Colt Technology Services has launched its 2022 CIO Agility Index, part of its ‘Uncover the CIO Mindset’ report, which looks at CIOs’ views and ambitions across five key areas.
The report, which is available to download here, highlights that most CIOs rate themselves as more agile than their competitors in the five areas examined – speed of implementing technology, digital transformation progress, customer centricity, ecosystem adaptiveness and ease to drive tech for good – and gave an average agility index rating of 61 out of 100. A score of 50 would mean that CIOs view themselves as level with the competition, with a score less than 50 for those behind the competition.
CIOs from across Asia, Europe, the UK and US, rated themselves most agile in the areas related to their traditional technology focus of digital transformation (63/100) and partnerships in the eco system (64/100). The report also found that CIOs within companies of less than 10,000 employees and those with more than 50% cloud adoption rates saw themselves as the most agile.
While the report found optimism amongst CIOs, those interviewed also highlighted a number of ‘ambition gaps’ – the difference between where they are today and where they like to be in two years – particularly in tech for good and customer centricity. Despite this, they see strong partnerships with suppliers as a way to help them bridge those gaps, with external expertise and guidance becoming increasingly important to support ambitions around sustainability, customer centricity and agile networking.
In addition, CIOs revealed that the accelerated global IT spend as result of the Covid-19 pandemic is unlikely to be reversed. The majority of those interviewed (74%) plan to increase their spending, with almost half (43%) suggesting that increase will be more than 10%.
“It was really interesting to see that CIOs rated themselves more agile than their competitors in traditional tech domains, but saw ‘ambition gaps’ in those areas that are perhaps new or different,” said Keri Gilder, Colt’s CEO. “This means there is still work to be done – especially when it comes to being more customer centric and in relation to tech for good. For CIOs facing these challenges, working with external partners is a key element of how to address those challenges and achieve their goals.”
Recognised as a Visionary in the Gartner 2021 Magic Quadrant for Network Services, Colt also received Frost & Sullivan’s 2021 European Customer Value Leadership Award. The company has industry-leading Net Promotor Scores (NPS), reflecting Colt employees’ high motivation.