Covid-19 significantly alters the priorities for CIOs

CIO Management Toolkit Update Reflects Shift of Priorities Due to Shutdown according to Janco

2024 Edition of IT Management Tool Kit Released

IT Management Tool Kit

CIOs and CTOs are in a constantly evolving field, however world class CIOs and CTOs focus on three areas to help them manage more effectively. They are:

  • Technology
  • People
  • Infrastructure

Over 2,500 pages of "Best Practices", tips and techniques, policies, procedures, job descriptions, electronic forms and much more. Ready for immediate download.

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The COVID-19 shutdown, with the associated increase in Work From Home (WFH), materially alters CIO and IT priorities. After conducting phone and teleconference interviews with 97 CIOs and CFOs, Janco has found that priorities for CIO’s management focus have shifted since January.

The CEO of Janco Associates, Inc., Mr. M. Victor Janulaitis said, “Work From Home for administrative, marketing, support and IT Staff has shifted the way that enterprises operate. This is turn has established a new set of priorities for management and operation of the IT function.” He added, “In January, WFH - Was not even on the radar with only 7% classifying as a priority. In April, 87% of those interviewed place it in the top 10. Almost all the other priories remained as before.

Top 10 CIO Management and Planning Priorities

Change from what was originally published - Updated to the latest data

Top 10 CIO Management and Planning Priorities

Survey conducted by Janco Associates, Inc. identified the the management and planning priorities that CIOs and CFOs have. CIOs and CFOs were asked to list and rank their top 5 management and planning priorities. 142 companies participated in the survey and included both large and mid-sized companies that had at least 150 professionals under their direct control. Most recent discusion of this can be found on the site. Use the search option to find topics.

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The top 10 priorities plus WFH support are:

  1. Access Management - Network management and control now have an even greater role than before. In January, 69% of the individual interviewed placed that in the top ten. Now it is priority for 89%.
  2. Work From Home - Was not even on the radar in January at 7% (not a high priority) and now 87% place it in the top 10.
  3. Mobile Computing - Mobile and end user computing require applications to be outward facing, functional on a myriad of devices, and user friendly for WFH staffers. Now is a priority for 85% of the interviewees versus 76% in January.
  4. Blockchain, ERP, and Cloud - Moved down the priority list from 85% to 75%.
  5. Social Media Impact - remained about the same with 75% to 78.
  6. Security and Hacking - Internal and external threats are on the increase, especially as enterprises continue to increase the growth of mobile and wireless based applications. In both periods surveyed this was a top ten priority by 73% of the individuals interviewed.
  7. Staffing - Which was the top priority in January at 95% saying it was a priority to 63% saying that it was something that need to be focused on. A number of the CFOs in the survey noted that they may need to let some non-critical IT professional go if the re-opening of the US market is slow.
  8. Skills for New Technologies - Along with staffing this now is a lower priority. The focus has shifted from new technologies except in the areas associated with the remote workforce.
  9. Risk Management - Remains in about the same position in priorities as before.
  10. Data Privacy - With the rise of WFH, GDPR and CCPA data privacy is a top ten priority for 53% of the interviewees versus 42% in January.
  11. ROI on New Technology - Still important but has dropped out of the top 10 priority list with the emphasis on staying in business.

Janulaitis said, “Janco has just updated its CIO Management Tool Kit address the new priorities.” 

The CEO added, “In our opinion, we feel that priorities will continue to shift over the near term. A full analysis of this shift in priorities will be presented in Janco’s Mid-Year IT Salary Survey which should be released in July.”

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Janco is an international consulting firm that follows issues that concern CIOs and CFOs. The firm publishes a series of IT and business Infrastructure HandiGuides® and Templates including IT Infrastructure Policies and Procedures, Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Template, Security Template, IT Job Descriptions, and its semi-annual IT Salary Survey.