Key information technology and management issues 2012–2013: 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 in IT managerial and technical trends. Identifying these influential factors is one thing; the paper also looks at the challenges in addressing them, taking into account both local responsiveness and global pressures. By comparing and contrasting IT trends from different geographies, this paper presents important local and international factors, including management concerns, influential technologies, budgets/spending, and organizational considerations). In addition these trends help to prepare IT leaders for the challenges that await them. The IT trends also serve as an indicator as the respective geographies address their difficult economic environments. The research is based on data from four geographic regions, namely United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The same questionnaire (albeit translated for the respective respondents), based on the lead author's 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 787 organizations (195 U.S., 360 European, 55 Asian, 41 Australia, and 136 Latin) in 2012. The top five management concerns were: (1) Business productivity & cost reduction, (2) Business & IT alignment / integration / fusion, (3) Business agility & speed to market, (4) Business process management/reengineering, and (5) IT cost reduction.The five most influential technologies were: (1) Business intelligence, (2) Cloud computing, (3) Enterprise resource planning, (4) Apps developments, and (5) Customer relationship management. Overall, the paper finds that while the economic climate is improving at different rates around the globe – albeit at a slower pace than anticipated – ITs role continues to evolve as it provides organizations with a fundamental vehicle for reducing business expenses and new opportunities for increasing revenues.

Appendix

Survey methods

The SIM survey has been conducted since 1980. Surveys prior to 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 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 those from Latin America were facilitated by Martin Santana (co-author) and Guillermo Rodriquez (co-author). Senior IT executives were invited to take the online survey. The key US findings were initially presented during the 2012 SIM annual conference (SIMposium) in late 2012. The US findings and the initial international findings have been published in the fourth quarter issue of MISQ-E. 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 them.