IT Leadership Team Succession Business Alignment Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43overall observations and conclusions . . . 50 Making the Strategic Context

of Technology Front and Centre Driving Successful Business and

IT Transformation Running IT Like a Business Fostering Top IT Talent

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WhAt WAs the survey ABout?Over the past decade organisations in Australia and around the world have invested billions of dollars in technology. This level of expenditure reflects a higher dependence on technology to support their day-to-day business operations than ever before. With this significant increase in investment and reliance on technology, it is important to explore how well organisations are managing the asset and opportunity.

Our survey aimed to answer the following questions by surveying Boards, CEOs and CIOs from many of Australia’s top 100 ASX companies, as well as government agencies and departments and a selection of private and public companies in New Zealand:

Are we any better today at managing these investments than wewere in the 1990s? Most of the organisations that participated in the survey have invested in strengthening their internal governance mechanisms and as a result have become more confident about, and proficient in, managing large technology change initiatives.

Do these projects deliver tangible business value? The data indicates that over the last 3 years just under half of these projects have either met or exceeded ROI. On the whole, this was a better outcome than we anticipated and an indication of maturing governance, change management and IT delivery capabilities within the participant organisations.

Are Boards being kept informed about these investments? Boards are being kept better informed than they were in the past, but they still don’t get all the critical information they need and would like to see more information about programme risk and tracking of costs and benefits.

Do Boards understand how to assess IT investments? On the whole, respondents were not strongly confident of the Board’s ability to evaluate investment proposals for large IT programmes.

Are project risks identified accurately at the outset and then actively managed?The ability to accurately identify all significant project risks up front was not considered to be a strength. However, once risks had been identified, most respondents said their organisations did a good job at mitigating and managing them.

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How do the Board and CEO rate the success of major outsourcing initiatives to date?The Board and CEO are uncertain about whether their outsourcing initiatives have delivered on promised cost savings or service quality improvements.

What does the CEO expect from the CIO?The CEO wants the CIO and his/her team to develop and communicate a strategic IT vision and 3 to 5-year roadmap, to accelerate the pace of delivery of change, and to demonstrate stronger business engagement and alignment.

Is there consistency of views between Boards, CEOs and CIOs in relation to crucial technology concerns? It was consistently evident from the results that there is a degree of divergence between the views of the CEO and the Board on technology concerns and a very significant divergence between the CEO and the CIO on many of the questions we asked in our survey.

Who pArticipAted in the survey?We invited Non-Executive Directors (NEDs), CEOs and CIOs to participate in the survey across a range of public, private and government organisations in Australia and New Zealand, with a majority of respondents from the ASX Top 100 companies. For a minority of the participating organisations, the CEO delegated the responsibility for completing the survey to the CFO, COO or head of a major business line.

In total, 185 executives were recruited to participate in the survey and 136 did so, resulting in a response rate of 74%. This is a high response rate, and the sample of n=136 means that we can be 95% confident that the responses have a maximum +/-8.4% potential margin of error.

detAils of pArticipAtion

Respondent RolesOf the 136 respondents, 32% were NEDs, 27% were CEOs, 41% were CIOs made up of 25% non-government and 16% government.

Types of OrganisationsOver half the survey participants (62%) were employed in listed companies, 18% in unlisted and 20% in government organisations.

CIO Reporting Line Almost half the CIOs (44%) report to the CEO, 18% to the COO, 24% to the CFO and 14% through another reporting line. CIOs who nominated another reporting line were mostly government CIOs. The majority of CIOs (82%) said their reporting line is appropriate.

Structure of Technology OrganisationIn 68% of the organisations IT has been centralised, in 20% it is a hybrid model and in 4% it is fully decentralised.

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summAry of key findingsThe survey questions were designed around four major themes: 1 . Strategic Context of Technology2 . Transformation3 . Business-as-Usual IT Operations4 . IT Talent

1 . strAtegic conteXt of technology Despite the strategic importance of technology in the majority of participant

organisations, for at least half of them, the Board has no overall technology vision and 3 to 5-year roadmap to guide it in the evaluation of IT investments.

2 . trAnsformAtion Legacy-Platform Replacement

The vast majority of participant organisations has ageing technology/legacy platforms and will be making substantial capital investments in the next 5 years to replace that ageing technology. For many of them, this will be the largest capital outlay on technology they have ever made, exceeding Y2K.

Driving Innovation More than half of the respondents are not satisfied with the pace of technology-enabled change in their organisations, and half the respondents do not think the CIO is effective at keeping them abreast of technological change and its implications for their business.

Governance Almost half the CEO and more than a third of the NED respondents are uncertain whether their internal processes are effective at prioritising large IT investments.

Risk Management More than half the CEO and NED respondents said their organisation did not have a good track record of identifying all project risks up front.

3 . Business-As-usuAl it operAtions Day-to-Day Technology Operations

A third of the NED respondents, and a quarter of the CEO respondents, lacked confidence about the effectiveness of their Business Continuity Plan (BCP), and more than half of the CEO and NED respondents did not know whether they were vulnerable to the failure of a major supplier.

Financial Reporting of the IT Spend Half the respondents said that there is inherent wastage in their overall IT spend.

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Two thirds of the CEO and NED respondents had no knowledge of what their competitors are spending on technology.

Sourcing Strategies The majority of respondents said that they would not be increasing off-shoring initiatives in the next 12 months.

Over half the respondents said that they were not satisfied or did not know whether their outsourcing initiatives had delivered expected cost savings or had maintained or improved service quality.

4 . it tAlent Board

Nearly three-quarters of the CEO and NED respondents were uncertain whether they had the right skills to assess large technology investment proposals.

CIO The overwhelming majority of CEOs rated their CIO as only adequate against the competencies that they rated as important for the role. The biggest gaps were strategic thinking and leadership. In contrast, CIOs assessed themselves as very strong against the same set of competencies.

IT Leadership Team Most CIOs said there were similar competency gaps in their IT leadership team.

Succession For the majority of participant organisations, there is no nominated internal successor to the CIO.

Business Alignment Half of the respondent organisations said that engagement between the CIO and their IT team with the business is not as effective as it should be.

overAllAcross the entire survey there was a broad finding of consistent divergence between the views of the CIO and the CEO respondents. There was also divergence between the views of CIO and NED respondents, but the gap was smaller.

