EY-born-to-be-digital-mobile-version

Section 2
The DNA
of the ITintensive
industry CIO
Companies of all sizes,
across all sectors, are
embracing digital. Given
such a broad scope, our
survey for this report
focused on the most ITintensive
industries
globally — those with the
highest average spend on
IT as a percentage of total
revenue — because these
firms are most likely to be
engaging with digital.
Our focus captures firms
with IT at the heart of their
business — banks,
pharmaceutical companies,
telecommunications and
media firms, and, of
course, technology firms.
These organizations,
where IT is a core
boardroom topic, provide
ideal launchpads for
aspirational CIOs.
IT-intensive industries leading
the charge
IT-intensive industries are setting the pace for
digital transformation. Overall, 51% of CIOs within
these industries report that they are already
strongly engaged in leading the implementation
of digital technologies. 6
One of the most striking differences among this
group is that 53% hold a place on the executive
management team, compared with just 17%
of typical CIOs. Being a part of the executive
management team is vital for CIOs to help
address the opportunities and threats that digital
transformation presents. But even those who
make it to the boardroom often fail to capitalize
on the opportunity to make the case for more
strategic engagement on IT across the business.
Why do CIOs struggle to get this right? In part,
there is the need for a transition in mindset when
moving from an operationally focused role to one
that is more strategic. While IT-intensive industry
CIOs who have reached the boardroom show
stronger engagement on a wide range of issues,
more needs to be done to prioritize the strategic
elements of their role.
6. Terms such as “strong,” “deep” or “key” refer to
respondents that chose 8, 9 or 10 on a scale from
1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest and 10 is
the highest.
Born to be digital |
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