In the past, strategic decisions and organizational change have been supported by technologies—rarely driven by them. CIOs were often left out of major decisions and tasked with executing the “how” regardless of the “why.” That’s no longer the case. They are seizing the opportunities presented by multi-cloud, modernizing their application pipeline, and meeting or exceeding expectations around hybrid workplaces.
VMware partnered with Intel and Forbes to take a deep look into how the CIO role is changing and how CIOs are leveraging technology to find new business opportunities for their companies. After interviewing more than 600 CIOs, one thing became clear: in a future-focused, technology-driven world, CIOs are carving the path forward for their organization, and are finally looming large in the C-suite.
Over the next decade, CIO influence and responsibilities will continue to grow. The rapid tech transformation of enterprise operations over the last few years shows little sign of slowing. CIOs hold the keys to customer engagement, cost efficiencies, revenue and innovation, and can offer the insights and strategic direction their teams need to make pivotal decisions.
Embracing the Multi-Cloud Era
CIOs are also tasked with implementing the infrastructure to support an ever-expanding list of technology expectations from customers and employees—such as market-responsive applications and networking that supports 24/7, secure access to critical systems. To meet these challenges, CIOs are turning to multi-cloud architectures that enable secure remote access, speed application development, and give organizations the ability to scale quickly to meet demand.
Modernizing the App Pipeline
To meet market demand for applications and create a customer-centric app pipeline, CIOs are focused on modernizing and streamlining application development and deployment. In order to efficiently modernize their workflows, CIOs agree that a well-managed, multi-cloud environment is important. Creating strategic, multi-cloud architecture can remove or reduce current modernization barriers such as security concerns, a competitive developer job market, and siloed teams and data.
Managing the Hybrid Workspace
On top of the need to modernize workflows and applications, today’s enterprises are modernizing their entire approach to work. CIOs are tasked with leading their organizations smoothly into the Anywhere Workplace future. Enabling seamless and secure access for employees across the world is imperative not only to empower teams to accerlate innovation and growth—but to attract and retain top talent as remote work becomes a top differentiator.
With so much riding on investing in the right technologies at the right time, CIOs are vital to an organzation’s long-term growth and sustainability. Learn more about CIOs’ view of their role, and how they will integrate innovation into their companies and continue to empower enterprise growth well past 2025.
The CIO of 2025: Leading Technology-Driven Growth Across the Enterprise
Additional resources for you
VMware Cross-Cloud services: Learn about our portfolio of services for building, running, managing, and securing applications across multiple clouds.
VMware Research and Insights: Read the ebook to learn why enterprises find multi-cloud strategies critical for success.
