The report, -Australasian CIOs' top 3 priorities," surveyed 57 Australian and New Zealand CIOs and found that while 75 percent plan new spending on core technology infrastructure in the coming year 65 percent said -obtaining more value for money from vendors and service providers" was a key priority and 54 percent plan to extract more capacity from existing IT infrastructure.
This resolve to strike a better deal will see CIOs put the squeeze on suppliers by demanding bundled products and services, a strategy Forrester expects will help to drive down costs but will also represent a marked change from the traditional buying pattern of assembling solutions from best of breed components. Consolidation is another option CIOs will use to drive down operational costs, with large, single-supplier data centres likely to replace smaller installations to reduce server fleet sizes and simplify maintenance. Applications will also be consolidated, although in the realm of software this strategy may be deployed to free up funds for the new packaged applications 67 percent of respondents expect to buy, while 61 percent hope to build new bespoke applications.
Spending will be led by the finance, manufacturing and telecommunications sectors, each of which Forrester expects will spend more on new investments than their U.S. counterparts.
Their dollars may not, however, end up in Australian hands, as the report asserts that CIOs' second priority will be to take advantage of the cost benefits available from offshore outsourcing, an option that has now become compelling. More than half of respondents intend to engage an offshore supplier in the coming year, a result which spells danger for incumbent locals.
CIOs, however, seem to now understand the dangers of entering into complex agreements such as those required to incorporate offshore services into a wider agreement, an awakening reflected by their intention to strengthen IT governance models. The report identifies improved governance as priority three, with 54 percent of respondents identifying it as a key challenge.
-Given the importance of aligning IT spending with business results, CIOs are seeking clearer accountability and more involvement from the business in IT decision making," the report says, a trend that will spark the creation of -...a combination of cross-functional steering committees, project management offices and training, and more robust sign-off processes."
Whether CIOs are as familiar with the exigencies of working through a complex committee system is not, however, recorded.
Here are my observations:
My CIO gets his underlings to buy for him (so Finance can't trace it back to him) all the latest toys dispite the belt tightening.
What a ponce !!!