IBM: Innovative firms outperform rivals

The most successful and most profitable companies in the Asia-Pacific region are those that have used new technology in coming up with innovative ways to reach their customers and create revenue streams.

This was contained in the Global CIO [chief information officer] study of US-based tech giant IBM.

In the said study, IBM said companies that outperformed their rivals used information technology (IT) to stay ahead of the curve.

“With technology becoming both an enabler of competitive advantage and embedded in every facet of the enterprise, the role of the CIO has never been more essential,” said Giuseppe Bruni of IBM Southeast Asia’s lead, strategy/transformation and global business services.

“This study provides key evidence of how the capabilities of IT are finally aligned with the aspirations of business leaders,” Bruni said.

IBM’s 2011 Global CIO study is an analysis of face-to-face interviews with CIOs of organizations of every size, across 71 countries and 18 industries.

Titled “The Essential CIO,” the analysis’ findings reinforce the increasingly strategic role that CIOs are playing as leaders of innovation and growth.

The study is being released in IBM’s centennial year as the company marks the historic role it played in both establishing the need for CIOs in the 1950s and 1960s—the early days of business computing—and elevating the position in the ensuing decades.

More than 3,000 CIOs were interviewed for the study, with about 170 coming from Southeast Asia.

IBM’s research suggests that CEOs today have a better understanding of the importance of technology. As a result, the companies’ top management teams are increasingly relying on CIOs to turn data info useful information, information into intelligence and intelligence into better decisions.

The study also showed that companies have four priorities in using technology, namely: expanding business processes and enhancing collaboration, leveraging technology to streamline operations, transforming industries through improved stakeholder relations and pioneering innovative products and business models.