Critical role of business software and its impact on role of CIO

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Epicor Software Corp. announced the results of a new Chief Information Officer (CIO) survey conducted in the Middle East, India and Africa.

The survey showed significant trends amongst CIOs who are facing new challenges as their role changes in a technologically charged environment where business software solutions, like enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, are seen as critical business enablers.

A staggering 90 percent of respondents agreed that speed, reinvention, agility and innovation are critical to the success of any organization serious about optimizing performance and gaining competitive advantage. CIOs now have a seat at the top table, playing a critical role in driving the business forward through new technology.

In response to the question: "Has the role of the CIO changed within the last five years, and if so, how?" 79 percent of surveyed CIOs and other senior executives in the Middle East and Africa agreed that it had. The most prominent change noted was the transition of the CIO from being an Improver to being an Influencer.

"It's clear from the survey that there's pressure on manufacturing CIOs to evolve from being Improvers and to become Influencers and ultimately Transformers in their business," said Martin Hill, VP marketing for Epicor in EMEA. "With the challenges faced by companies, especially those in the manufacturing industry and their dependence on increasingly sophisticated systems and technologies, CIOs now have greater influence over how quickly a company can expand and adapt to change. That's the focus of their role as Transformer."

Modern and flexible business software solutions, such as ERP and human capital management (HCM) are now built to anticipate the future business world -- a world where change, adaptation and continuous innovation are table stakes.

New agile platforms make it simpler and quicker to adopt new functionality and adapt to market change, facilitating the rate at which the business can be transformed. They also give the CIO and executives a complete view of the business so that they can anticipate challenges and make the necessary decision to streamline operations and improve efficiencies.

Key statistics

* Speed, reinvention, agility and innovation are critical to the success of any organization serious about optimizing performance and gaining competitive advantage - a staggering 90 percent of respondents to the survey agreed with this statement.

* 76 percent of respondents said that best in class companies perform better because of their use of business systems.

* While the majority of CIOs saw their role as that of an ‘Improver.' Non-CIOs saw their CIO colleagues taking the role of ‘Improver' or ‘Transformer' with both sharing first place.

* In answer to the question: "has the role of the CIO changed within the last five years, and if so, how," 79 percent of surveyed CIOs and other senior executives in the Middle East and Africa agreed that it had. The most prominent change noted was the transition of the CIO from being an Improver to being an Influencer.

* When asked which new technologies they saw as being primary investments to enable their business further in the future, both CIOs and non-CIOs ranked mobile first and software as a service (SaaS) second.

* 65 percent of CIOs and 38 percent of non-CIOs agreed that ERP had reduced the complexity of and sped up key operational processes. 46 percent and 43 percent, respectively, said that ERP enabled better visibility into their business. These were followed by helping to reduce operational costs and improving the productivity of employees.