Invitations to complete the survey were sent by e-mail, and we received 162 qualified responses. See complete survey results below:
INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS
What are your organization's highest globalization priorities? (More than one answer allowed.)
Standardizing resources - 43 percent
Consolidating resources - 31 percent
Managing compliance/legal issues - 25 percent
I/we do not formulate global IT plans - 20 percent
Overcoming cultural/language barriers - 17 percent
Other - 10 percent
None - 7 percent
How would you describe the global element of your company's IT strategy?
Core to the overall strategy - 36 percent
Peripheral - 33 percent
Nonexistent - 29 percent
Don't Know - 2 percent
IT ENVIRONMENT
Is your organization using Web services today, or do you have plans to deploy Web services in the next six to 12 months?
Yes, we currently deploy Web services - 68 percent
No, but we plan to deploy Web services in the next 6-12 months - 17 percent
No, but we are investigating Web services - 12 percent
No, and we do not plan to deploy Web services - 1 percent
Don't know - 2 percent
How do you envision using Web services within your organization in the next year? (More than one answer allowed.)
Internal application integration - 67 percent
Integration with partners and customers - 62 percent
Building composite applications - 34 percent
Other - 5 percent
INNOVATION/AGILITY
Is your IT group more or less innovative than your company as a whole?
More innovative - 51 percent
Equally innovative - 36 percent
Less Innovative -11 percent
Don't know - 2 percent
What specific methods are you using to foster innovation within IT? (More than one answer allowed.)
57 percent Offer staffers training programs in new/emerging technologies
46 percent Have set up a dedicated group within IT to work on pilot projects and emerging technologies
41 percent Locating IT staff within business departments to work directly with business side on new projects
35 percent Outsourcing routine tasks to have staff focus on newer technologies/projects
7 percent We have no specific methods to foster innovation
4 percent Other
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Rank your CEO's priorities for 2006, from 1 to 4, with 1 indicating the highest priority and 4 indicating the lowest.
#1 #2 #3 #4
Growing the business 57 percent 18 percent 11 percent 14 percent
Cutting costs 16 percent 35 percent 27 percent 22 percent
Launching new products or services 12 percent 19 percent 30 percent 39 percent
Operational excellence 27 percent 30 percent 26 percent 17 percent
In which area of IT governance is your organization performing the best?
Strategic alignment with the business - 35 percent
Optimizing expenses and proving the value of IT - 25 percent
Safeguarding IT assets and providing for disaster recovery and the continuity of operations value delivery - 16 percent
Optimizing the use and understanding of IT infrastructure - 14 percent
Tracking project deadlines and monitoring IT services - 10 percent
In which area do you need the most improvement?
Strategic alignment with the business - 30 percent
Optimizing expenses and proving the value of IT - 20 percent
Safeguarding IT assets and providing for disaster recovery and the continuity of operations value delivery - 19 percent
Optimizing the use and understanding of IT infrastructure - 16 percent
Tracking project deadlines and monitoring IT services - 15 percent
What's consistently the most difficult department in your company for IT to work with?
Sales - 27 percent
Finance - 15 percent
Engineering - 15 percent
Marketing - 13 percent
Other - 12 percent
Boardroom (C-level execs) 11 percent
Manufacturing - 7 percent
What's consistently the least difficult department in your company for IT to work with?
Finance - 38 percent
Marketing -14 percent
Boardroom (C-level execs) -13 percent
Other - 11 percent
Engineering -10 percent
Manufacturing - 7 percent
Sales -7 percent
Other - 0 percent
What department is the most costly to support?
Sales - 23 percent
Manufacturing - 20 percent
Other - 20 percent
Finance - 13 percent
Marketing - 12 percent
Engineering - 10 percent
Boardroom (C-level execs) - 2 percent
What department is the least costly to support?
Finance - 30 percent
Marketing - 20 percent
Boardroom (C-level execs) - 17 percent
Sales - 12 percent
Engineering - 7 percent
Other - 7 percent
Manufacturing - 7 percent
SECURITY & DISASTER RECOVERY
Information security issues at your organization are:
What security issues keep you awake at night? (More than one answer allowed.)