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survey themes

strAtegic conteXt of technologyThe majority of respondents in the survey said that technology was critical to their business strategy, however, only around half of the CEO and NED respondents said that a technology vision and 3 to 5-year roadmap had been presented to the Board. This implies that IT investment decisions are made in isolation of an overall strategy for at least half of the organisations in the survey. In contrast, three-quarters of the CIO respondents said that a technology vision and roadmap had been presented to the Board.

The responses to the first few questions highlighted a theme that emerged in the survey – a consistent divergence between the views of the CIO and those of the CEO and the Board.

grAphs – strAtegic conteXt of technology How critical is technology to business strategy in your organisation?The majority (85%) of respondents said that technology is either critical or very critical to business strategy.

graph 1: how critical is technology to Business strategy in the organisation?

(n=136)

Very Critical 52%

Critical 33%

Neutral 12%

Not Critical 3%

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Has a 3 to 5-year technology vision and roadmap for the organisation been presented to the Board?Over half (58%) of the respondents agreed that a 3 to 5-year technology vision and roadmap had been presented to the Board, but 41% disagreed. The majority of CIOs (73%) said a roadmap had been presented to the Board. Half the NEDs (51%) and half the CEOs (51%) said that a 3 to 5-year technology vision and roadmap had not been presented to the Board.

graph 2: has a 3 to 5-year technology vision & roadmap Been

presented to the Board?(n=136)

No: 41% Yes: 58%

No: 51%

Yes: 47%

No: 27%

Yes: 73%

No: 51%

Yes: 49%

trAnsformAtion

legAcy-plAtform replAcementThree-quarters of respondents said that they had ageing IT legacy platforms that required replacement in the next 3 to 5 years at an average cost of $58m. A third of the respondents said their replacement costs would be up to $10m, another third between $10 and $50m, and a quarter said it would exceed $100m. CIOs generally thought that the timeframe by which legacy platforms had to be replaced was shorter.

Some of these platform replacement initiatives have already commenced, as all participants said that they had at least one major change initiative already under way with an average budget of $47m. NEDs were the least confident about the cost of replacing legacy platforms, with one in five NEDs saying that they did not know what the costs and timeframes for replacement were.

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

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For most of the participating organisations, these legacy-platform replacement projects will be the largest, most costly and complex change initiatives that they will have undertaken in their history and will have a wide-ranging impact across their organisation and on their clients. The overall level of expenditure over the next 3 to 5 years will likely be multiples of whatever those organisations spent on Y2K.

driving innovAtionWhen we asked CEOs and NEDs whether they were satisfied with the pace of technology-enabled change in their organisations, more than half said they were not satisfied, and only half said that the CIO was good at keeping them abreast of technological change. On the other hand, CIOs rated themselves as very effective in this regard.

This sense that change is too hard and too slow may be a result of the lack of business flexibility and complexity of change inherent in legacy IT environments, which are often a bottleneck when implementing new products or integrating acquisitions. The demands of managing these legacy environments and driving the big replacement programs are likely to consume the majority of the CIO’s attention, which might be one of the reasons why CEOs and NEDs did not rate them as highly in terms of keeping them abreast of technological change.

governAnce The majority of respondents agreed that it is important to have processes in place to prioritise large IT investments, but almost half the CEOs and NEDs are uncertain whether the processes in their organisation are effective, while CIOs were much more confident that they are.

The relatively recent adoption of formal IT governance frameworks has often fallen on the shoulders of the CIO, usually after one or more high-profile projects have run off the rails. The CIO perspective may reflect greater confidence in the improved governance mechanisms now in place, but CEOs and NEDs have yet to be convinced.

This sense that improvements to project governance frameworks have relatively recently been implemented is reinforced by some of the other responses. For example, almost all respondents said that they consistently perform post-implementation reviews for large projects and that they are a valuable learning tool, with more than three-quarters of the respondents finding them either very useful or useful.

Another indication of maturing governance frameworks was the response to the question that asked whether all significant IT investment proposals are presented to the Board with an ROI. Just under half of the CEOs and NEDs said that all technology investment proposals presented to the Board are accompanied by an ROI or business case, and about a third said that most were. When we asked whether the largest IT investment they had made over the prior 3 years had delivered to its business case or ROI, almost half of respondents said it had,

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another third said it delivered 75% of the business case, and one in four said it did not or they didn’t know. CIOs were much more likely to say that it had exceeded ROI.

While this performance is better than expected, more than half of the CEO and NED respondents say that their large projects have not delivered on the promised returns. Given the looming legacy-platform replacement burden identified in the survey and the capital constraints faced by many organisations, it should be a priority of CEOs and Boards to work with their CIO to lift this performance.

The majority of respondents selected the following three characteristics of the projects that had delivered closest to ROI:

n The project was aligned to business strategy.n There was strong business ownership.n Regular updates were provided.

The characteristics selected underline the fact that the responsibility for successful delivery of large change programmes is not that of the CIO alone – it is a responsibility that must be shared with the business. Industry experience shows that without strong business sponsorship and engagement, change programmes that are run as IT projects have high failure rates.

risk mAnAgement Fewer than half of the CEO and NED respondents said that their organisation had a good track record of identifying all project risks up front. However, almost half of the CEO and NED respondents said that once a risk was identified, their organisation did a good job of mitigating it. CIOs were much more positive about their ability to identify risk up front.

When asked what changes had been put in place to ensure that the Board is provided with better information about the costs and risks of large technology projects, the top five changes voted by all participants were:

n Project reporting was improved.n Project governance was overhauled.n Stronger project skills were brought in.n Post-implementation business case follow up.n Business sponsorship was made mandatory.

This confirms the sense that some hard lessons have been learned in many organisations as a result of project failures, and as a consequence formal project governance disciplines have been adopted. Given the legacy-platform replacement projects ahead of these organisations, the good news is that these changes appear to be delivering real business value, although improvements are still needed to risk management.

