Adobe conducted a survey in partnership with Fortune with more than 500 CIOs from the United States (200) and EMEA (150) and APAC (156) regions to better understand how the role of the CIO has evolved .
The study shows that these executives are at the center of almost every major business initiative, with 90% of US CIOs (75% in EMEA and 85% in APAC) saying they feel under pressure to digitally transform their businesses . With vaccine delivery, companies are turning to CIOs to ensure that employees can work productively and safely anywhere.
“Despite the heavy weight on our shoulders, CIOs are facing a challenge,” says Cynthia Stoddard, Adobe’s senior vice president and CIO. “With other business leaders, we accept our responsibilities as an opportunity to collaborate even more and succeed in today’s new digital reality.”
The main changes in the role of CIO are given below:
First Digital Economy Supporters
The study notes that at least three-quarters of CIOs say their role is enhanced, with increased responsibilities and they have a greater influence on leadership decisions within their organization.
“Over the past year, CIOs have been able to further improve digital customer experiences, while they have become more complex,” says Stoddard. “In the future, CIOs need to think about the integrated tools and structures needed to help their organizations capture customer data effectively, as well as to shape that data into a personalized and improved customer experience Have to convert to insight. “
In other words, CIOs are promoting their company’s customer experience journey: 97% say they are as focused on customer experience (CX) as they were before the epidemic, if not more, all on their shoulders. Despite the new responsibilities.
Data security and privacy come first among the many priorities that CIOs must now manage. According to the survey, 71% of US-based CIOs indicated security and privacy as the most likely areas for increased investment in 2021.
CIOs and CMOs make a powerful pair
With more teams directly involved in shaping the customer experience, CIOs regularly partner with their partners to bring their digital experiences from concept to reality. IT leaders regularly collaborate with two or more C-level collaborators on the Customer Experience Management (CXM) initiative.
In these relationships, there is perhaps nothing stronger than the link between the CIO and the CMO. The vast majority of global CIOs (95%) strongly agree that partnering with CMOs improves your organization’s customer experience. Similarly, 93% say that working closely with CMOs promotes innovation.
“It’s no secret that closer collaboration between IT and marketing teams leads to more personalized customer experiences on digital channels, but the impact of the Kovid-19 has made this level of partnership unavoidable,” Stoddard explains. About 60% of CIOs now meet daily or weekly with CMOs, making a truly powerful pair.
Employee Experience Motivators
While the customer experience is the primary focus of the CIO, the new “work from anywhere” environment has developed the priorities of these executives, first and foremost, employees and then customers. CIOs are taking advantage of external customer journey management practices and applying these same principles internally to enhance the experiences of their own employees.
Today, 89% of CIOs see themselves as agents of change who play a role in improving the culture of their organization. “Given the proven correlation between happy employees, satisfied customers, and overall business success, it is more important than ever for CIOs to prioritize any system or business processes that improve collaboration, productivity, and overall employee experience,” Stoddard Concluded.
