Asia-Pacific region has a higher adoption rate of IoT and AI than other regions

According to an annual survey of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) conducted by Gartner, CIOs in the Asia-Pacific region were found to be more likely to adopt innovative technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as conversational interfaces, compared to CIOs in other regions.

Gartner announced these survey results at the recent Gartner Symposium/ITxpo held in Australia. The 2018 Gartner CIO Agenda Survey was conducted among 3,160 CIOs worldwide, including 537 CIOs from 17 countries in the Asia-Pacific region; the revenue and public sector budgets of the companies participating in the survey amounted to $3.4 trillion, and IT spending reached $49 billion.

According to this survey, 43% of respondents in the Asia-Pacific region (37% globally) stated that they have either completed IoT adoption or plan to do so soon, while for AI, the figure was 37% (25% globally). Those who responded that they have invested in conversational interfaces, as well as in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), accounted for 28% and 20%, respectively (21% and 17% globally). 13% of respondents stated that they are utilizing blockchain or distributed ledger technology, a figure higher than the global average of 9%.

Andy Rowsell-Jones, Senior Vice President and Senior Research Analyst at Gartner, said, “The Asia-Pacific region is a very successful site for digital business. "Furthermore, the manufacturing, financial services, mining, government agencies, and educational facility construction sectors are also very robust, further promoting the utilization of technology," he said.

The CIO role has been restructured due to digitalization.

95% of CIOs surveyed predicted that their roles would change or be restructured due to digitalization. With the implementation of world-class IT delivery capabilities, the time CIOs spend on this is expected to gradually decrease. Respondents indicated that the biggest change in the CIO role is becoming a "change leader" and assuming greater and broader responsibilities than before. It appears that the CIO's role will extend beyond the traditional domain of IT delivery into other areas such as innovation management and talent development.

Rosell-Jones said, “The nature of the CIO role is shifting from being the head of IT delivery to the head of IT business. It is moving from managing IT costs and coordinating engineering processes to driving revenue and leveraging data,” adding, “Leaders’ digital business expansion is steep. The end of 2017 and 2018 will be a decisive time for CIOs who do not want to fall behind in the market.”

According to this survey, the roles of CIOs in the Asia-Pacific region were expanding beyond traditional IT-related functions, but the proportion was smaller compared to CIOs worldwide. It was found that 44% were responsible for digital transformation (55% globally), 37% for innovation (54% globally), and 17% for corporate change (28% globally).

Rosell-Jones said, “Some CIOs in Asia appeared to be rarely given the authority to go beyond their existing, limited IT fields.” "That does not mean they should shirk their responsibility to drastically change the organization," he explained.

Asia-Pacific CIOs' IT Budgets to Increase by 5.1% Next Year

CIOs in the Asia-Pacific region forecast that IT budgets will increase by 5.1% next year, a figure higher than the global average of 3%. In Australia and New Zealand, CIOs expect IT budgets to grow by an average of 3.2%, an improvement over the 2% increase anticipated last year. Rosell-Jones explained that the growth in IT budgets this year is evident as corporate digitalization takes place across the Asia-Pacific region.

This survey revealed that CIOs in the Asia-Pacific region are in the process of moving from digital experimentation to digital expansion. However, early digital experiments or pilot projects did not necessarily lead to digital expansion. Only 15% of respondents stated that they had actually achieved digital expansion, and a mere 3% said they were already seeing tangible results and were in the stage of improving their digital strategy; these figures were similar globally.

42% of respondents in the Asia-Pacific region cited organizational culture as the biggest obstacle to digital expansion (46% globally), followed by a lack of talent (24%) and a lack of resources (19%).

Rosell-Jones stated, “CIOs need to identify their current organizational culture and future vision,” adding, “In the process, they must recognize the strengths of the current organizational culture and set cultural change as a concept of ‘gradual change’ rather than a major overhaul in order to respect employees’ commitment and ask them to join.”