2016 CIO Agenda: A Nordic Region Perspective€¦ · of digital strategy performance. (For more details, see "Building the Digital Platform: The 2016 CIO Agenda"). However, while

G00298953

2016 CIO Agenda: A Nordic Region PerspectivePublished: 19 February 2016

Analyst(s): Tomas Nielsen

The Gartner 2016 CIO Survey shows that CIOs are building digital businessexecution platforms by developing their digital leadership, talent and deliverycapabilities. This note provides an Nordic region perspective of the survey,focusing on the areas where Nordic CIOs differ from their peers.

Key Findings■ The 2016 CIO survey has identified that leading CIOs are building a digital business execution

platform specifically by focusing on building leadership, talent and delivery platforms.

■ In terms of leadership, Nordic CIOs are on par with their global peers regarding futureexpectations of the impact of digital business — while at the same time having a moreoperational focus with respect to desired digital outcomes than their global peers.

■ In terms of talent, Nordic CIOs report being less constrained by skills and funding than theirglobal peers — whereas Nordic CIOs see themselves as being more restricted by culture andstructure than their global peers

■ In terms of delivery, Nordic CIOs are generally trailing their global peers in the current adoptionof bimodal — while at the same time being significantly more aggressive in their plans foradoption of bimodal in the coming three years.

RecommendationsNordic CIOs:

■ Look to the global 2016 CIO Agenda and identify how you will form the digital businessexecution platform by creating a leadership platform, a talent platform and a delivery platform.

■ Ensure that you have the leadership platform by making sure that your digital ambitionsand desired digital outcomes match the overall objectives of the organization or enterprise.

■ Develop a talent platform to address the culture and organizational shortcomings youexperience as the barriers to your success.

■ Create the needed delivery platform, in particular by ensuring that the organization orenterprise develops a bimodal delivery capability.

Table of Contents

Survey Objective.................................................................................................................................... 2

Data Insights.......................................................................................................................................... 3

Building the Digital Platform — Summary of Global 2016 CIO Survey............................................... 3

A Nordic Perspective on the Digital Leadership Platform.............................................................6

Developing the Digital Talent Platform....................................................................................... 12

Creating the Digital Delivery Platform........................................................................................ 14

Methodology.................................................................................................................................. 16

Gartner Recommended Reading.......................................................................................................... 17

List of Figures

Figure 1. The Platform-Thinking Approach..............................................................................................3

Figure 2. Digital Business Execution Platform......................................................................................... 4

Figure 3. What Percentage of Your Revenue Is Digital?...........................................................................6

Figure 4. What Percentage of Your Processes Are Digital?......................................................................7

Figure 5. Expected Digital Business Outcomes.......................................................................................8

Figure 6. CIO Leadership Beyond IT....................................................................................................... 9

Figure 7. CIO/CEO Relationship............................................................................................................10

Figure 8. The Tasks That CIOs Love the Most.......................................................................................11

Figure 9. Tasks That CIOs Dislike the Most........................................................................................... 12

Figure 10. Barriers to CIO Success — Nordic Region and Globally.......................................................13

Figure 11. Technology Priorities............................................................................................................ 14

Figure 12. CIOs See the Ability to Execute as a Greater Threat............................................................. 15

Figure 13. Developing a Bimodal Delivery Capability............................................................................. 16

Survey ObjectiveEvery year, Gartner surveys CIOs and IT executives drawn from the membership of its executiveprogram and other sources to identify key priorities, opportunities and issues. Some 130 CIOs in theNordic region (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland) responded to the 2016 Gartner CIOSurvey out of the global total of 2,944. This research looks into the specifics of the Nordic region2016 CIO survey results compared with the global results.

The purpose of this research note is to highlight areas where the results for the Nordic CIOs differfrom the global answers to highlight actions that are specific to the region.

Page 2 of 18 Gartner, Inc. | G00298953

Data Insights

Building the Digital Platform — Summary of Global 2016 CIO Survey

Digitalization has become a core competency,1 and the global 2016 CIO survey shows that for

enterprises and organizations to succeed in digital business, they must focus on building digitalbusiness platforms.

