Average IT budgets in India are expected to increase by 10.7 per cent this year compared to a global average of 2.2 per cent as Indian CIOs prioritise digitalisation; however, despite both the high priority and growing budgets, the country continues to struggle with significant IT talent gaps, according to Gartner’s annual global survey of CIOs.
In keeping with the increasing budgets are 2017 revenue forecasts and the level of prioritisation assigned to digital transformation, with Indian CIOs expecting average revenue growth of 12.6 per cent compared to a global average of 4 per cent, while 37 per cent of Indian CIOs list digital business as a top priority compared to 28 per cent of global top performers and 21 per cent of all respondents.
These priorities are impacting the focus of Indian IT organisations, with almost 90 per cent of Indian CIOs emphasising support for digital business over optimising IT costs and almost 80 per cent emphasising innovation over daily operations.
The survey shows that digitalisation currently accounts for 23 per cent of the total IT budget in Indian IT organisations, below top performers at 33 per cent but above typical performers at 18 per cent. By 2018 Indian CIOs expect to further increase their funding for digitalisation to 35 per cent, with top performers surging further ahead to 43 per cent.
“Indian CIOs are being given the budgets to invest in digitalisation and the game-changing technologies that support it, but IT organisations remain immature in some respects and lack key resources,” said Partha Iyengar, vice president and fellow, Gartner.
Skills and resources topped the list of concerns for Indian CIOs at 21 per cent. The shortage of skills is especially troubling, with 35 per cent of Indian CIOs citing lack of business analytics skills as a top talent concern and 25 per cent listing overall lack of skills as a top-three talent concern. In addition, 25 per cent listed digital business and marketing skills as a talent concern while 19 per cent were focused on lack of specific technical skills.
The 2017 Gartner CIO Survey, which received 2598 responses from CIOs in 93 countries across major industries, received 65 responses from CIOs in India.
