Asia-Pacific CIOs report higher adoption of disruptive technologies: Gartner

CIOs in Asia-Pacific report higher adoption of disruptive technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and conversational interfaces than their global peers, according to an annual survey of CIOs by Gartner, Inc.

Forty-three per cent said they have deployed or are in short-term planning for deployment of IoT technologies (compared to 37 per cent globally) and 37 per cent for AI (compared to 25 per cent globally). Investments have been made in conversational interfaces by 28 per cent (21 per cent globally) and virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) by 20 per cent (17 per cent globally). Thirteen per cent have adopted blockchain or distributed ledger technology, compared to 9 per cent globally.

"Asia-Pacific is home to some very successful and entrepreneurial digital businesses, as well as to established manufacturing, financial services, protein export, mining, government agencies and higher education establishments, that are driving the region up the technology adoption curve," said Andy Rowsell-Jones, Vice-President and distinguished Analyst, Gartner.

Gartner analysts presented the survey findings during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Australia this week. The 2018 Gartner CIO Agenda Survey of 3,160 CIOs worldwide included 537 across 17 countries in Asia-Pacific (113 of those in Australia and New Zealand), representing approximately US$3.4 trillion in revenue/public sector budgets and $49 billion in IT spending.

The survey indicates that 95 per cent of CIOs expect their jobs to change or be remixed due to digitalization. While world-class IT delivery is a given, it will increasingly take up less of the CIO's time. Respondents believe that the two biggest transformations in the CIO’s role will be becoming a change leader, followed by assuming increased and broader responsibilities. Inevitably, the job of CIO will extend beyond the traditional delivery roles to other areas of the business, such as innovation management and talent development.

"The nature of the CIO's job has changed from the role of delivery executive to that of IT business executive – from controlling cost and engineering processes, to driving revenue and exploiting data," said Rowsell-Jones. "Leaders are rapidly scaling their digital businesses, making the remainder of this year and 2018 a defining moment for CIOs who don't want to be left behind."

The survey results show that Asia-Pacific CIOs increasingly have responsibility for areas of the business outside traditional IT, but significantly less than global peers. 44 per cent are responsible for digital transformation (55 per cent globally); 37 per cent for innovation (54 per cent globally) and 17 per cent for enterprise change (28 per cent globally).

"In some parts of Asia especially, it’s hard for CIOs to get the authority to act outside of the narrow confines of IT," said Rowsell-Jones. "Nevertheless, that does not mean they should abrogate their responsibility to bring about far-reaching enterprise change."