51 percent Viruses, worms, Trojan horses and "zero-day" attacks
49 percent Disaster recovery
44 percent Data privacy issues
38 percent Software flaws/patch management
38 percent Regulatory compliance issues
36 percent Network intrusions or application-layer attacks
35 percent Internal users
27 percent Critical data storage
25 percent Transaction security
24 percent Spam
24 percent E-mail security
22 percent Identity management/sign-on/authentication/access issues
22 percent Security policies
22 percent Phishing/online fraud
22 percent Operating system vulnerabilities
22 percent Wireless security issues
18 percent Remote access/VPN issues
12 percent Need for more security investments
13 percent Incident response time
6 percent Outsourced personnel
2 percent Other
Does your company plan to invest in any of the following disaster recovery technologies in the coming year? (More than one answer allowed.)
Increasing/enhancing remote capabilities - 49 percent
Disc-to-disc mirroring over distance - 40 percent
Increased use of networked storage (SAN and NAS) -28 percent
Other - 9 percent
How much do you plan to spend on your disaster recovery efforts in the coming year?
$250,000 or less - 43 percent
$250,000-$750,000 - 20 percent
More than $1.5 million - 12 percent
Don't know -16 percent
$750,000-$1.5 million - 9 percent
DATA MANAGEMENT
How centralized or decentralized is your corporate data architecture?
Centralized and becoming more so - 60 percent
Decentralized but becoming less so - 19 percent
Centralized but becoming less so - 12 percent
Decentralized and becoming more so - 6 percent
Not sure/don't know - 3 percent
What percentage of your data do you store in XML format?
1 percent-24 percent - 56 percent
Not sure/don't know - 21 percent
0 percent -15 percent
25 percent-49 percent - 8 percent
50 percent-100 percent - 0 percent
OPEN-SOURCE
How interested is your organization in using Linux for desktop or client PCs?
We are not considering it at all - 70 percent
We are investigating or plan to deploy Linux on the desktop - 23 percent
We already use Linux on the desktop and plan to expand its usage - 4 percent
We already use Linux on the desktop but plan to stay the same or decrease our usage - 3 percent
IT LEADERSHIP
How are you working to groom the next generation of IT leaders at your organization? (More than one answer allowed.)
Mentoring my replacement - 56 percent
Implementing a leadership-development program in-house - 45 percent
Rotating promising IT leaders through various roles (budgeting, project management, contract negotiations, etc.) - 43 percent
Have in place a formal succession plan - 24 percent
Working with universities to recruit IT and business graduates directly to your organization - 23 percent
Actively recruiting from university technical and business programs - 17 percent
Please rank in order of priority, with 1 being the highest and 5 being the lowest priority, skills/qualities you specifically look for in an up-and-coming IT leader.
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
Knowledge of the business 43 percent 23 percent 13 percent 13 percent 8 percent
Technical knowledge 16 percent 25 percent 25 percent 22 percent 12 percent
Career history in my industry 8 percent 4 percent 16 percent 28 percent 44 percent
Communication skills 33 percent 37 percent 17 percent 9 percent 4 percent
Track record of innovation 11 percent 15 percent 27 percent 24 percent 23 percent
What skills/qualities are most frequently lacking in a potential up-and-coming IT leader? (Multiple responses allowed.)
Technical knowledge - 88 percent
Communication skills - 58 percent
Knowledge of the business - 56 percent
Career history in my industry - 10 percent
Track record of innovation - 28 percent
Other - 5 percent
ABOUT YOU AND YOUR COMPANY
What is your title?
Other vice president/director-level title (IT) -19 percent
Director, manager (business) - 17 percent
Vice president of IT/IS - 12 percent
Other - 11 percent
Chief financial officer - 2 percent
Chief technology officer - 5 percent
Other corporate/business manager - 4 percent
Executive VP, senior VP, VP, general manager - 2 percent
CEO, COO, chairman, president - 1 percent
What do you estimate your organization's 2006 annual IT budget will be?
$10 million to $49.9 million - 25 percent
$2 million to $2.9 million - 11 percent
$5 million to $9.9 million - 10 percent
$50 million to $100 million - 9 percent
$100 million to $249.9 million - 9 percent
$1 million to $1.9 million - 7 percent
$4 million to $4.9 million - 8 percent
Less than $1 million - 6 percent
$3 million to $3.9 million - 5 percent
$250 million to $499.9 million - 5 percent
$500 million to $999.9 million - 3 percent
Greater than $1.5 billion - 1 percent
Not Answered - 1 percent