David Jones, senior managing director at Robert Half Asia Pacific
Nearly a fifth of Australian CIOs give themselves top marks for innovation, according to a recent survey.
A survey of 160 CIOs and CTOs working in Australia by Robert Half recruitment consultancy, found that 19 per cent of respondents gave a score of five out of five when assessing their level of innovation within their organisation.
The majority, however, allowed themselves some room for improvement - the average score being 3.9 out of 5.
As you might expect, nearly all respondents (97 per cent) said they had implemented measures to boost innovation in their company.
Human capital
Employing IT talent with in-demand skills topped the list of CIOs’ priorities over the next year, with 51 per cent intending to grow their teams.
“In order to maximise the return on investment in technology, companies need to make sure they have the best human resources to develop and support IT initiatives. Investing in and continuously optimising the technological infrastructure as well as recruiting talented IT staff are both crucial elements in establishing an innovative culture,” said David Jones, senior managing director of Robert Half Asia Pacific.
Nine out of ten CIOs, however, said that it was a challenge to find skilled IT staff.
“Top tech talent are looking for professional opportunities where they can have a meaningful impact by developing and driving innovation. This is why companies with a visibly innovative culture have an advantage in attracting and retaining the best IT professionals. The better a company communicates its focus on innovation, the more attractive it will be to the top IT professionals,” Jones added.
The second highest priority activity over the next 12 months was ‘Reshaping network infrastructure to improve operational processes’, cited by 49 per cent of respondents, closely followed by ‘Building data centres to leverage data more efficiently’ (48 per cent) and ‘Developing/enhancing software’ (46 per cent).
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