Gartner report reveals the changing job role of a CIO

American research firm Gartner has conducted its yearly CIO survey to track how senior IT leaders are "balancing their strategic business, technical and management priorities."

The survey includes the views of 3,160 CIOs across 98 countries, representing ~$13tn in revenue/public-sector budgets, with a further $277bn in IT spending.

Digitalisation and technical innovation are the main causes for change in the nature of a CIO's job, with more emphasis being placed on "the information rather than the technology in IT."

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Being able to pre-empt the leading digital disruption trends is a key focus of the new roles, with 95% of all respondents expecting their jobs to change as a result of digitalisation.

Instead of cost-controlling, CIOs are now expected to build revenue and accelerate and converge technology trends, with emphasis on a set of broader business objectives.

According to CIOs, the most difficult new technology to implement is artificial intelligence, followed by digital security and IoT.

The easiest to implement was 3D printing, whilst virtual or augmented reality was also simplistic.