CIOs have to tackle more problems during the recovery period of the COVID-19 pandemic, says a new study.
The coronavirus crisis has already forced CIOs to increase their organizational credibility; however, in order to recover from the crisis they need to combat more complex challenges for a successful recovery, says the latest study from Gartner.
The research firm surveyed 58 CIOs in May 2020 of which 43% of them said they are planning for their organization’s post-COVID-19 strategy. Meanwhile, 38% of them are planning to establish one soon. The study says there are many CIOs who have made only a couple of changes in response to the immediate crisis and are not prepared for the post-pandemic process.
There have been no significant transformations in the IT sector during the pandemic and several of the initiatives that were started have been either stalled or delayed. There are a large number of enterprises that had started moving towards a more product-centric delivery model and these plans are being replaced with more immediate methods.
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As per the study, the pandemic has improved CIOs’ relationships with business leaders. Close to 75% of respondents said they educated CEOs and other senior leaders amid the crisis, while a majority of them said they garnered business operations knowledge.
The sudden and long-term shift to work from home has been a challenge for CIOs. However, the majority of the respondents said they support for remote working is their proudest accomplishment in the pandemic.
The research firm also stated that the rapport and goodwill created between a CIO and CEO can fade quickly if the former does not focus on helping the business deliver on key high-impact initiatives during the recovery period.
The majority of CIOs prioritized changing the organizational culture and aligning with business priorities. The study also said there were many CIOs who changed priorities on a smaller level that was enough to deal with the immediate crisis.
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It is important for CIOs to focus on developing and executing the business strategy and make a much larger degree of change in many areas. A business-oriented IT strategy should become a key part of the construction of a digital business technology platform.
The pandemic has already brought a significant change in CIO roles and it is expected to change even further post the crisis. This will mainly be owing to a significant reliance on organizations on cloud and remote applications.