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grAphs – trAnsformAtion

legAcy-plAtform replAcement Does your organisation have ageing technology/legacy platforms that need to be replaced?The majority of respondents (76%) and 91% of CIOs confirmed that they have ageing technology/legacy platforms that require replacement in their organisation.

graph 3: have Ageing technology/legacy platforms in the organisation

No: 20% Yes: 76%

No: 23%

Yes: 67%

No: 9%

Yes: 91%

No: 32%

Yes: 65%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

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Over what timeframe do these ageing technology/legacy platforms need to be replaced? Overall, 49% of respondents said that their legacy platforms need to be replaced in the next 1 to 3 years, 29% said between more than 3 and up to 5 years, and 14% said more than 5 years. CIOs generally felt that replacement timeframes were more urgent and more likely to need to take place in the next 1 to 3 years.

graph 4: estimated replacement timeframe for legacy platforms(n=136)

1 to 3 years49%

3 to 5years29%

More than5 years

14%

Don’t Know 7%

What would you estimate to be the likely cost to replace the ageing technology/legacy platforms? The average estimated cost of replacing ageing technology/legacy platforms was $58m.

There was a clear divergence between the expectations of NEDs and CEOs about the cost to replace legacy platforms at both the top and bottom end of the scale. NEDs thought it would cost a lot more ($75m) than CIOs ($56m), and the CEO view was lowest ($43m).

More than a quarter (28%) of the survey respondents said that the replacement cost for ageing technology will be up to $10m, 29% said it will cost between $10 and up to $50m, 7% said more than $50m and up to $100m, and 24% said it will cost more than $100m.

Thirteen percent of all respondents, in particular NEDs (21%), did not know what the cost of replacing legacy platforms would be.

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graph 5: estimate of replacement cost for Ageing technology/legacy platforms – mean $ millions (n=136)

0 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 $60 $70 $80

CIO: $56

CEO: $43

NED: $75

Average: $58

What would you estimate to be the dollar value of the largest technology/change project initiative that is currently under way in your organisation?The average estimated cost of the largest technology/change project initiative currently underway was $47m. Breaking this down, 41% of respondents have projects underway of up to $10m, 28% have projects valued at $10 to $50m and 20% have projects of $100m plus underway.

graph 6: estimate of dollar value of largest technology/change project initiative – mean $ millions (n=136)

0 10 20 30 40%

50 60 70 80

CIO: $47

CEO: $29

NED: $64

Average: $47

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grAphs – driving innovAtion How satisfied are you with the pace of technology-enabled change within the organisation? (CEO and NED perspective)Most respondents are either dissatisfied with the rate of technology-enabled change within the organization(13%) or are “on the fence” (47%), while 40% said they are satisfied.

graph 7: satisfaction with pace of technology-enabled change (n=136)

VerySatis�ed9%

NeitherSatis�ed

norDissatis�ed

47%

Dissatis�ed13%

Satis�ed 31%

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Does the CIO keep the Board abreast of significant changes in technology and the possible implications for your business? (CEO and NED perspective)Fewer than half of the NED and CEO respondents (48%) said the CIO was good at keeping the Board and management abreast of significant changes in technology and the implications for their business, 43% were neutral and 9% said the CIO performed this role poorly.

graph 8: proficiency of cio to keep management Abreast of significant changes in technology and the implications (n=80)

VeryGood18%

Neither43%

Poor9%

Good30%

Do you keep your CEO and Board abreast of significant changes in technology and the possible implications for the business?Almost all (89%) the CIOs said that they keep the CEO and Board abreast of significant changes in technology and the possible implications for the business.

graph 9: keep ceo and Board Abreast of significant change in technology and possible implications for the Business (n=56)

Yes89%

No11%

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grAphs – governAnce

How confident are you that the organisation has effective processes in place to prioritise large technology/change projects based on strategic importance and business benefits?Two thirds of respondents (66%) are confident or very confident in the organisation’s processes for prioritising technology investments, but more than a third of NEDs and CEOs are only somewhat confident, or not confident. CIOs (82%) were more confident than NEDs (63%) and CEOs (54%).

graph 10: confidence in organisation’s processes to prioritise technology (n=114)

SomewhatCon�dent

30%

Con�dent66%

NotCon�dent

4%SomewhatCon�dent

35%

Con�dent63%

NotCon�dent

2%

SomewhatCon�dent

18%

Con�dent82%

SomewhatCon�dent

35%

Con�dent54%

NotCon�dent

11%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

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How important is it that these processes are in place?The majority of respondents (90%) said it is important to have these processes in place.

graph 11: importance of organisation’s processes to prioritise technology (n=114)

Important26%

VeryImportant

64%

NeitherImportant norUnimportant

10%

Important16%

VeryImportant70%


14%

Important26%

VeryImportant71%

Important38%

VeryImportant51%


3%


11%

Does your organisation perform post-implementation reviews for large IT/change projects? How useful are the post-implementation reviews? The majority (87%) of respondents said that their organisation performs post-implementation reviews for large IT/change projects and 79% said these reviews are useful (47%) or very useful (32%).

graph 12: perform post-implementation reviews (n=136)

Yes87%

No8%

Don’t Know 5%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

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graph 13: usefulness of post-implementation reviews (n=118)

NotUseful

3%

Neither19%

Useful47%

VeryUseful32%

VeryUseful31%

VeryUseful35%

VeryUseful28%

Useful49%

Useful41%

Useful55%

Neither20%

Neither22%

Neither10%

NotUseful

2%

NotUseful

7%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

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Are technology investment proposals presented to the Board with an ROI or business case? About half the respondents (54%) said that all technology investment proposals are presented to the Board with an ROI or a business case; 26% said most are presented with an ROI or business case, and 18% said that only some or none are presented with an ROI or business case.

graph 14: technology proposals presented to the Board with an roi or Business case (n=136)

All54%Some

11%

Most26%

None7%

All49%

All54%

All43%

Most26%

Most27%

Most35%

Some16%

Some11%

Some11%

None7%

None7%

None11%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

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Thinking about the largest technology investment in your organisation completed over the last 3 years, did it deliver according to the original ROI estimates?One in 10 respondents (12%) said that the largest technology investment in the organisation that was completed over the last 3 years exceeded ROI, 33% said it met ROI, 30% said it delivered within +/- 25%, one in 10 (11%) said it did not meet ROI and 13% did not know.

