Telework changes CIO priorities

Adobe survey highlights emerging priorities and key challenges facing technology leaders and the areas in which they plan to invest in the future.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has disrupted business around the world, forcing millions of people to participate in what has become a mammoth homework experience that may change the way we all work in the future. The sudden shift to a remote workforce has also changed CIO priorities and corporate initiatives, according to an Adobe study .

The survey, which was conducted in mid-March among more than 200 IT managers in the United States, highlights the priorities and the main challenges facing technology leaders and the areas in which they plan to invest. in the future.

Unsurprisingly, the field of cybersecurity is a top priority for CIOs in the pandemic and post-pandemic world, with 7 out of 10 organizations planning to increase their financial investments in security technologies. According to the survey, the public cloud, infrastructures, AI and machine learning will also benefit from a financial boost in many organizations.

Rethinking the organization for CIOs

"Like most business leaders, CIOs now need to rethink their priorities, or at least reorganize them, and we need to reinvent ourselves now as virtual leaders," said Cynthia Stoddard, CIO of Adobe. "We are thinking more about safety, due to the rapid passage of a large number of people into telework, while continuing to ensure business continuity in these unprecedented times."

Regarding the response to the pandemic, most organizations believe that they are prepared to work remotely. Despite everything, communication and gaps in technological tools remain challenges for CIOs. Half of the companies continue to hire actively, but 47% foresee an impact on the hiring cycles.

Elsewhere in the report, we see that 90% of respondents say they use a public cloud service to some extent, but most of the data is hosted on site. About one in three organizations store half or more of their data in a public cloud, according to the survey.