Innovation accelerators embracing IT transformation

One in three companies are pursuing IT-enabled business transformation as a top priority, and these companies are more than twice as likely to invest in the development of new applications as their peers.

So say the results of a new survey from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, commissioned by Red Hat.

The survey of 420 global business leaders also shows that these “innovation accelerators” are also more likely to focus on revenue-generating opportunities with new customer experience strategies (71%), business model innovation (69%) and service innovation (68%).

Respondents believe IT-enabled innovation will have the biggest impact on the way businesses interact with their customers, followed by the way employees do their work, the products and services their companies offer and the business models they pursue.

In terms of specific transformation projects, two thirds of companies plan to automate business processes and execute customer experience strategies over the next three years. Over the same time frame, around 60% plan to create new applications and 56% plan to draw up new business models.

The most transformational technologies include business intelligence/analytics, mobile technologies, collaboration tools and cloud computing.

CIOs lead technology-driven business innovation in 41% of organisations, compared to 16% for CEOs and the same percentage for other C-level executives.

But the survey results suggest that CIOs are often distracted by their daily responsibilities for running IT, hindering their ability to drive innovation.

Image courtesy of Clifford under CC