You are here: silicon.com > Management > IT Director

IT Director

Security and cost-cutting top 2005 CIO priorities

And compliance remains a headache too, says survey…

By Andy McCue

Published: 15 November 2004 16:15 GMT

Outsourcing to cut costs and security are two of the top IT priorities for UK CIOs in 2005, according to a new survey.

The global survey of 758 CIO-level executives' outsourcing and budget priorities for 2005, carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by IT vendor Mercury, found outsourcing will remain a key strategic priority for IT executives over the next 12 months.

On a country level, 44 per cent of the 50 UK CIOs questioned said reducing IT costs is still the main benefit anticipated from outsourcing, while 60 per cent said cost-cutting is the key driver for initiating outsourcing deals in the first place.

The biggest obstacles to successful outsourcing are the risk of degradation in service quality and a lack of visibility of the operations handed over to a third party, cited by 62 per cent of the UK respondents. Over a third (38 per cent) also said public opposition to the offshoring of IT jobs is a potential obstacle.

David Harrison, UK MD for Mercury, said: "Clearly we cannot get away from the cost issue."

Compliance regulations will also remain a headache for IT departments, with respondents saying International Accounting Standards, data privacy laws and anti-money laundering legislation will all have an impact on IT operations in the next three years.

In terms of IT investment priorities the climate of fear appears to still hold a tight grip over IT executives, with security the number one priority for 2005.

  1. Zones
  2. Management
  3. Networks
  4. Software
  5. IT Services
  6. Hardware
  1. Verticals
  2. Public Sector
  3. Financial Services
  4. Retail & Leisure

  • Jobs
Contract Specialist - Newcastle-00051050

Will be required to work in a client facing environment, with senior management levels Responsible for educating the project team on contract terms ...

Contract Analyst - Warrington-00054434

Key Responsibilities Responsible for the management and delivery of complex and medium risk contracts and provide support to the business or client ...

Managing Consultant - Financial Services

This position will be a subject matter expert in key areas of FS able to: - Conduct meaningful business conversations with both client executives and ...

CIO50 2008
The silicon.com CIO50 2008 profiles the most influential and innovative tech chiefs in the UK across all industries and organisation size, from the biggest FTSE100 companies to high growth dot-com start ups and the public sector. The list was voted on by the UK CIO community and a panel of experts. Find out more in our latest special report.





Quick Sitemap Links: