IDC: CIOs continue to invest

An IDC report found that 70% of NZ CIOs are going forward with investments in server virtualisation, web 2.0, cloud computing and other projects.Even in the current economic climate, the results of the IDC Dynamic Benchmark 2009 survey showed that CIOs are pushing ahead with virtualisation for data center refresh, and portal and content services enrichment with web 2.0 technologies.According to the report those companies who have an interest in cloud computing are mainly focused on gaining the edge in terms of faster development time in building and launching new business applications.Immediate priorities from business users, alongside customer service, are gaining operational efficiencies and reducing cost structures in IT.Results also showed that there was continued investment in business intelligence and that business process standardisation has a healthy presence in the industry with more people looking at remote application delivery projects to streamline access management in 2009.The majority also said a key priority was improving access to relevant information, data and IT resources and there was interest in adopting ITIL V3 standards in enabling IT management practices.Chief Technology Advisor for IDC’s Asia/Pacific Emerging Technology Council Patrick Chan said: “CIOs today have very challenging roles to play. They need to balance savings against IT investments in order to achieve optimal growth for their organisations.