The majority of CIOs (61%) said that the project either exceeded or met ROI. One third (35%) of NEDs and CEOs thought the investment achieved ROI and one third (30% and 32% respectively) thought it achieved +/- 25% of ROI. Twenty one percent of NEDs said that they didn’t know whether it met ROI.

graph 15: outcome of largest technology investment in organisation over last 3 years (n=114)

Exceeded ROI12%

Met ROIWithin

+/- 25%30%

Met ROI33%

Did notMeet ROI

11%

Don’tKnow13%

ExceededROI2%

ExceededROI32%

ExceededROI5%

Met ROI35%

Met ROI29%

Met ROI35%

Met ROIWithin

+/- 25%32%

Met ROIWithin

+/- 25%26%

Met ROIWithin

+/- 25%30%

Did notMeet ROI

12%

Did notMeet ROI

6%

Did notMeet ROI

16%

Don’tKnow21%

Don’t know6%

Don’t Know11%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

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Thinking about the technology/change projects that delivered on promised ROI over the last 3 years, which of the following statements apply to that project?The top six characteristics of technology/change projects that delivered promised ROI were:n The project was aligned to business strategy (83%).n There was strong business ownership (73%).n Regular updates were provided to all stakeholders on project

status and risks (73%).n A phased approach to implementation was adopted (63%).n The project sponsor was the CEO or business head (62%).n The project team had a deep understanding of the business (62%).

graph 16: top six characteristics of technology/change projects that delivered on promised roi/Business case in last 3 years

(n=136)

0 20 40 60 80 100

Project team had deep understanding of business

Was a phased approach to implementation

Project sponsor was CIO or business head

Regular updates provided

There was strong business ownership

Project was aligned to business strategy

NED

CIO

CEO

%

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grAphs – risk mAnAgement

How would you rate the track record of your organisation to date in identifying at the outset all possible risks that could militate against success in large technology/change initiatives? Overall 52% of respondents rated the organisation’s track record as good for identifying all possible project risks up front, 42% neither poor nor good, and 7% poor. CIOs rated their track record much higher (63%) than NEDs (42%) and CEOs (46%).

graph 17: rating of organisation’s track record for identifying possible risks (n=136)

Poor7%

Neither42%

Good43%

VeryGood9%

VeryGood9%

VeryGood11%

Very Good5%

Good33%

Good52%

Good41%

Neither51%

Neither32%

Neither46%

Poor5%

Poor8%

Poor7%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

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And how good a job do you think your organisation does managing and mitigating the typical risks that arise on large technology/change projects?More than half of the respondents (59%) said that their organisation is effective at managing and mitigating risks on large technology projects, but 38% are unconvinced.

graph 18: rating of organisation’s risk-management skills (n=136)

Poorlymanaged

2%

Neither38%

Well-managed49%

VeryWell-managed10%

VeryWell-managed12%

VeryWell-managed9%

Very Well-managed11%

Well-managed49%

Well-managed54%

Well-managed43%

Neither40%

Neither34%

Neither43%

Poorlymanaged

4%

Poorlymanaged

3%

Poorly managed2%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

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What changes, if any, have been put in place recently to ensure that the Board is provided with better information about the risks of large technology/change projects?The top five changes that were put in place to ensure that the Board is provided with better information about project risks included:1. Project reporting was improved (57%).2. Project governance was overhauled (52%).3. Stronger project skills were brought into the organisation (49%).4. Post-implementation business case follow-ups of benefits

realisation were done (46%).5. Business sponsorship was made mandatory (40%).

graph 19: top five recent changes to ensure Board is provided with Better information About risks (n=136)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Business sponsorshipwas made mandatory

Post-implementationbusiness case follow-ups

of bene�ts realisationwere done

Stronger project skillswere brought in

Project governancewas overhauled

Project reportingwas improved

NED

CIO

CEO

%

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Business As usuAl

dAy-to-dAy technology operAtions As one would expect given the size and scale of the organisations that participated in the survey and the strategic importance of technology, the overwhelming majority of respondents said that they had a BCP plan in place. However, their confidence in the effectiveness of the BCP plan was not as strong, with one in three NEDs and one in four CEOs only somewhat confident.

Boards could consider asking for evidence of an independent opinion that their BCP plan is adequate and that tests of the plan are conducted at agreed regular intervals.

The overwhelming majority of CEOs and NEDs expressed confidence in the reliability of the technology underpinning day-to-day business operations, but their confidence dropped by half when they were asked whether a failure of a key supplier would disrupt day-to-day business. CIOs were more confident that the organisation was not exposed to the risk of single supplier.

The gap in confidence levels between the CIO and the CEO and NED respondents suggests that the CIO might consider spending more time communicating strategies for managing supplier-concentration risk to their CEO and Board.

finAnciAl reporting of the it spend More than three-quarters of the respondents said it is important that they understand the various components of the technology spend in their organisation. Most CEOs are satisfied that they understand the makeup of the IT spend, but one in three NEDs say they do not get sufficient information.

This represents an opportunity for CIOs to review the level of information they provide to the Board about the makeup of the overall IT spend and seek feedback to ensure understanding.

When CEOs were asked which components of the IT spend they would like to have more visibility into, the top three areas they nominated were:1. Fixed versus variable costs2. Outsourced versus insourced costs3. Capital versus labour

The top three nominated by NEDs were:1. Project versus business-as-usual costs2. Application versus infrastructure3. Outsourced versus insourced costs

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Both CEOs and NEDs want more information about the split between the discretionary and nondiscretionary components of the IT spend. Such information would assist them to better understand the leverage points for flexing overall IT expenditure up or down or to shift some of the fixed components to a variable model by outsourcing or off-shoring.

When asked whether there was any inherent wastage in the IT spend of their organisation, CIO and CEO responses were unusually aligned, with just over half of those respondents saying that there is wastage. However, only one in three NEDs agreed with them.

The response to this question was probably driven by a number of factors, one of which is the lack of meaningful benchmarks for IT expenditure. Two out of three CEOs and NEDs had no awareness of what their competitors are spending on technology, yet just over half the CIOs did.

Half of the NED and CEO respondents said that there was no overall IT vision and roadmap and even where there is one, one in three is not confident about the effectiveness of the internal processes for prioritising IT investments. Another reason driving this perception could be a sense that not all projects deliver sufficient business value.

When asked whether the IT spend of their organisation was too high or too low, the majority of respondents said it was neither. On one interpretation, this could mean that the IT spend is at an appropriate level, but another interpretation is that they just don’t know. The latter interpretation is more likely, given the majority view that there is inherent wastage in the IT spend together with the lack of external benchmarks.

