Mobile and BI Initiatives on Shaky Ground
May 17, 2011 | HANOVER, MD | For media inquiries, please contact us at media@TEKsystems.com.
HANOVER, MD – May 17, 2011 – TEKsystems, the nation’s leading technology staffing and services company, today announced findings from its quarterly IT Executive Outlook survey, conducted in partnership with the Inavero Institute. Nearly half of IT executives surveyed report they are not confident in their Mobile Applications (49%) or Business Intelligence (47%) strategies. In fact, survey results reveal that only 24% of leaders are somewhat or extremely confident in their Business Intelligence strategies, while only 22% are somewhat or extremely confident in their Mobile Applications strategies.
Business Intelligence
When asked to describe reasons for their low level of confidence in their Business Intelligence strategies, 61% of IT leaders pointed to a lack of enterprise-wide strategy. Further, 57% of IT leaders said they do not have the necessary staff to execute on planned initiatives.
“While some IT leaders cited a lack of allocated budget (39%) as a critical reason for their lack of confidence in their company’s Business Intelligence strategy, the resounding issues are clear,” notes TEKsystems Director Rachel Russell. “IT leaders do not feel that IT, the business and the enterprise as a whole are in sync on the strategy or how to find the right talent to execute it. This is a critical gap, as our experience shows enterprise-wide considerations and proactive workforce planning greatly increase the probability of a business initiative’s adoption and success.”
Conversely, those IT leaders who report strong confidence in their Business Intelligence initiatives cite that their strategy is clearly aligned to business needs (51%) and they have enterprise-wide buy-in for the endeavor (62%).
Mobile Applications
As with Business Intelligence initiatives, IT leaders who report a lack confidence in their chosen Mobile Applications strategy do so because of a lack of enterprise-wide synergy (66%) and a lack of skilled staff (52%). “This similarity is to be expected,” says Russell. “At their core, IT initiatives require the same success factors. Enterprise-wide alignment on business objectives and highly-qualified personnel with the right skills and competencies are, and always will be, absolutely essential to IT undertakings.”
Not surprisingly, survey results show that 59% of IT leaders have confidence in their Mobile Applications strategy because its lines up with business needs and 56% have confidence because their company has an enterprise-wide strategy.
Return on Investment
The majority IT leaders surveyed do not expect more than 25% ROI on their Business Intelligence (56%) and Mobile Applications (51%) strategies. “This finding relates to the fact that most leaders lack confidence in their chosen strategies and therefore cannot confidently forecast ROI,” continues Russell. “Our findings reveal that only 12% of those surveyed expect to achieve ROI over 100% within Mobile Applications and Business Intelligence, which underscores the concern that IT executives have about these strategies and their benefits going forward. Without a comprehensive, enterprise strategy that is tied to business outcomes, and a clear workforce plan to ensure that the right teams are in place to execute the strategy, substantial ROI will be difficult to achieve.”
About the IT Executive Outlook survey:
TEKsystems partners with the Inavero Institute to conduct a quarterly survey of more than 1,000 IT leaders in the U.S. and Canada. IT directors represented the majority of survey respondents at 49% and IT executives made up 22% of responses. IT leaders represented all industries, regions and company sizes with 55% of responses from organizations that gross $1 billion or more annually.
About TEKsystems
People are at the heart of every successful business initiative. At TEKsystems, an Allegis Group company, we understand people. Every year we deploy more than 80,000 IT professionals at 6,000 client sites across North America, Europe and Asia. Our deep insights into IT human capital management enable us to help our clients achieve their business goals–while optimizing their IT workforce strategies. We provide IT staffing solutions and IT services to help our clients plan, build and run their critical business initiatives. Through our range of quality-focused delivery models, we meet our clients where they are, and take them where they want to go, the way they want to get there.