Compared with an Industrial Age enterprise or organization, digital business platforms represent afundamentally different way of business thinking.

The main difference is that industrial business models were based on a fundamental assumption ofvalue being created in a mainly linear and unidirectional push toward the customer — whereas theplatform model supports a more dynamic, complex and multidirectional creation of value.

A platform provides the business with a foundation where resources can come together dynamicallyfor short or long periods of time to create value. These resources are networks that may or may notbe owned by your business, have customers as possible participants, and allow learning to happenacross the network, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The Platform-Thinking Approach

Source: Gartner (February 2016)

Although most enterprises associate the platform-thinking approach to the technology layer, whichfocuses on highly modular, open information and technology architectures; postmodern ERP; and

Gartner, Inc. | G00298953 Page 3 of 18

cloud/everything as a service (XaaS); the 2016 CIO survey identified the need for CIOs to lookbeyond technology and build a digital business execution platform, as outlined in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Digital Business Execution Platform


The main findings of the 2016 CIO survey were that CIOs should:

■ Build their leadership platform: CIOs frequently are given the opportunity to lead digitaltransformation (39% have chief digital officer [CDO] responsibilities incorporated into their role)or innovation (34% are innovation leaders). However, to succeed, the 2016 CIO survey finds thatthey must adapt to build a powerful network of digital leadership that treats leadership as ateam sport. Bear in mind, however, that the 2015 Gartner CEO Survey revealed that CEOsexpect CIOs to be the "first among equals" in digital leadership. CIOs must therefore adapt theirstyle to exploit platform effects in leadership, building a network of digital leadership inside andoutside the enterprise.

■ Evolve the talent platform: Beyond leadership, CIOs identify talent as the biggest barrier tosuccess — and consequently, talent must be treated as a platform in terms of greater fluidityand semiporous boundaries. According to the 2016 survey, 66% of CIOs believe there is atalent crisis in the world (compared to 49% of CEOs who believe so, as per the 2015 GartnerCEO Survey), yet there is surprisingly little talent innovation. The key talent gaps are not verydifferent from the gaps revealed when CIOs answered a similar question four years ago. Toseize digital business opportunities, CIOs must seek digital talent beyond the boundaries of theIT organization, and indeed beyond the boundaries of the enterprise. Innovative talentmanagement opportunities abound — for example, "reversing into universities" (getting closerto universities by helping define and deliver university courses and projects, supporting


internships, and so on), instituting reverse mentoring, implementing job rotations, holdinghackdays, and building opt-in cultures.

■ Create a bimodal business delivery platform: The 2016 CIO survey shows that the need toinnovate is driving penetration and deepening of the bimodal construct. Bimodal captures theplatform characteristic of continuously building and refactoring capabilities for the future. Fortypercent of CIOs are on the bimodal journey, and an additional 26% have plans to implementbimodal in the next three years, meaning that two out of three CIOs expect to have bimodalcapability in three years. Furthermore, with the 2016 CIO survey showing that building a maturebimodal platform results in better digital strategy performance, it becomes imperative for CIOsto incorporate bimodal into their delivery platform. This is particularly important, as those whoare planning to move toward bimodal but have not taken the first steps yet were worst in termsof digital strategy performance. (For more details, see "Building the Digital Platform: The 2016CIO Agenda").

However, while these are the global findings, the results of the 2016 CIO survey is different fordifferent segments of CIOs, and consequently a series of research notes has been written that focuson the regional aspects of the survey responses. Consequently, this report will review theleadership, talent and delivery platform from a Nordic perspective and focus on the aspects of thesurvey where Nordic CIOs differ from their global peers in their answers to the 2016 CIO survey (seeFigure 3 and Figure 4).


A Nordic Perspective on the Digital Leadership Platform

Degree of Digitalization

Figure 3. What Percentage of Your Revenue Is Digital?

*Sample size is less than 30; results are directional.



Figure 4. What Percentage of Your Processes Are Digital?

*Sample size is less than 30; results are directional.


