The pandemic has also caused additional expenses for IT

The CIO Survey of KPMG, which provides technology-based services in auditing, tax, corporate finance and consultancy, and Harvey Nash, a recruitment consultancy and IT outsourcing service provider, was conducted with the participation of over 4,200 IT leaders from many different sectors and countries. While the research shows that the average additional IT expenditure increased by 5% during the pandemic process, efficiency, customer loyalty and effective use of the workforce stand out in the operational priorities of CIOs.

86% of the participants preferred remote working with the pandemic. More than half of CIOs predict remote working will continue. The top five skill deficiency brought about by the pandemic are cyber security (35%), organizational change management (26%), enterprise architecture (22%), technical architecture (22%) and advanced analytics (22%). 61% of CIOs participating in the research think that technology leaders have increased their influence during the pandemic, while 71% think that the crisis has reinforced the cooperation between the team and the organization.

Effectiveness of technology leaders has increased

According to the results of the research in Turkey, an increase of 12% is observed in average additional IT expenditures throughout 2021. For 2022, CIOs foresee an 80% increase in their budgets and a 70% increase in the number of employees. All of the IT leaders surveyed stated that the investments made will have a positive return. While “cyber security” investments came to the fore in 2020, customer experience and insight systems took priority in 2021. In line with the global results, almost all of the CIOs participating in the research from Turkey agree that the pandemic has increased the effectiveness of technology leaders, and they believe that cooperation between the team and the institution has increased in this process. While 52% of IT leaders emphasize the importance of diversity in the team, only 26% think that they create an inclusive culture within the technology team. Evaluating the report, KPMG Turkey Information Systems Risk Management Department Head Sinem Cantürk said that: “The pandemic has radically changed the business world and daily life in almost every aspect, but we observe that certain fundamental principles continue. Operational efficiency and customer engagement continue to be among the priorities of technology leaders. While the pandemic meant unexpected and dramatic change for more traditional institutions, many companies have actually stepped up projects that are already in progress. The statement of one of our participants in our research as “More innovations have occurred in the last six months than in the last ten years” sums up this situation well. The business world agrees that technology investments will continue to accelerate.”

According to the results of the research in Turkey, it is seen that while institutions in the energy and infrastructure services, public, health services and technology sectors invest heavily, non-profit organizations, institutions in the entertainment and education sectors put the brakes on investments. Three out of ten (30%) organizations with the most successful digital business strategies, in other words the digital leaders, have been determined to have established the infrastructure necessary to deal with the crisis in advance and have made progress in the implementation of new technologies. Accordingly, when the crisis broke out, digital leaders continued to invest while peers reduced spending.

38% of technology leaders predict that more than half of their employees will continue to predominantly work from home. The potential talent pool for recruitment is also spread all over the world. However, employee mental health is a major concern, and 84% of technology leaders surveyed said they were worried about their teams. It is also observed that applications for this situation have been implemented.

On the other hand, despite the use of special programs designed to enable women to participate in the world of technology, the proportion of women in technology leadership is still low. Research shows that diverse teams achieve more successful work performance, and the flexible nature of remote working can encourage more engagement.