IT's Emerging Role in the Recovery

The damage from the recession is done. As the economy begins its tender steps to recovery, it is time to focus on growing, or re-growing, revenues and boosting profits. A recent survey from Gartner Inc. confirms that "IT-enabled changes will be a key element in their (CEOs) post-recession strategy."

For this strategy to succeed, the best organizations will need both "IT-smart business leaders and business-smart IT leaders," this according to Susan Cramm, former CFO, CIO and author of a posting on Harvard Business Review's blog. Her survey exploring the IT and business-leader relationship found different results depending upon the "IT smarts" of each business.

Cramm's results suggest it may be worth CIOs' efforts to educate business leaders on the value of IT because "as companies become smarter about IT, they change how they manage IT assets." For example, 90% of leaders at "‘IT smart" firms say business leaders drive IT-enabled business change" compared to only 21% at "IT dumb" organizations.

But, CIOs will not have "carte blanc" regarding IT spending. According to Gartner, "CIOs are advised not to expect 2010 budget increases, rather to expect to finance future IT projects from the cost savings obtained from existing IT operations."

- Article provided by TechServe Alliance, June 2010