Compared with their global peers, Nordic commercial CIOs are slightly more conservative in theirassessment of the current state of digitalization than both their global peers and CEOs. However, ina five-year horizon, Nordic CIOs (like their global peers) expect significant growth. Overall, thistranslates into commercial-sector CIOs generally expecting to increase their digital revenue at least150% (from 15% to 38% of total revenue).

Nordic nonprofit and government CIOs are, however, both now and in the future, even more positivethan their global peers, expecting to maintain a 5% to 7% lead over their global peers; and in fiveyears, they expect only one out of six processes not to be impacted by digital opportunities.

Call for Action: Both global and Nordic CIOs expect a significant growth in the impact of digitalbusiness. However, Nordic CIOs are generally more bullish on the scope of digital impact than theirglobal peers. Consequently, Nordic CIOs who are not bullish on digital impacts should take note oftheir peers and critically review how digital business will affect them.

Digital Business Outcomes

While Nordic CIOs are optimistic about the overall impact of digital business, the outcomes theyexpect are, as shown below, mainly operational (see Figure 5).


Figure 5. Expected Digital Business Outcomes


Overall across the world, CIOs report that the key driver behind digitization is gaining more revenuefrom better operations (66%). Their subsequent priorities are fairly operationally focused, with onlyone out of four (or fewer) CIOs globally looking to digitalization for transformational impact — suchas changing the basis of competition, creating new markets, crossing industry boundaries orexpanding to new geographies.

For Nordic CIOs, the operational focus is even more pronounced: They place an even higherimportance on business through digital channels (59% vs. 48% globally) partnerships (46% vs. 37%globally) and cost reduction (44% vs. 39% globally). On the other hand, Nordic CIOs trail theirglobal counterparts on a number of the transformational items such as creating new markets (17%vs. 26% globally), crossing industry boundaries (2% vs. 9% globally) and expanding to newgeographies (2% vs. 11%).

Call for Action: While operational benefits from digital business may be a valid starting point,Nordic CIOs should take notice of their global peers who increasingly are looking for moretransformational outcomes. Nordic CIOs should therefore critically review their digital businessobjectives and seek to identify additional, transformational outcomes that can help them take theirdigital business leadership to the next level. One way of doing that could be by establishing moreexplorative practices that investigate sources of radical innovation beyond the regular businessobjectives.


Developing and Shaping the Role of the CIO

The role of the CIO is a complex one — and this is also reflected in the survey responses. First, interms of digital leadership, Nordic CIOs are ahead of their global peers, with 53% (compared with39% globally) taking a digital leadership role (shown in Figure 6 as "CDO").

Figure 6. CIO Leadership Beyond IT

CRO = chief risk officer


However, in other related areas, such as innovation and enterprise change, Nordic CIOs trail theirglobal peers — as they do in their relationship with the CEO, as shown in Figure 7.


Figure 7. CIO/CEO Relationship

Numbers may not total 100% due to rounding.


(Note: Even though 60% of Nordic CIOs report a partnering relationship with the CEO [10% morethan globally], this is offset by the fact that only 11% of Nordic CIOs report being a trusted ally [asopposed to 23% globally].)

However, the diversity of the role as CIO today is also reflected in the wide-ranging list of the tasksthat CIOs "love" or "dislike" as shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9.


Figure 8. The Tasks That CIOs Love the Most



Figure 9. Tasks That CIOs Dislike the Most


For Nordic CIOs (as well as for global CIOs), the love/hate relationship they have with elements oftheir jobs shows a wide range of preferences. For example, 21% of Nordic CIOs mention the role as"change agent" as an element of their job that they enjoy — while 8% specifically single out"change management" as the area that they strongly dislike.

Call for Action: Given the variety of the love/hate tasks — and the increasing diversity of duties thatwe see in the CIO role in general — Nordic CIOs should reflect on their tasks and consider if someof their responsibilities — due to preferences, skills or career development considerations — arebetter handled by a deputy. If so, they should seek to create such a position; for example, as a COOof IT or deputy CIO. Alternatively, if a COO of IT or deputy CIO is already in place, the CIO shouldevaluate the distribution of tasks and make the necessary changes.

