Gartner: CIOs must be more involved in business budget talks

CIOs must do more to ensure the increasingly important role IT plays in the corporate world results in departments being consulted ahead of any business transformation plans being embarked upon.

Market watcher Gartner, claims further effort is required to ensure the contribution IT makes to business success is roundly acknowledged.

IT departments should be "intensely involved" with budget decisions within businesses, Gartner said.

Cassio Dreyfuss, research vice president at Gartner, said the supportive role played by IT in businesses has long been overlooked.

"In the past, the use of IT to support the business came almost as an afterthought, long after the business strategy and strategic initiatives for the coming period had been designed and sanctioned by top management," Dreyfuss said.

"Over time, IT has graduated from being a support tool to being a business enabling and a business creation tool.

"Under that much broader and inclusive perspective, it makes more sense to talk about IT-related expenditures in each and every business initiative and respective budget," he added.

Gartner said there are several reasons why IT departments are well-placed to contribute to budgetary discussions. These relate to the knowledge they have of how data is processed within organisations, as well how different teams and their individual members work together.

Furthermore, it's claimed IT departments are uniquely placed to provide insight into how technology stands to change the way companies will operate in the future.

"These characteristics legitimise CIOs and their teams as advisors to all budgets in all functions within the enterprise," said Michael Smith, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

"In addition, IT leaders will advise business leaders on how to secure, integrate and manage the quality of the information that fuels digital business.

"These capabilities are what CIOs and their teams will have budgeting responsibility for as traditional organisations make the transformation to digital businesses," Smith added.