CIO, CDO roles to be chopped by 2017?

MUMBAI, INDIA: By 2016, poor return on equity will drive more than 60 per cent of banks worldwide to process the majority of their transactions in the cloud. By year-end 2017, at least seven of the world's top 10 multichannel retailers will use 3D printing technologies to generate custom stock orders. By 2017, more than 60 per cent of government organizations with a CIO and a chief digital officer will eliminate one of these roles. Also, by 2017, 40 per cent of utilities with smart metering solutions will use cloud-based big data analytics to address asset-, commodity-, customer- or revenue-related needs.

Notably again, by year-end 2015, inadequate ROI will drive insurers to abandon 40 per cent of their current customer-facing mobile apps. And by 2017, 15 per cent of consumers will respond to context-aware offers based on their individual demographics and shopper profiles.

In short, Gartner, Inc. has revealed its top industry predictions for IT organizations and users for 2014 and beyond. Most industries are facing accelerating pressure for fundamental transformation, including embracing digitalization in order to survive and stay competitive.

Gartner's annual Predicts research on industry trends titled "Top Industries Predicts 2014: The Pressure for Fundamental Transformation Continues to Accelerate" features 12 strategic planning assumptions that CIOs, senior business executives and IT leaders should factor into their enterprise planning and strategy-setting initiatives.

"Transformation remains a critically important phenomenon across all industries. Many industries will face intense challenges in 2014 and beyond, and will have no choice but to radically change their established business models," said Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Last year saw many industry decision-makers focusing on adopting new technologies to improve business operations by addressing developments such as the Nexus of Forces, the convergence of social, mobile, cloud and information. Today, by contrast, leaders are significantly shifting their business models and processes."

Harris-Ferrante said that this trend is driven in part by the challenges of consumer empowerment and market commoditization, which in many ways are greater than in the past, and are particularly difficult for traditional enterprises to address. The need to digitalize the business and be customer-centric is also crucial, and requires new approaches to information delivery, communication and transactions. Business leaders and CIOs must carefully assess their industry-specific strategic requirements, including the demands of consumers and business partners, to map out transformation plans based on new technology availability, consumer demographic/behavioral changes and market conditions.