CEO and NED responses to the questions about whether their IT spend was appropriate indicated a degree of uncertainty, something the CIO could address by engaging in a dialogue with them about why they feel uncertain and what additional information would help them assuage these concerns, such as comparative benchmark data including industry and competitor IT expenditure.

sourcing strAtegies There was a marked trend away from custom software development and off-shoring, with the majority of CIOs electing to focus on installed software and a blend of insourcing and outsourcing in the next 3 years. The move away from off-shoring was echoed by CEO and NED respondents, who said that they would not be increasing off-shoring initiatives in the next 12 months.

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Custom software development has been in decline for the past decade. However, the significantly reduced appetite for off-shoring was unexpected but understandable in the current economic environment. The anti-offshoring sentiment is likely to change when conditions improve, particularly given the size of the legacy-platform burden facing most organisations, the shortage of local talent and the cost savings that are achievable.

When asked what was driving their sourcing strategies, CIOs cited lack of internal capability and the pressure to deliver faster on business transformation.

Given the massive legacy-platform problem identified earlier, the pressure to speed up delivery is not surprising and is unlikely to abate. Major business transformation programmes absorb an enormous amount of organisational energy at the Board and senior management level and right across the entire organisation. The faster these programmes can be delivered, the sooner the benefits can be realised and the organisation can focus on growth opportunities.

When CIOs were asked where they would focus on to increase the value of their sourcing strategies, they said that they would be working with their vendors to help them get a better understanding of the business.

The strategy of working with key vendors as business partners is consistent with strategic vendor management practices, which is consistent with the overall finding that participant organisations have matured and adopted more sophisticated IT governance, policy and processes.

When NEDs and CEOs were asked whether they were satisfied with the cost savings and service quality delivered by outsourcing initiatives, less than half said that they were satisfied that cost saving targets had been achieved or that service quality had been maintained or improved.

Many large organisations are entering the last few years of outsourcing contracts that were struck 5 to 9 years ago when the industry was in its infancy, so the response from CEOs and NEDs is not surprising. The outsourcing industry has matured considerably since that time, as have best practices for outsourcing contracts and service level agreements.

As these older contracts are renegotiated, there is an opportunity for CIOs and outsourced service providers to provide Boards and CEOs with more transparent reporting and high-level scorecards that track service delivery to cost and quality targets and industry benchmarks.

Finally, we asked NEDs and CEOs whether they had had any negative reaction from clients about off-shoring and while two thirds said they hadn’t, one in three said that there had been a negative reaction from customers. This is likely to have been one of the factors influencing the marked trend away from off-shoring, at least in the near term.

29

grAphs – Business As usuAl

dAy-to-dAy technology operAtionsDoes your organisation have a business continuity and disaster recovery plan?Almost all respondents (95%) said that their organisation has a business continuity and disaster recovery plan in place, and 75% said they were confident with the continuity and disaster recovery plan in place.

graph 20: organisation has Business continuity and disaster recovery plan in place (n=136)

Yes: 95%

No: 4%

Don’t Know: 1%

30

How confident are you in the business continuity and disaster recovery plan that is currently in place?CIOs expressed greater confidence levels (88%) than NEDs (65%) and CEOs (75%). One in three NEDs and a quarter of CEOs were only somewhat confident.

graph 21: confidence with organisation’s Business continuity and disaster recovery plan currently in place (n=136)

Con�dent48%

VeryCon�dent27%

SomewhatCon�dent

25% Con�dent41%

VeryCon�dent24%

SomewhatCon�dent

34%

VeryCon�dent30%

VeryCon�dent28%

Con�dent58%

Con�dent47%

SomewhatCon�dent

12%

SomewhatCon�dent

25%

How confident are you of the reliability of the technology underpinning day-to-day business operations? How confident are you that no one supplier’s failure could disrupt critical business operations?A net of 88% of respondents were confident in the reliability of technology underpinning day-to-day operations. However, if a key supplier failed to deliver, then net confidence drops down to 52%, with less than half of NEDs (49%) and CEOs (46%) expressing confidence, compared to 61% of CIOs.

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

31

graph 22: confidence with reliability of technology underpinning the day-to-day Business operations (n=114)

Con�dent51%

VeryCon�dent37%

SomewhatCon�dent

12%Con�dent

49%

VeryCon�dent30%

SomewhatCon�dent

21%

VeryCon�dent50%

VeryCon�dent32%

Con�dent47%

Con�dent57%

SomewhatCon�dent

3%

SomewhatCon�dent

11%

graph 23: confidence that no one supplier’s failure could disrupt critical Business operations (n=114)

Not Con�dent11%

SomewhatCon�dent

38%Con�dent32%

VeryCon�dent20%

VeryCon�dent19%

VeryCon�dent32%

Very Con�dent11%

Con�dent30%

Con�dent29%

Con�dent35%

SomewhatCon�dent

44%

SomewhatCon�dent

18%

SomewhatCon�dent

49%

Not Con�dent

21%

Not Con�dent

5%

Not Con�dent7%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

32

grAphs – finAnciAl reporting of the it spend Are you provided with sufficient information about the makeup of the organisation’s overall expenditure on technology? The majority of CEOs (81%) and CIOs (65%) believe they are provided with sufficient information about the makeup of the organisation’s expenditure on technology. However, one in three (35%) CIOs would like more information compared to 18% of CEOs.

graph 24: provided with sufficient information About the organisation’s overall expenditure on technology (n=80)

Yes: 81%

No: 28%

Yes: 73% Yes: 65%

No: 35% No: 18%

How important is it that you understand the makeup of the organisation’s technology expenditure?The majority of NEDs (84%) and CEOs (81%) also believe that understanding the makeup of the organisation’s technology expenditure is important or very important.

graph 25: importance of understanding the makeup of the organisation’s technology expenditure (n=80)

Very Important29%

Important54%

Neither16%

Unimportant1%

NED CIO CEO

33

Thinking about the visibility of the organisation’s IT spend, would the Board/you like more or less information for the following areas concerning the IT spend?n Fixed versus variable costs: Overall, 65% of NEDs and 54% of CEOs do

not require more or less information on fixed versus variable costs. However, almost half the CEOs (46%) do not think they receive enough information concerning fixed versus variable costs and would like more. Nearly one in three (30%) NEDs also want more information.

