IBM recently revealed to members of the media the results of their 2011 Global CIO study conducted by IDC’s Industry Insights which shows that most ASEAN Chief Information Officers are more closely aligned to CEOs. 
This IBM study is an analysis of face-to-face interview of more than 3,000 global CIOs of organizations of every size, across 71 countries and 18 industries. Worth noting is the finding that ASEAN CIOs show that their role is seen as fundamental from top management: 68% of the companies interviewed rank technology as totally critical to the success of the business and 58% of them have largely integrated business and technology to innovate. The study also identified four distinct “œCIO Mandates,” based on how each organization views the role of IT: Leverage, Expand, Transform and Pioneer. These mandates identify clear areas where IT must excel to support and enable the organization, and determine the required competencies IT needs to obtain and develop. The differences in the four mandates also help to explain why CIOs in certain industries and geographies prioritize similar goals. For example, the “Leverage” mandate, predominant in heavy industries such has chemical and petroleum, sees the main role of IT in streamlining operations for greater organizational effectiveness, whereas the “Expand” mandate, typical of industrial products, life sciences and pharmaceuticals, focuses on the optimization of end to end business process management. The “Transform” and “Pioneer” mandates are seen most often in financial services, media and entertainment and telecommunications: while “œTransformers” aim at enhancing collaboration of the company with its suppliers and clients, “œPioneers” attempts at enabling new sources of revenue by leveraging leading edge technology. Some key trends observed for the “œCIO Mandates” include:
- In ASEAN, the “œExpand” mandate is the dominant mandate for CIOs in ten of eighteen industries, and “œExpand” CIOs in ASEAN are more focused than their global peers on the benefits of global integration
- Outperforming “œExpand” CIOs place 45 % (ASEAN 24%) more importance, versus underperformers, on internal collaboration and communication, and (ASEAN 33%; Global 110% more) integration of business and technology for innovation
- In ASEAN, the “œLeverage” mandate is applicable to only Government (15%), Automotive (25%) and Consumer Products (11%) industries, while it applied across industries for the global sample
- Outperforming “œLeverage” CIOs focus 63% more, versus underperformers, on sharing information with internal clients and 45% more on having the right IT and business talent team
- The “œTransform” mandate is most common in Financial Services industries in ASEAN and touts “œSimplify, simplify, simplify” as its mantra
- Outperforming “œTransform” CIOs are, versus underperformers, driving better real-time decisions (33% better) and simplification for external partners (23% better)
- Risk management frameworks is one of the most important priority and visual dashboards are also part of the plan in outperforming “œTransform” mandate organizations
- The “œPioneer” mandate comprise the majority of ASEAN CIOs interviewed and include industries such as Financial Markets, Telecom and Healthcare
- Outperforming “œPioneer” CIOs are even more focused than underperformers on creating new sources of revenue, including adding new sources of revenue (ASEAN 7%; Global 94% more) and changing channel partners work relationships (ASEAN 33%; Global 30% more)
- CIOs in outperforming “œPioneer’ mandates are also using key analytic techniques to assess and improve performance
