Mobility is key revenue generator for CIOs: Accenture

Companies’ IT budgets continue targeting mobile technologies for heavy investment

Demonstrating the growing importance of incorporating mobility into enterprises, most CIOs (Chief Information Officers) believe mobility will generate significant sources of new revenue for their businesses, and most will invest 31-40% of their discretionary budgets to achieve that goal -- compared with only 19% of CIOs surveyed last year, according to Accenture.

In The Accenture 2013 CIO Mobility Survey, an overwhelming majority of respondents (79%) cited mobility as a revenue generator and said it would significantly improve customer interactions (84%) as well as significantly affect their business (83%).

The survey also revealed that mobility is a top priority in the coming year for more than one-third (34%) of CIOs; and 42% of CIOs ranked mobility as one of their top five priorities. Anecdotal data from interviews also suggests that many CIOs approach new IT projects with a “mobile first” thinking.

Regarding specific mobile capabilities, survey respondents indicated that improving field and customer service with instant data access, capture and processing topped the list of needs (43%), followed by engaging customers via mobile devices (36%), especially with transactions on mobile devices (34%). Twenty-nine% of all respondents said they plan to design, develop and/or distribute connected devices to support B2B applications.

Accenture conducted the global survey of CIOs and other C-suite IT professionals to understand if companies are embracing the importance of mobility and to identify the top priorities of IT professionals, and the obstacles to achieving them.

Over the next year, nearly half (46%) of CIOs said they plan to make workflow changes to better incorporate mobility into the business. Additionally, 73% believe mobility will impact their business as much or more than the web revolution of the late 90s, compared to 67% who felt this way in a similar Accenture survey conducted last year.  

“It is encouraging that companies are embracing the importance of mobility but they need to go further by identifying the top areas for mobile deployment,” said Jin Lee, senior managing director, Accenture Mobility.

“In particular they should look at areas that will grow, such as connected devices, and conduct a ‘gap analysis’ to determine how to catch up, or even better, get ahead of the curve. Other critical considerations include investments, budget allocation, re-training staff, hiring mobile expertise, and leveraging external experts to help develop or implement mobility strategies.”