n Application versus infrastructure costs: Overall, 68% of CEOs and 53% of NEDs do not want more or less information on application versus infrastructure costs. However, 42% of NEDs and 27% of CEOs would like further information.

n Project versus BAU expenditure costs: 73% of CEOs and 49% of NEDs do not want more or less information concerning project versus business-as-usual expenditure costs. However, one in every two NEDs want more information (47%), and one in four CEOs (25%) want more information.

n Capital versus labour costs: Two thirds of NEDs and CEOs (68%) are satisfied with the level of information they receive on capital versus labour costs, and almost one in three (29%) want more information.

n Outsourced versus insourced costs: More than half (58%) of the NEDs and CEOs are satisfied with the level of information they receive concerning outsourced versus insourced costs, and 39% want more information.

graph 26: level of information required for it spend (n=80 neds and ceos)

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Outsourced versus insourced costs

Capital versus labour costs

Project versus BAU expenditure costs

Application versus infrastructure costs

Fixed versus variable costs

Lot more information

More information

Neither

Less information

%

34

Do you believe there is any inherent wastage or inefficiency in the current level of IT expenditure?49% of respondents believe there is inherent wastage or inefficiency in current IT expenditure, 41% disagree and 10% don’t know. CEOs (51%) and CIOs (57%) were more inclined to think there is wastage or inefficiency compared to NEDs (37%). One in three (30%) NEDs did not know.

graph 27: is there inherent Wastage or inefficiency in the current expenditure (n=136)

Don’t Know10%

No41%

Yes49%

Yes37%

Yes57%

Yes51%

No33%

No43%

No49%

Don’t Know30%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

35

Do you know how much your competitors spend on technology? The majority of respondents (61%) are not aware of what their competitors spend on technology. In contrast, more than half (57%) the CIOs are aware of competitor spend (65% non-government CIOs), but the majority of NEDs (77%) and CEOs (70%) are not aware of competitor spend.

graph 28: do you know how much your competitors spend on technology (n=136)

No61%

Yes39%

Yes23%

Yes57%

Yes30%

No77%

No43%

No70%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

36

How would you rate the organisation’s expenditure on technology relative to the size and market in which your organisation operates? Do you think the IT spend is too high or too low?The majority of respondents (77%) believe that the organisation’s IT expenditure is neither too high nor too low, which could mean that they think it is appropriate but could also mean they don’t know.

graph 29: rating of organisation’s it spend (n=114)

IT spend istoo low

15%

Neither77%

IT spendis too high8%

IT spend istoo high2%

IT spendis too high14%

Neither93%

Neither71%

IT spendis too

low21%

Neither65%

IT spend istoo low

5%

IT spend istoo high9%

IT spendis too

low22%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

37

grAphs – sourcing strAtegies Do you expect to increase off-shore initiatives in the next 12 months?The majority of respondents (64%) do not expect to increase off-shoring initiatives in the next 12 months. CEOs were more likely to think off-shore initiatives would not be increased (74%) compared to NEDs (54%). Only one in five (24%) expect to increase off-shoring initiatives, and 12% did not know, with NEDs more likely to say they don’t know (20%).

graph 30: expect to increase off-shoring initiatives in the next twelve months (n=66)

Yes24%

No64%

Don’t know12%

38

When making large IT investments, which of the following sourcing approaches will be important over the next 3 years? And which approach will be the most important?

CIOs said that they would be using the following sourcing approaches when making their next large IT investments over the next 3 years: 1. A blend of insource and outsource (79%), and almost half (48%)

nominated this as the most important sourcing approach over the next 3 years.

2. Acquiring external technology, owning and operating it internally (63%), and one in four (27%) nominated it as the most important sourcing approach over the next 3 years.

3. Outsourcing (48%) and 13% selected it as the most important approach over the next 3 years.

4. Building in-house (25%), only 7% nominated it as the most important over the next 3 years.

5. A blend of insource and off-shoring (23%); only 4% nominated it as the most important over the next 3 years.

6. Off-shoring (16%), and only 2% nominated it as the most important over the next 3 years.

graph 31: important and most important sourcing Approaches When making large it investments (n=56 cios)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Off-shoring

A blend of insourceand off-shoring

Building inhouse

Outsourcing

Acquiring external technology,owning and operating it internally

A blend of insourceand outsource

Important

Most important

%

39

What areas will CIOs focus on to get more value from their sourcing strategies? CIOs said the top five areas to focus on were:1. Ensuring that vendors/partners fully understand our business (64%).2. Better managing the change communication and implementation elements

within our BAU organisation (48%).3. Better planning and coordination with internal/external stakeholders (45%).4. Ensuring that we understand our starting baseline for performance

and/or cost (43%).5. Increasing engagement between business, IT and the Board (43%).

graph 32: Benefit of hindsight – What could the organisation focus on to get more value from your sourcing strategy?

(n=56 cios)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Greater due diligence before selection: 7%

Ensure contracts are structured differently: 27%

Better ROI planning & analysis: 27%

Alignment between board & executive commitment to strategy: 27%

Increased understanding & awareness of change implications and risks: 38%

Increased engagement between business, IT and the Board: 43%

Ensure that we understand starting baseline for performance & cost: 43%

Better planning/coordination with stakeholders: 45%

Better communication & implementation within BAU: 48%

Ensure vendors/partners fully understand the business: 64%

%

40

How satisfied is the Board that the outsourcing initiatives undertaken by the organisation have delivered on project cost savings and maintained or improved quality?Respondents were divided in their views about project cost savings. While 40% were satisfied that the projected cost savings of outsourcing initiatives had been achieved, another 44% were unconvinced and 16% said they did not know.

Respondents were also divided in their views about whether or not service quality had been maintained or improved. 44% were uncertain or dissatisfied, and another 40% were satisfied service quality had been maintained or improved. CEOs (56%) were less satisfied than NEDs (37%). 16% of respondents didn’t know.

graph 33: satisfaction with outsourcing initiatives (n=80)

0 20 40 60 80 100

Maintained or improvedservice quality

Projected cost savings

Very Satis�ed Satis�ed Neither Dissatis�ed Don’t Know

%

Are you aware of any negative reaction from customers regarding processes that have been off-shored?Sixty-eight percent of NEDs and CEOs were not aware of any negative reactions, 18% were aware, while 14% of respondents didn’t know.

graph 34: Aware of Any negative reaction from customers regarding processes that have Been off-shored? (n=66)

Yes18%

No68%

Don’t know14%

41

it tAlent

BoArdWhen we asked the participants whether the Board had the right mix of skills to evaluate technology investment proposals, two thirds of all respondents were uncertain whether it did.

