Gartner EXP Worldwide Survey of 1,500 CIOs Shows 85 Percent of CIOs Expect ''Significant...

Gartner EXP Worldwide Survey of 1,500 CIOs Shows 85 Percent of CIOs Expect ''Significant Change'' Over Next Three Years

Worldwide Survey Results Show CIOs Must "Make the Difference" by
Replacing Generic IT With Distinctive Solutions That Drive Enterprise
Strategy

Half of CIOs Investing in Web 2.0 Initiatives Are Doing So for the
First Time in 2008
STAMFORD, Conn.--(Business Wire)--Eighty-five percent of chief information officers (CIOs) see
significant change coming over the next three years as they look to
meet rising business expectations for IT to make the difference in
their enterprise strategy, according to a worldwide survey of 1,500
CIOs by Gartner Executive Programs (EXP).

"CIOs recognize the importance of IT in 'making the difference' by
changing business processes, attracting customers and developing new
products and services," said Mark McDonald, group vice president and
head of research for Gartner EXP. "However, they are guarded in their
confidence in IT's ability to create results in these areas. Momentum
has been building for IT to play a larger role. This year, those
expectations are beginning to outpace CIO confidence to deliver. This
sharpens CIOs' concentration on IT capabilities like never before."

Making the Difference

The Gartner EXP CIO report Making the Difference: The 2008 CIO
Agenda represents the most comprehensive examination of business
priorities and CIO strategies. It encompasses more than $132 billion
dollars of IT spending and the insights from more than 1,450
enterprises across 33 countries and 23 industries.

"The message is consistent across the survey; business leaders
expect IT to make the difference rather than deliver generic IT
solutions," Mr. McDonald said.

"IT difference is the reason customers use when they choose a
company's products and services," added Mr. McDonald. "Making the
difference involves taking on additional technical risk and cost, a
departure from past CIO strategies that concentrated on managing these
factors. CIOs will need to become more tolerant of risk and innovation
and flexible to meet changing market and customer demands."

CIOs are in a strong position to lead in making the difference.
CIO tenure has stabilized at an average of four years and four months,
giving CIOs ample time to work with executives to transform their
enterprises. In addition, more than half of CIOs report having
responsibilities outside of traditional IT, reflecting their enhanced
business leadership position. The most common additional
responsibility is related to business process improvement.

CIO Staffing Challenges

While overall IT effectiveness continues to climb, CIOs face
challenges in their people, their processes and IT performance. Only
27 percent of CIOs believe that they have the right number of skilled
people to meet business needs. That is impacting both IT performance
and IT's support for enterprise strategies.

"The skills of your people count," said Mr. McDonald. "Two-thirds
of IT organizations that do not meet business expectations claim that
skills are at the core of their performance issue. This issue is not
expected to be resolved quickly, because only half of CIOs reporting a
skills issue have building IT skills as a top-five strategy for 2008."

Web 2.0 and Social Computing

Web 2.0 and social computing are on the rise according to CIOs.
Half of companies increasing their investment in Web 2.0 are doing so
for the first time. Social computing is rapidly becoming a way that IT
can play a direct role in making the difference to the customer and
the market.

"Every company is entering a world rich with information and
personal expression. Web 2.0 and social computing provide tools to
capture both and turn them into customer insight, engagement and
retention," said Mr. McDonald.

IT Spending and Priorities

Worldwide IT budgets are expected to increase by an average of 3.3
percent in 2008, up slightly from 2007. Enterprises are willing to
invest in IT that delivers distinctive solutions. IT budgets at these
companies are growing at a rate of 4.9 percent on average, compared
with IT budgets at generic IT shops, which will rise an average of 3.1
percent.

Improving business processes was the No. 1 business priority for
the fourth consecutive year (see Table 1). Creating new products or
services (innovation) moved from being the No. 10 priority in 2007 to
the No. 3 priority for 2008. Business intelligence was the No. 1
technology priority for the third year in a row.

-0-
*T
Table 1
Top 10 Business and Technology Priorities in 2008
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Top 10 Business Ranking Top 10 Technology Ranking
Priorities Priorities
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Business process Business intelligence
improvement 1 applications 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Attracting and retaining Enterprise applications
new customers 2 (ERP, CRM and others) 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Creating new products and Servers and storage
services (innovation) 3 technologies 3
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Expanding into new Legacy modernization,
markets or geographies 4 upgrade or enhancement 4
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reducing enterprise costs 5 Technical infrastructure 5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Improving enterprise Security technologies
workforce effectiveness 6 6
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Expanding current Networking, voice and data
customer relationships 7 7
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Increasing the use of Collaboration technologies
information and
analytics 8 8
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Targeting customers and Document management
markets more effectively 9 9
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Acquiring new companies Service-oriented
and capabilities architecture (SOA) and
(mergers and service-oriented business
acquisitions) 10 applications (SOBA) 10
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Gartner EXP (January 2008)
*T

"CIOs and IT will need to realign themselves around the enterprise
strategy, enterprise performance and results, or else they will only
reinforce the perception that IT provides market-matching solutions
rather than market-making capabilities," Mr. McDonald said. "CIOs see
business expectations of IT taking a big leap in 2008, and CIOs are
now expected to deliver the solutions that make the enterprise
different in a way that matters to company performance and customer
satisfaction. That is a tall order requiring CIOs to think differently
about their role in 2008 and beyond."

About Gartner EXP

Gartner Executive Programs (EXP) is a membership-based
organization of more than 3,600 CIOs worldwide. Members benefit from
the convenience of a single source of knowledge, one-to-one counsel,
personalized service, the shared knowledge of the world's largest
community of CIOs, and the assurance of Gartner objectivity and
insight. Additional information about Gartner EXP can be found on the
Gartner Web site at www.gartner.com/exp.

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) delivers the technology-related insight
necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day.
Gartner serves 10,000 organizations, including chief information
officers and other senior IT executives in corporations and government
agencies, as well as technology companies and the investment
community. The Company consists of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive
Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979,
Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has
3,900 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in
75 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.

Gartner, Inc.
Christy Pettey, 408-468-8312
christy.pettey@gartner.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008