Developing the Digital Talent Platform

Skills, Culture and Legacy Is the Main Barrier to (Nordic) CIO Success

Both Nordic and global CIOs identify skills and resources as their primary barrier to success, asshown in Figure 10.


Figure 10. Barriers to CIO Success — Nordic Region and Globally


In terms of barriers to success, Nordic CIOs seem generally to be less constrained by externalfactors (skills/resources, funding, IT-business alignment) and more constrained by what appears tobe IT internal factors (culture/structure, technology, change capacity) than their global peers.

It is also worth noting that in terms of budget, Nordic CIOs are generally on par with their globalpeers — expecting slightly more than a 2% overall IT budget increase on average and roughly a3:2:1 relationship between CIOs who report the IT budget as flat, increasing and decreasing.However, while 15% of CIOs globally identify funding/budget as their biggest barrier, this is only thecase for 10% of Nordic CIOs.

Call for Action: As a number of the biggest barriers for CIOs success reported by Nordic CIOs arelikely to be IT internal factors, Nordic CIOs should review their organizations and identify specificactions they intend to take to remove the barriers to their success — for example, by activelyreshaping the culture, adjusting the organization or entering into partnerships with external entities(such as with universities to develop a broader skill base), as well as taking a proactive approach toshaping the culture in a way that will help them to succeed.


Creating the Digital Delivery Platform

Delivering on the Technology Priorities

When asked about their technology priorities, Nordic CIOs indicate slightly different priorities thantheir global peers (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Technology Priorities

Shows Nordic top 10 along with global percentages.


In terms of technology spending priorities, CIOs both globally and in the Nordic region havebusiness intelligence (BI) and analytics as a top priority. However, when looking at priorities, there isone major differences in the priorities of global CIOs and Nordic CIOs, namely that globally only21% of CIOs name ERP systems as a top-three spending priority — whereas in the Nordic regionthis is the case for 31% of CIOs. Furthermore, on a global scale, the amount of CIOs that had ERPsystems as a top priority have been on a steady decline over the past three years (from 34% in 2014to 21% in 2016; see "Taming the Digital Dragon: The 2014 CIO Agenda," "Flipping to DigitalLeadership: The 2015 CIO Agenda" and "Building the Digital Platform: The 2016 CIO Agenda").

This is a pattern that has been consistent over the past few years in the Nordic region. However, asthe focus on ERP spending is decreasing on a global scale, it becomes increasingly important forNordic CIOs to critically assess that the focus on ERP systems is forward-looking and enablingdigital transformations — that is, "postmodern ERP" (see "2015 Strategic Road Map forPostmodern ERP").


Call for Action: Nordic CIOs should critically review their technology priorities and ensure that theirspending supports the overall business objectives. For CIOs who are committed to larger ERPinitiatives, it is imperative that these initiatives are supporting and not hampering digital businessinitiatives.

Ability to Deliver Is a Primary Concern — Globally and in the Nordic Region

As a part of the survey, Gartner asked CIOs to identify what they saw as a greater threat (see Figure12).

Figure 12. CIOs See the Ability to Execute as a Greater Threat


CIOs, both globally and in the Nordic region, respond by a nearly 2:1 majority they see the ability toexecute as a bigger threat compared with the ability to identify the necessary change.Consequently, developing a digital delivery platform is essential to succeed in digital business.

Nordic CIOs Are Trailing Their Peers Currently — But Ambitious in Creating a BimodalDelivery Platform

Nordic CIOs are trailing their global peers in terms of bimodal as shown in Figure 13. However,Nordic CIOs are expected to overtake their global peers in the next three years, with 44% statingthat they expect to have bimodal in that time period.


Figure 13. Developing a Bimodal Delivery Capability


Consequently, Nordic CIOs currently may be slightly trailing their global peers, but they are clearlybullish on the need and relevance of bimodal, and are planning to use bimodal as an essential partof their digital business delivery platform.

Call for Action: CIOs with bimodal plans (44% of all Nordic CIOs) should ensure that they do in factcreate a digital business delivery platform by delivering on the promise to develop a bimodal ITcapability during the next three years, realizing that developing bimodal IT is not done overnight butnormally requires a significant transformational effort and leadership commitment.

