CIOs should have more influence in business budgets

Were this the case, then surely CIOs should work with business executives and the CFO to ensure that IT is incorporated early on in the strategic planning and budget planning processes. 

According to Cassio Dreyfuss, research vice president at Gartner, over time, “IT has graduated from being a support tool to being a business enabling and creation tool. Under that much broader and inclusive perspective, it makes more sense to talk about IT-related expenditures in each and every business initiative and respective budget. In this way, the CIO is challenged to adopt a higher profile and actively engage in opportunities to influence IT decisions in business budgets.”

Indeed, companies should keep in mind that the CIO has unique contributions to IT budget decisions for organisations of all styles. But Garter explains that for this to happen CIOs must understand the business challenges and work styles of each of them to effectively influence budget decisions.

“The road toward a digital future requires transformational action from IT through disruptive innovation, while continuing to run ‘business as usual’ at the expected level of excellence,” said Dreyfuss. “IT must therefore operate at high-performance levels at two very different modes.” 

The IT organisation is in a position to get broadly and intensely involved with budget decisions, suggests Michael Smith, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. 

He said: “These characteristics legitimise CIOs and their teams as advisors to all budgets in all functions within the enterprise. In addition, IT leaders will advise business leaders on how to secure, integrate and manage the quality of the information that fuels digital business. These capabilities are what CIOs and their teams will have budgeting responsibility for as traditional enterprises make the transformation to digital businesses.” 

By Shané Schutte

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