CIOs feel hindered by tech skills shortage

The majority (65%) of CIOs worldwide feel hindered by the greatest technology skills shortage since the global financial crisis nearly a decade ago, a new survey shows.

The latest Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey also finds that 65% of CIOs believe a lack of talent will prevent their organisation from keeping up with the pace of change.

Data analytics is the most in demand skill among IT organisations, while companies most crave the newer digital, security and IT strategy skills.

Results from the global survey also indicate that CIO priorities are continuing to shift. The typical CIO now focuses on IT projects that make money (63%) rather than save money (37%).

Indeed, some of the traditional top CIO priorities have seen the biggest decline in importance over the past four years, with increasing operational efficiencies dropping 16% and delivering stable IT performance falling 27%.

At the same time, almost a third (28%) of CIOs have had to respond to a major IT security incident or cyber attack on behalf of their organisation over the past two years.

More CIOs are meanwhile reporting directly to the CEO (34%) than at any time in the past decade, and CIOs that directly report to the CEO are also the happiest in terms of job fulfilment.

Along with these changing priorities have come the rise of the chief digital officer (CDO). The survey shows that one in five companies now employs a CDO, almost triple the number from 2014. CDOs are twice as likely to report to the CEO (46%) than to the CIO (21%), and the CEO is the most likely to take charge of digital at 21%.

KPMG Australia Head of Digital Guy Holland said the results of the survey clearly show a maturing view of digital within organisations.

“With the significant slowdown in growth of the standalone CDO role, and only 16% of CIOs ‘owning’ the digital strategy, organisations are taking a more holistic view of the importance of establishing a pervasive digital-first mindset and skillset across their enterprise,” KPMG Australia Guy Holland said.

“Australian businesses will need to adapt and enhance the skills of their employees in many areas and also apply a greater focus to the cultural dimension of digital transformation.”

Another key finding of the survey is that the proportion of women in senior IT leadership roles has risen by a third in the past year, from 6% to 9%. A third of CIOs also report having a formal diversity initiative in place.

Image courtesy of Gideon Benari under CC