Technology spending outside of IT will rise to almost 90 per cent by the end of the decade, from the 20 per cent posted 12 years ago.
Much of this change is being driven by the digitisation of companies’ revenue and their services, according to a study by research and analyst firm Gartner.
The ‘Nexus Of Forces’ is leading this transformation. The nexus is the convergence and mutual reinforcement of social, mobile, cloud and information patterns that drive new business scenarios.
Organisations are digitising segments of business, such as moving marketing spend from analogue to digital, or digitising the research and development budget. Secondly, organisations are digitising how they service their clients in order to drive higher client retention. Thirdly, they are turning digitisation into new revenue streams.
Gartner analysts said this is resulting in every budget becoming an IT budget.
To address these changes, organisations will create the role of a Chief Digital Officer as part of the business unit leadership, which will become a new seat at the executive table. Gartner predicts that by 2015, 25 per cent of organisations will have a Chief Digital Officer.
“The Chief Digital Officer will prove to be the most exciting strategic role in the decade ahead, and IT leaders have the opportunity to be the leaders who will define it,” said David Willis, Vice-President and distinguished analyst at Gartner.
“The Chief Digital Officer plays in the place where the enterprise meets the customer, where the revenue is generated and the mission accomplished. They’re in charge of the digital business strategy. That’s a long way from running back office IT, and it’s full of opportunity,” Willis added.
Willis said the forces of cloud, social, mobile and information are reconfiguring how people work and live. It is a world in which business and personal lives are intertwined. A world with fewer command and control restrictions that stifle productivity and innovation.