Get Better But Don't Spend Any Money Doing It: CIOs Say That's the Message

STAMFORD, Conn. – Hey credit union CIOs, feel like you always have to do more with less? You’re not alone. A survey released recently of 620 CIOs around the globe says organizations’ chief technology people are “feeling severe pressure to accelerate innovation, but at the same time they’re being forced to do so under tighter budget constraints.” Cost pressures remain the number one business driver for CIOs for the third year in a row, according to the Gartner Executive Programs survey from Gartner Inc., the Stamford-based think firm. The survey showed that “must-do” initiatives such as business continuity, data security, privacy and keeping pace with the business have taken precedence over the “want-to-do’s” such as satisfying stakeholders, customer relationship management, knowledge management and e-enablement, according to Gartner EXP’s group vice president, Ellen Kitzis. “Being more cost-effective, reducing business risk and innovating faster are extremely difficult to achieve concurrently,” Kitzis says. “Together, they risk breaking the budget. For CIOs, it means adding redundancy to address business risks, which increases their costs.” She also notes a changing role for many CIOs, according to the survey, and concludes: “Those that fail to adapt to the new environment will find themselves at a dead end. “Intense cost pressures amid increasing business demand will suit those CIOs that are able to build bridges to the rest of the business, show leadership and demonstrate the business value of what they do.