Given confirmation of the strategic role of technology, the significant impending spend on legacy-platform replacements and the impact those projects will have across the organisation, Chairs could consider strategies to enhance the skills of the Board in this area, such as bringing in IT-savvy talent on the Board, creating technology subcommittees, enlisting in a skills-development program or a combination of all three.

cioWhen we asked CEOs and CIOs to rate the relative importance of a list of 12 CIO competencies, their responses were completely aligned; however, when we asked the CEOs to assess their CIO against those competencies, there was a marked contrast between the CEO rating and the CIO’s self-assessment.

The two biggest gaps were strategic thinking and leadership. Only half of the CEOs rated their CIO strongly in either area, but almost all CIOs rated themselves highly. Other large gaps (in order of materiality) were:

n Building strong business partnerships n Being an effective communicator n Driving innovation n Hiring, retaining and developing talent n Strong commercial and financial focus n Driver of business change

The picture that emerges from the responses to these questions is confusion and doubt about the effectiveness of the CIO’s performance. This could indicate that the CIO is relatively new to the role and still on a development path, but it also indicates that in other organisations, the CIO and CEO do not have a common view of the competencies inherent in the CIO role.

42

it leAdership teAm When we asked CIOs to assess their teams against a similar list of competencies, the gaps that emerged were consistent with the gaps in the CEOs’ assessment of the CIOs. The biggest areas for development in the CIO’s team were:n Being an effective communicator at all levelsn Ability to hire and retain talentn Strategic thinkingn Commercial and financial focus

And the areas of strength they identified in their teams were:n Planning and organisingn Knowledge of the business n Team leadership

Despite the CEOs’ uncompromising assessment of CIO performance, a larger proportion of NEDs and CEOs said that they were confident that they had the right IT talent in place in their organisation. Nevertheless, a significant percentage were either unsure or disagreed.

successionConsistent with the CEO’s scoring of the CIO’s ability to retain and motivate talent, only one in three CEOs said that there was an internal successor for the current CIO. While the CIOs might not have a nominated successor, they were confident that they did not have key person exposures in their own leadership teams, with most saying that there were internal successors in place for each member of their team.

Business AlignmentUnderlining the theme of a CEO/CIO perception gap, less than half of the CEOs were satisfied that the CIOs and their team have an effective partnership with the business, while two-thirds of the CIOs thought that their partnership with the business was effective.

It is common for a cultural division to exist between the CIO, his or her team and the business, with the business often saying that IT lacks a service culture, is inward looking or uncommercial. In order to change this perception, CIOs have created business-facing divisional CIO roles that interface between the business and IT. These roles usually have responsibility for business solution architecture as well as supply and demand management, with the central IT organisation supplying solution delivery. As the effectiveness of these roles is a key determinant of the effectiveness of the IT/business partnership, it is important that the incumbents have strong stakeholder management skills, an affinity and rapport with the business, and excellent commercial skills.

43

grAphs – it tAlent

BoArdHow confident are you that the Board has the appropriate mix of skills to be able to effectively assess technology investment proposals presented by management?Overall, respondents differ in their views when it comes to the Board’s skills in assessing technology investment proposals; 32% of respondents were confident in the Board’s skills, 46% were somewhat confident and 22% were not confident.

graph 35: confidence in Board’s skills in Assessing technology investment proposals (n=136)

Not Con�dent22%

SomewhatCon�dent

46%

Con�dent32%

Con�dent30%

Con�dent34%

Con�dent30%

SomewhatCon�dent53%



Not Con�dent

30%

Not Con�dent

16%

Not Con�dent16%

TOTAL

NED

CIO

CEO

44

cioAssessment of the CIO against the following skills and competencies (answered by CIOs and CEOs). Importance that CIO has the skill or competency.CEOs and CIOs rated the importance of the CIO skills and competencies similarly.

The vast majority (80% or more) of CIOs rated themselves as strong or very strong across all the skills and competencies; however, the majority of CEOs rated them as adequate.

The most notable gaps were in strategic thinking; 98% of CIOs rated themselves as strong versus only 51% of CEOs, resulting in a large gap of 47%. A similar gap was also evident for leadership skills, where 98% of the CIOs rated themselves as strong, while only 54% of CEOs agreed, resulting in a gap of 44%.

Large gaps were also evident for:n Builds strong business partnerships (CIO rating 95% compared to

CEO rating 57%, resulting in a gap of 38%).n Effective communicator at all levels (CIO rating 95% compared to

CEO rating 57%, resulting in a gap of 38%).n Driving innovation (CIO rating 79% compared to CEO rating 43%,

resulting in a gap of 36%).n Hiring, retaining and developing talent (CIO rating 89% compared to

CEO rating 54%, resulting in a gap of 35%).n Commercial and financial focus (CIO rating 96% compared to CEO

rating 62%, resulting in a gap of 34%).n Driver of business change (CIO rating 84% compared to CEO rating

51%, resulting in a gap of 33%).n Track record of execution (CIO rating 100% compared to CEO rating

62%, resulting in a gap of 32%).

45

graph 36: cio self-Assessment and ceo Assessment of cio (n=93)

0 20 40 60 80 100

Maximises value from external relationships

Driving innovation

Driver of business change

Knowledge of the business

Hiring, retaining and developing talent

E�ective communicator at all levels

Planner and organiser

Builds strong business partnerships

Commercial and �nancial focus

Leadership

Strategic thinker

Track record of execution

46

graph 37: cio and ceo view of importance of cio Attributes (n=93)

0 20 40 60 80 100


Driving innovation

Hiring, retaining and developing talent

Driver of business change


Planner and organiser

Builds strong business partnerships

E�ective communicator at all levels


Strategic thinker

Leadership


CIO

CEO

%

47

it leAdership teAmHow would you assess your IT leadership team against the following skills and attributes?And how would you rate the importance of the following skills and attributes for the IT leadership team?CIOs rated the following skills and competencies as most important:

n Track record of execution (96% of CIOs rated it as either very important or important and the mean of 4.7 out of 5 indicates that more CIOs rated this as very important compared to the other skills and attributes).

n Planning and organising (98% rated it as either very important or important resulting in a mean of 4.6).

n Knowledge of the business (98% rated it as either very important or important resulting in a mean of 4.6).

n Hiring, retaining and developing talent (96% rated it as either very important or important resulting in a mean of 4.6).

n Team leadership (95% rated it as either very important or important resulting in a mean of 4.6).

