Report: 51% of CIOs say their job has changed since the start of the pandemic

According to a new report from digital transformation provider Navisite, 51% of CIOs say their job has changed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, including new titles, being named to the company board and taking on new responsibilities.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way businesses operate nearly overnight. Now, more than two years later, many organizations are still dealing with the resulting impact, including supply chain disruptions and changes to overall operations, with CIOs at the center of it all. So how exactly has the role of the CIO changed?

Navisite’s recent survey found that the pandemic has had a massive impact on the evolution of the CIO role, compensation, budgets and priorities. More than half (51%) of CIOs said their job role has expanded or changed over the last two years, including new titles (e.g., president, COO, CTO) and being named to company boards. Twenty-one percent now report directly to the CEO. This as CIOs continue to take on increased leadership roles to help organizations navigate the changes brought on by the pandemic. As a result, 83% of respondents report taking on new responsibilities beyond traditional IT to support other departments across the company with business operations (39%) and cybersecurity (33%) leading the way.

The survey found that IT budgets have been impacted significantly, with 52% of respondents reporting an IT budget increase since the pandemic began. The findings also highlight accelerated digital transformation efforts with 33% of CIOs saying they are spending 21% or more of their IT budget on digital transformation efforts, compared to just 26% of respondents pre-pandemic. And this trend appears to be here for the long haul, with 88% reporting they are planning to spend more of their total IT budget on digital transformation efforts in the next 3-5 years. Which projects top their priority list in the immediate future? Respondents said cybersecurity (43%) and a cloud-first strategy (37%) are key over the next 12-18 months.

In order to learn more about how the role of CIOs, compensation, budgets and priorities have changed since the start of the pandemic, Navisite surveyed over 200 CIOs across a variety of industries. More than 90% of respondents held a CIO or comparable executive IT-level role since before March 2020.

Read the full report by Navisite.