There weren’t a lot of major shockers at the Megatrends seminar. Perhaps the most interesting point that was made was that the number one priority for CIOs is how they can use IT to fuel business growth. This is a trend from the past few years. However Gartner predicts that in five years, the number one priority for CIOs will be using IT to grow their customer base and relations. Here are some quick sound bites from the Megatrends seminar:
- Greatest growth economic growth is in the developing nations, nations like India, China, Mexico… No surprise here.
- Economic growth in the west is predicted to be lower than the overall global growth rate. The US growth rate is predicted to be 2.2% which represents a major slow down from previous years.
- CEOs are confident that their companies are likely to experience revenue growht over the next 12 months and 3 years.
- IT budgets will get greater scrutiny. IT budgets are expected to grow 3% globally.
- By 2008, nearly 50% of data centers will lack necessary power and cooling.
- Growing disatisfation with outsourced IT among customers of the top ten providers.
- Prediction for the future: Should I as CIO server IT operations from my responsibilities? The CIO would still be responsible for design, planning, or implementation, but operations would be handed over to another business unit, like the COO.
- CIO’s are asking how do I reduce the cost of IT security. This is heading in the wrong direction. IT security already does not have adequate attention from the CIO.