Adam Dennison, senior vice president and publisher of CIO and IDG Enterprise’s events, boasts a 15-year career in technology publishing. CIO Perspectives, the company’s regional event series, brings CIOs and senior IT executives together with top technology vendors for a day of thought-provoking, action-oriented discussions.
“At a high level, we cover three main topics: strategy, innovation and leadership,” Dennison explains. “More specifically, emerging technologies, digital transformation, and security are three major initiatives for CIOs today.” At CIO Perspectives in New York on April 22, Dennison will be joined by OpenText Senior Vice President, Engineering Muhi Majzoub. We asked Dennison (@adamidg) how CIOs can leverage analytics in their work.
OpenText: You’re moderating a panel at CIO Perspectives called “Straight Talk about SMAC” in which you’ll share key stats on trends and investments in social, mobile, analytics and cloud. Can you give us a preview of a stat you find compelling or timely?
Dennison: Our research and discussions with CIOs show that currently 32 percent of enterprise IT investment is slated for edge technologies (like SMAC) vs. core technologies (like legacy systems and infrastructure). However, this will shift to 45 percent within the next one to three years. Additionally, 54 percent of enterprise CIOs plan to increase their spend with “newer vendors” within the next 12 months.
OpenText: Late last year you published CIOs Must Market IT’s Value, arguing that internal marketing of IT can help businesspeople understand the value of IT departments. Meanwhile, marketing efforts are increasingly driven by data and metrics. How do the two relate?
Dennison: My column on CIOs marketing IT to the business was more broad-based than just data and analytics. However, if asked to focus on the data aspect of it, I would say showing the business exactly what they are paying for is step one in the process. Explain to the business units through data, facts and transparency that they are getting true value from enterprise IT vs. a “do it yourself” solution.
OpenText: A lot of industry research – and anecdotal evidence, including a recent CIO Quick Takes – shows that CIOs are eager to use analytics to improve business insights. What drives CIOs’ push for analytics?
Dennison: What I read from the CIO Quick Takes was a laser focus on customers. Our CIO research shows us that 41 percent of CIOs’ current spend is on external customer experience, relationship and interaction. The only way to get closer to your customers and better serve them is to gather data on them and use that to your advantage. Our 2015 State of the CIO research also shows us that Data/Analytics is the number one tech priority for the next 12 months that will drive investment. Mobile and Cloud came in a close second and third respectively, but it’s all about data today.
Join Adam Dennison, OpenText Senior Vice President, Engineering Muhi Majzoub, and other senior IT executives at CIO Perspectives at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, NY on April 22. Details and registration are here.
Adam Dennison photo courtesy of IDG Enterprise. Used with permission.