CIOs with no bimodal plans are a minority in the Nordic region (13% — with a further 15% unsure).Consequently, CIOs with no bimodal plans should critically review the needs for bimodal deliveryand validate that their decision to not develop a bimodal capability is still valid and that they areconfident in their short- and long-term ability to deliver on digital business initiatives.

Methodology

The CIO survey was conducted during 2015, based on a number of hypothesis developed by theGartner CIO research community. The results of the 2016 Gartner CIO Survey have formed the basisfor the 2016 CIO Agenda (see Gartner Recommended Reading section). This research note uses theresults of the 2016 survey and explores the areas where the responses from the Nordic region leadto additional observations — either contradicting or supporting the global findings.

The purpose of this research note therefore is not to comment on the entire survey, but rather toserve as a supplement that highlights special areas of interest for Nordic CIOs and other


stakeholders with an interest in the Nordic region. The findings from the total dataset was publishedin its entirety as The findings from the total dataset was published in its entirety as "Building theDigital Platform: The 2016 CIO Agenda"

Gartner Recommended ReadingSome documents may not be available as part of your current Gartner subscription.

"Building the Digital Platform: The 2016 CIO Agenda"

"Flipping to Digital Leadership: The 2015 CIO Agenda"

"Bimodal IT: How to Be Digitally Agile Without Making a Mess"

"Toolkit for IT Executives: Job Description for the COO of IT"

"What to Do If Your Digital Business Strategy Violates Culture, Ethics or the Law"

"Hit the Bimodal IT Highway Now — Considerations for Structuring and Staffing"

"Kick-Start the Conversation on Digital Ethics"

"Digital Workplace Key Initiative Overview"

"A Bimodal Enterprise Needs Three Subcultures"

"Get Ready for Digital Business With the Digital Business Development Path"

"Digital Business Transformation: Turning the Digital Dream Into Reality"

"2015 Strategic Road Map for Postmodern ERP"

Evidence

This research is based on the 2016 Gartner CIO Survey conducted between 4 May 2015 and 24July 2015, when 130 CIOs in the Nordic region (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland)responded to the 2016 Gartner CIO Survey, out of the global total of 2,944. The respondents weremembers of Gartner Executive Programs and other IT leaders.

1 M. Raskino and G. Waller. "Digital to the Core: Remastering Leadership for Your Industry, YourEnterprise, and Yourself." Bibliomotion. 2015.

More on This Topic

This is part of an in-depth collection of research. See the collection:

■ 2016 CIO Agenda: Global Perspectives on Building the Digital Platform


GARTNER HEADQUARTERS

Corporate Headquarters56 Top Gallant RoadStamford, CT 06902-7700USA+1 203 964 0096

Regional HeadquartersAUSTRALIABRAZILJAPANUNITED KINGDOM

For a complete list of worldwide locations,visit http://www.gartner.com/technology/about.jsp

© 2016 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates. Thispublication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without Gartner’s prior written permission. If you are authorized to accessthis publication, your use of it is subject to the Usage Guidelines for Gartner Services posted on gartner.com. The information containedin this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy,completeness or adequacy of such information and shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in such information. Thispublication consists of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. The opinionsexpressed herein are subject to change without notice. Although Gartner research may include a discussion of related legal issues,Gartner does not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Gartner is a public company,and its shareholders may include firms and funds that have financial interests in entities covered in Gartner research. Gartner’s Board ofDirectors may include senior managers of these firms or funds. Gartner research is produced independently by its research organizationwithout input or influence from these firms, funds or their managers. For further information on the independence and integrity of Gartnerresearch, see “Guiding Principles on Independence and Objectivity.”


http://www.gartner.com/technology/about.jsp

http://www.gartner.com/technology/about/policies/usage_guidelines.jsp

http://www.gartner.com/technology/about/ombudsman/omb_guide2.jsp

Documents

2016 CIO Agenda: A Nordic Region Perspective€¦ · of digital strategy performance. (For more details, see "Building the Digital Platform: The 2016 CIO Agenda"). However, while