The 2019 SIM IT Issues and Trends Study

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These are the findings of the Society for Information Management’s 39th Anniversary IT Issues and Trends Study, with responses from 1,033 IT executives, including 376 CIOs, and 618 unique organizations with total revenue of $2.5 trillion and $133 billion in IT spending. Internal IT headcount continues to grow and projected growth for next year is also strong, but the number of external consultants and contractors declined, a pattern continuing from the last three years. IT salaries are up, as is the total spending for IT, although next year’s growth is expected to slow somewhat. Unsurprisingly, the use of Cloud is increasing, but there is a shift from internal to external services. The five largest IT investments in 2019 were: Analytics, Cloud, Cybersecurity, Software Development and Maintenance, and CRM. The personally “most worrisome” IT management issues for CIOs were: Cybersecurity, Alignment, IT Talent, Perception of IT Leadership, and Compliance and Regulations. Respondents acknowledge that cybersecurity readiness is not adequate. Average CIO job tenure is over six years, with about a third of CIOs not previously having IT jobs and almost 80% coming from other organizations. Over 50% of CIOs report to the CEO, the highest level ever for the SIM study; under 25% report to the CFO, the lowest ever. CIOs are also spending more time interacting with other C-suite executives, further confirming that the role and importance of the CIO continues to grow.