A study done by IBM has revealed the increasing importance of information technology. Top-level executives (C-suite) are looking towards their IT departments to create ambitious plans to connect with their customers better. Many C-suites plan to invest in mobility, business analytics, cloud computing, internal collaboration, and business process management. Investing in these areas will help enhance mobile resources, boost insights gained from social media, and establish a more consistent customer experience. This study gives insight into the formidable barriers, strategic influencers, and C-suite’s plans for the IT department.

Formidable Barriers

It has also been noted that C-suites plan to break down formable barriers. The study showed that 63% of C-suites feel a lack a cohesive social media plan. They believe that this creates obstacles to integrating digital and non-digital customer strategies. At the same time, 54% of C-suites say organizational priorities create barriers.

Strategic Influencers

This study also showed who influenced the CEOs to use technologies. At the top of the list were the C-suites, which controlled 78% of the CEOs; the second was the customers, 55%; last, the board of directors influenced 53% of CEOs. This shows the impact the Internet and mobile technology have on these companies and has pushed CEOs towards strategic changes.

Besides the influence of C-suites, customers, and board of directors, CEOs are motivated by the fear of a crowded market in the future. 41% of CEOs believe that new competitors will come from outside their industry than those within it. Today, this can be seen with big technology companies that sell movies online and replace brick-and-mortar movie rental stores.

Future Plans

The study shows that C-suites plan to improve customer experience by using it to collect data for market research, with 79% planning to use IT to respond quickly to emerging trends. At the same time, this 79 % of C-suites plan to use IT to identify unmet customer needs. C-suites also depend on IT to create a consistent customer experience, with 70% of C-suites stating that this is their priority.

At the same time, C-suites plan to use the IT department to have a better relationship with their customers. C-suites plan to make changes that will affect the customer. First, C-suites plan to create a more prominent partner network. Second, 68% plan to use the IT department for more digital and social integration. Not only will they use IT as a means to integrate, but they also plan on using it to treat customers as individuals, which accounts for 64% of these C-suites. 55% of these also plan to use IT to expand organizational openness.