Key information technology and management issues 2011–2012: an international study

Abstract

The importance of the impact of IT for organizations around the world, especially in light of a very slow recovery from the global financial crisis, has amplified the need to provide a better understanding of the specific geographic similarities and differences of IT managerial and technical trends. Going beyond identifying these influential factors is also the need to understand the considerations for addressing them in light of recognizing the respective local characteristics, especially when operating in a globally linked environment, although somehow heavily influenced locally. By comparing and contrasting IT trends from different geographies, this paper presents important local and international factors (e.g., management concerns, influential technologies, budgets/spending, organizational considerations) necessary to prepare IT leaders for the challenges that await them. It can also serve as an indicator as the respective geographies evolve from the economic conundrum. The research is based on data from four geographic regions (United States (US), Europe, Asia, and Latin America). The same questionnaire (although translated for the respective respondents), based on the lead authors well-respected and long-running Society for Information Management survey, was applied across the geographies. This paper presents the major findings based on survey responses from 620 respondents (275 US, 100 European, 59 Asian, and 186 Latin) in mid-2011. The top five management concerns were: (1) IT and business alignment; (2) business agility and speed to market; (3) business process management and business process reengineering; (4) business productivity and cost reduction; (5) IT reliability and efficiency. The five most influential technologies were: (1) business intelligence; (2) enterprise resource planning systems; (3) cloud computing; (4) mobile and wireless applications; (5) customer relationship management.

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Survey methods

The SIM survey has been conducted since 1980. Surveys before 2000 focused just on the top management concerns. Since 2003, the survey has been extended to pursue more specific insights regarding the key IT issues of the day. A significant strength of this research is in its ability to identify important trends by comparing survey data from previous years. Beginning in 2008, the survey has been extended to IT executives from around the globe.

The 2011 survey was similar to previous ones in methodology and process. The questions were based on previous surveys, with questions modified based on previous results and suggestions from respondents and researchers (academic and industry). In addition, some questions were updated and new questions were added based on (1) lists from other similar research, (2) input from Board members from sponsoring organizations, and (3) the lead author's experience.

SIM members represent the US respondents, while CIOnet members represent the European respondents. The results from S.E Asia and Australia were facilitated by Hossein S. Zadeh (co-author), and Latin America was facilitated by Martin Santana (ESAN) and Guillermo Rodriquez (UNAM). Senior IT executives were invited to take the online survey. The key US findings were initially presented during the 2011 SIM annual conference (SIMposium) in late 2011, and global findings have been presented throughout the 4th quarter and 1st quarter in 2012.

The US findings and initial international findings have been published in the 4th quarter issue of MISQ Executive. The purpose of the JIT paper is to provide important international insights.

The authors anticipate extending the reach of this important research to a more complete set of countries and geographies, and invite leading researchers with a strong network of IT executives to contact us.