0 20 40 60 80 100

Driving innovation


Architecture and solutions design

Process/methodology disciplines

Effective communicator at all levels


Business change leadership

Appropriate depth of technical skills

Building strong business partnerships

Strategic thinking

Team leadership


Hiring, retaining, and developing talent


Planning and organising

Importance

Team assessment

%

graph 38: it leadership team and importance of Attributes cio Assessment (n=56 cios)

48

How confident is the Board and the CEO that the right IT talent is in place to address the challenges demanded by the current economic environment?More than half the respondents (57%) are confident that the right IT talent is in place for the current economic environment, with 38% somewhat confident and 5% not confident.

graph 39: confidence that right it talent is in place to Address the challenges demanded by the current economic environment (n=136)

Very Con�dent15%

Con�dent42%

Somewhatcon�dent

38%

Not Con�dent5%

successionHas an internal successor to the CIO been nominated? (CEO only) Only 32% of CEOs said that an internal successor to the CIO had been nominated, 54% said no internal successor had been nominated and 14% didn’t know.

graph 40: has an internal successor for the cio Been nominated? (n=56 ceos)

Yes: 32%

No: 54%

Don’t know: 14%

49

Business AlignmentHow satisfied are you that your CIO and the IT team have an effective working partnership with the business? (CEO and CIO only)About half the CEOs (49%) were satisfied with the effectiveness of the working partnership between the CIO and the IT team and the business, a third (35%) were neutral and 16% dissatisfied. However, 68% of CIOs were satisfied with their partnership with the business, 27% were neutral and only 5% dissatisfied.

graph 41: satisfaction that the ceo and the it team have an effective Working partnership with the Business (n=37 ceos & n=56 cios)

0 20 40 60 80 100

CIO

CEO

Very satis�ed

Satis�ed

Neither

Dissatis�ed

%

50

overAll oBservAtions And conclusionsTo maximise the value of the significant investment that organisations in Australia and New Zealand are making in technology, and will continue to make as they replace their legacy platforms, the following areas are prioritised for the focus of the CEO, CIO and the Board.

mAking the strAtegic conteXt of technology front And centren The CIO should ensure that there is an IT vision and 3 to 5-year roadmap that

has been shared and ratified with the Board and CEO and is communicated across the organisation and down to all IT staff.

n The Board and CEO should insist that all technology investment proposals that are brought to their attention have a strategic context and tie back to the overall vision and roadmap.

driving successful Business And it trAnsformAtionGiven the strategic role of technology and significant impending spend on legacy-platform replacement, Chairs could consider strategies to enhance the skills of the Board in this area, such as recruiting IT-savvy talent to the Board, creating technology subcommittees, enlisting in a skills-development program or a combination of all three.

In order to ensure the smooth delivery of transformation programmes and realise the benefits, the CEO and Board should ensure that they have suitably qualified and experienced talent leading the transformation in both the business and IT, and if they are unsure whether they do, they should seek independent advice. The financial damages and delays that can arise as a result of inexperienced leadership can be very material.

Boards and CEOs should ensure that all critical stakeholders in their organisations are aligned and committed to major transformation initiatives so that business focus and attention are directed to meeting all programme deliverables, that quality business resources are dedicated to the transformation team and that both the CIOs and business heads are held accountable for realising the benefits underlying the business case.

Chairs and CEOs should ensure that all IT investment proposals are accompanied by a framework for identification, management and monitoring of programme risks and seek independent assurance that all risks have been comprehensively identified and understood up front. CIOs need to work with the Board and CEO to manage their expectations about what pace of technology-

51

enabled change is achievable in their organisation. CIOs should also ensure that they keep the Board and CEO abreast of technological change and its implications for the business, possibly by organising regular briefings from vendor organisations, academics and other industry experts.

CIOs should ensure that there are robust internal processes in place to manage business demand and to prioritise and align IT investments to business strategy and provide assurance to the CEO and Board that these processes function effectively.

running it like A Businessn CIOs should work with the CFO to provide a range of benchmarks on IT costs and

efficiency at individual service levels and overall, including competitor data, and share that information with the CEO and Board on an annual basis.

n The CIO should seek the views of the CEO and Board on reporting of overall IT expenditure and then work with the CFO to establish a more granular IT Chart of Accounts that clearly separates discretionary versus nondiscretionary expenditure and allows slicing and dicing of the numbers in different ways, such as project versus BAU, outsource versus insource etc.

n CIOs should provide regular reports to the CEO and Board on the performance of key outsourcing vendors with regard to contracted service quality and cost savings targets.

n CIOs should source internal or external specialist IT risk-management skills to improve overall risk management, including ensuring that project risks are identified better and earlier, the BCP plan is regularly tested, and any supplier concentration risk is assessed and mitigated.

fostering top it tAlentCEOs and CIOs should work with HR to:n Establish a formal succession planning process for the CIO and his or her

leadership team.n Recalibrate the competency framework used to assess the performance of the

CIO to ensure better alignment. n CIOs should work with HR to develop approaches to strengthen the skills of the IT

leadership team in communications, strategic thinking, commercial and financial skills, and hiring and retaining talent.

n CIOs should ensure that senior staff who are in charge of key business relationships are appropriately skilled and valued by the business they support. In addition, CIOs should engage with the business to formalise expectations of their role and of IT as a business function. Finally, they should implement a system of regular reporting and performance tracking of IT staff and business expectations.

This is the first time Korn/Ferry International has undertaken this survey in the region. We believe the current responses are significant, as are the likely trends over time, particularly as the economy returns to growth mode, and competition for IT talent returns to prior levels.

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Australasia Survey – Strategy, Risk and Governance of IT Investment

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