Survey finds CIOs routinely bypassed in tech investments

Line-of-business (LOB) executives continue to bypass the CIO and IT department when making technology investments, according to the third annual Global CIO Survey from Logicalis U.S. 

Nearly one-third (31 percent) of the more than 400 CIOs globally surveyed are routinely bypassed by the LOB in IT purchasing decisions while the vast majority of IT leaders--90 percent--find themselves bypassed at least some of the time. A growing number (42 percent) of CIOs are now actively embracing a new internal service provider model that will allow them to provide increased business value and relevancy to their LOB colleagues and internal IT users.

This "shadow IT" has been an ongoing trend, according to Logicalis. "When you analyze the reasons shadow IT exists, it's clear that LOB executives are simply looking for better, faster access to IT services; they want an at-work experience that emulates the on-demand services they have access to in their consumer lives," said Vince DeLuca, Logicalis CEO, said in a release. "The consumerization of IT and the widespread availability of as-a-service cloud options has, therefore, made it both easy and, in many cases, practical to bypass the IT department. These actions, however, have yielded significant consequences for the IT professionals tasked with corporate IT governance and security measures--a fact which has forced many CIOs to redefine their role from that of technologist to what is fast becoming known as the 'internal service provider.'" 

While CIOs have been fighting the battle to retain the balance of power in IT decision-making, the survey also found that 66 percent of CIOs today actually do hold the balance of power over technology spending, making more than half of the IT purchasing decisions in their organizations. While still significant, this number reflects a 6 percent decline in the number of CIOs holding this power in the last year. Clearly, top IT professionals must make impactful changes to regain control of their organizations' IT spend: Propelled by the threat of shadow IT, CIOs are being forced to re-align their IT strategies to better serve the needs of their LOB colleagues and transform their IT departments in a way that makes them the logical first choice for IT service procurement.

The survey suggests IT leaders are more focused on transforming their IT departments into internal service providers than on eliminating shadow IT though both result in an ability to retake control of IT in the corporate setting.

Transforming into an internal service provider, however, also will result in a leaner IT department dedicated to managing a portfolio of services rather than simply technology per se, according to Logicalis. It will allow CIOs to deliver a faster response to the technology demands of their LOB colleagues--a transformation that the survey shows is not only being embraced, but is well underway. CIOs have begun to free themselves and their IT teams from the day-to-day operational tasks that have traditionally consumed so much of their time, with 38 percent now spending at least half of their time on more strategic activities.

The study also indicates that CIOs worldwide are now spending almost half of their time (42 percent) on activities consistent with developing and delivering the internal service provider model: "engaging with line of business" and "scoping and providing new IT services."

This increased focus on providing services is also reflected in CIOs' responses around the balance of IT department activities, which suggests a 50/50 balance between technology management and the delivery of a portfolio of services.  Nearly half of the CIOs surveyed (47 percent) report that at least 30 percent of their IT services are already being provided by external service providers.