One fifth of IT spend in the public sector is being done by individual departments rather than chief information officers (CIOs), a new survey has revealed.
The survey conducted by BT shows that 69% of senior IT decision makers are reporting the growing practice of ‘shadow IT’, where departments buy their own IT solutions and technology.
This practice accounts for 20% of IT spend in the public sector an,d as a result, CIOs are spending 18% more time and budget on security.
Those responding to the survey also reported a change in the skills needed for the job, with 55% saying they are expected to be more creative and operate across the organisation.
Luis Alvarez, chief executive officer at BT Global Services, said: ‘CIOs are perfectly placed to nurture creative uses of technology throughout their organisations while keeping a strategic view. Indeed, our research shows that the board expects nothing less.’
The CIOs surveyed also said mobility (68%), unified communications (65%) and cloud (60%) were the key technologies to help them unlock their creativity.
