Lenovo Study: Three in Five CIOs Would Replace Half or More of Their Current Technology If Given Opportunity
A recent global research study by Lenovo highlights the evolving role of CIOs, revealing their increasing involvement in areas beyond traditional technology, such as business strategy and sustainability. Key findings indicate that 57% of CIOs believe their tech stack needs significant improvement, with many expressing willingness to overhaul it. Furthermore, 88% of CIOs view their role as critical to their organization's operation, while 61% acknowledge the essential support of technology vendors in driving business success. Lenovo emphasizes the importance of flexible IT solutions for effective digital transformation.
- 88% of CIOs believe their role is critical to their company's operation.
- 61% of CIOs consider that halting digital transformation initiatives would impact business within weeks.
- CIOs are increasingly involved in business strategy, sustainability, and other areas beyond technology.
- 57% of CIOs want to replace half or more of their current tech stack, indicating dissatisfaction.
- 66% of CIOs find data privacy/security and cybersecurity/ransomware as major challenges.
- Research commissioned by Lenovo reveals CIOs are more involved than ever before in areas outside their traditional technology purview, such as business model transformation, corporate strategy, and sustainability
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Tasked with increasing organizational agility and streamlining operations cost,
57% of CIOs think at least half their current tech stack is serviceable but could be improved – with21% wanting to replace almost all of their tech stack
Today, technology is the nervous system that connects corporate strategy, finance, innovation, operations, and talent. CIOs are increasingly tasked with connecting with key stakeholders across the organization to ensure alignment and drive execution. With IT enmeshed in every facet of a business, CIOs believe that their organizations must continue to invest in digital transformation to remain relevant. Key findings from Lenovo’s global survey of more than 500 CIOs include:
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Nearly all CIOs surveyed believe their roles have evolved and expanded in the past few years, and that they are being asked to make business decisions that go far beyond technology.
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9-in-10 CIOs say that their roles and responsibilities have expanded beyond technology, including non-traditional areas such as data analytics and business reporting (
56% ), sustainability/ESG (45% ), DE&I (42% ), HR/talent acquisition (39% ), and sales/marketing (32% ). -
82% say the CIO role has become more challenging compared with just two years ago as they are confronting a vast array of unique challenges, from the increasing use of AI and automation to talent acquisition in a global, remote workforce. -
CIOs find it most difficult to solve challenges related to data privacy/security (
66% ), cybersecurity/ransomware (66% ), keeping up with technological change (65% ), managing fragmented IT vendor ecosystems (61% ) and adopting/deploying new technology (60% ).
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9-in-10 CIOs say that their roles and responsibilities have expanded beyond technology, including non-traditional areas such as data analytics and business reporting (
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The majority of CIOs believe their role in the organization has increased in influence.
- More than 3-in-4 CIOs say they have a greater impact on their company’s overall fortunes than other C-Suite positions.
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88% agree that “my role as CIO is the most critical component of my company or organization’s continued operation.”
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As the CIO role expands and evolves, respondents say that their technology vendors play an invaluable role in their company’s overall success.
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Business would feel an impact in no more than a few weeks if they halted spending on digital transformation initiatives, according to
61% of respondents. This speaks to technology’s role as a critical component of the business, not just a source of cost efficiencies. -
Looking ahead, CIOs expect to turn to their vendors to help them solve myriad problems in the next five years, including increasing their organizational agility (
60% ) and providing security of their company’s systems and operations (52% ), as well as to simplify the configuration, deployment and maintenance of technology (50% ), and optimize costs (43% ). - 8-in-10 CIOs agree their tech vendors are “so effectively integrated that it increases [their] overall productivity.”
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Business would feel an impact in no more than a few weeks if they halted spending on digital transformation initiatives, according to
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Considering their new challenges and evolving responsibilities, CIOs suggest their current tech stack has much room for improvement.
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Given the chance to reboot from scratch, most CIOs (
57% ) say they would replace half or more of their company’s current technology. -
Compared to the previous year,
63% of companies are using more Device-as-a-Service in their tech stack. -
As business models change, nearly all CIOs (
92% ) would definitely or probably consider adding new aaS offerings over the next two years.
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Given the chance to reboot from scratch, most CIOs (
“Modern CIOs are the ‘mission control’ for their organizations; their role has transformed drastically in just the span of the past 24 months,” said
Research firm
“In this complex technological environment, CIOs want to innovate, not manage IT. As Lenovo’s research highlights, CIOs look to their technology vendors beyond just delivering the basics well – namely, increase organizational agility, simplify configuration, and optimize costs. IT leaders also need counsel and guidance on how emerging technology can enhance their business goals. The opportunities for technology to add real business value – right across the enterprise – are immense,” added
To manage an increasingly complex digital transformation journey, businesses need simple and flexible IT solutions. Lenovo’s solutions provide organizations the breadth of Everything-as-a-Service offerings in Lenovo TruScale; the flexibility to pay for the infrastructure solutions they need, as long as they need; and the depth in our expertise and services that empowers CIOs to focus more on their strategic imperatives. Businesses of all sizes need the flexibility to stay competitive, and a scalable, cloud-like solution model is the answer.
Industry forecasts by
The full study is available at Lenovo Tech Today.
About Lenovo SSG Global Study of CIOs
Fieldwork for this study was conducted via a quantitative survey from
About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a
1 The global research was commissioned by Lenovo and carried out by
2 IDC FutureScape: Worldwide CIO Agenda 2022 Predictions, Doc # US48297821,
3
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220308006281/en/
Kinan Suchaovanich
ksuchaovanic@lenovo.com
(852) 2516 4793 ext. 3184793
Source: Lenovo
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