2020 was an exceptional year with movements, trends, and incidents we have never seen before. How did IT leaders all around the world think about it and respond to a world that has been turned upside-down? A fresh IT Leadership survey by The Harvey Nash/KPMG, asking 4,219 CIOs around the world, offers illuminating answers.

Largest IT Leadership Survey – The Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey 2020

The 2020 Harvey Nash/ KPMG CIO Survey is the largest IT leadership survey in the world in terms of the number of respondents. The survey was conducted on 4,219 CIOs and technology leaders across 83 countries.

It surveyed 4,219 IT leaders surveyed across a wide 62% range of industries and geographies, gathering 1,428 responses to the modified pandemic surveys.

As of the survey, only 30% of digital leavers can confidently say that they are “very” or “extremely” effective at using digital technology to advance their business strategy. This means that a whole 70% out there are still struggling to find a way to optimize their business.

In 30% of top players, we see that they have reported some significant achievements:

• 4X better results in operational efficiency
• 3X better at customer experience
• 3.5X better at increasing revenues

These noticeable results can also attribute to the statistic that 52% of digital leaders embed security into projects at the start and the figure for 7X more likely to use AI to manage enterprise data.

In previous reports, we have seen several huge IT players cut their IT budgets down to adjust to the impact of the pandemic. However, there are still 5% spend more on tech means. One year later, as businesses are more and more accustomed to the “new normal”, we are expected to see a significant rise in budget and headcounts of 43% and 45% in 2021.

This year 2021, their top 3 operational priorities are:

• Operational efficiency to the business
• Customer engagement
• Enabling the workforce

Their modes of recovery are also predicted to be:

• Hard reset
• Modify business-as-casual
• Transform to re-emerge
• Surge

In terms of managing technology, the main concern of digital leaders everywhere is cyber security, with over 47% of main players investing in the field the most. This trend is foreseeable, as remote working has been all the rage globally to adapt to the impact of COVID-19.

Talking about COVID’s impact, we must acknowledge the widespread impact of “the new normal”. In 2020, 86% of digital leaders admitted to moving their workforce to remote working as a means to keep the whole team safe and business running. Among those, 43% have over half of their team work from home.

This new work ethic leads to a major problem: increasing reports of mental health issues in the workforce. Now, finance is a thing, but the company culture and leadership play much more important roles than ever.

The shortage of IT Talent is worsened during the pandemic. Below are the most sought-after skills

• Cyber security
• Org. change management
• Enterprise architecture
• Technical architecture
• Advanced analytics

6 Ways Optimizing Technology Can Improve Your Business Efficiency

Optimizing computing infrastructure is one of the keys to improving the efficiency of your business. Without optimized technology, your company wouldn’t be as productive as anticipated. Also, it wouldn’t be able to keep up with the competition. The best way to utilize your computing infrastructure to its fullest potential is to optimize it.

Sometime back, computers were not viewed as necessary. However, that didn’t stop tech-savvy companies from utilizing them to their fullest potential. Technology helps increase productivity, improve customer service, and gain a competitive advantage. Today’s tech landscape provides better options to improve the efficiency of your business.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

With technology, it won’t cost you a lot of money to provide customers with accurate and quick service. Customer centers give you the means to contact customers using your preferred methods, such as phone, email, or chat. Contact centers can run independently or as a unified communication system. Integrating your phone system and records management systems into your CRM provides your staff with access to the most current customer data anywhere and as quickly as possible.

LOWER COST OF OPERATION

One of the best ways to reduce bloated spending is to invest in software and service-based technologies. For example, print management software sets to control and offers recommendations to help reduce expenses that can eat up 1-3% of your income.

Moreover, cloud computing technology leverages virtual and off-site technologies for storing apps and data and making it accessible from anywhere. That way, you can minimize the costs of hardware maintenance during times of expansion or contraction and improve the security of your system.

INCREASED EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY

Technology enables a company to maintain consistent performance even during economic hardship. For example, data recovery and data backup services can allow a company to get back on its feet after a service outage or disaster. That helps maximize the productivity of your employees and minimize the expected downtime.

Technology also improves workplace productivity by simplifying time-consuming tasks. For example, the use of document management software replaces tasks such as manual file retrieval, data entry, and filing.

Moreover, managed IT services can help optimize your limited internal IT resources and eliminate the burden of routine system maintenance.

OPERATIONS EFFICIENCY

It is necessary to streamline processes as your business continues to grow. Today’s technology, such as BPM software and content management solutions, allows you to optimize your business processes. As such, it becomes easier to restructure repetitive paper-based processes such as account payable procedures and work order processing.

Additionally, modern communication systems improve operations through instant messaging, emails, and video conferencing. That way, critical information can be relayed as quickly as possible.

STRENGTHEN NETWORKS

Network solutions can enhance your computing power and increase the functionality of your server. In fact, this is an important step when you want to balance workloads and complete tasks quickly. Network virtualization can help eliminate the need for network hardware and minimize the complexity of your system. That results in increased business efficiency that ultimately improves your bottom line.

INCREASED EMPLOYEE RETENTION

Investing in technology that makes employees more successful and satisfied is essential to retaining top talent. It also helps boost employee morale during rough patches. Technology will enable you to provide desirable perks that today’s digital generation is demanding. For example, installing a hosted phone system and secure virtual network provides your employees with the flexibility to telework.

Technology undoubtedly helps improve the efficiency of your business in many ways. Even a single business application or software can enhance your business across different performance indicators. Technology enables you to set the KPIs and objectives that best fit your company.

Today’s technology comes with advanced reporting capability to help you improve the efficiency of your business. It enables you to gain insight into market trends, customer preferences, and business performance. Technology makes it easier to access performance metrics and analytical reports that you can use to redesign your strategies.