Operational CIOs, who typically hail from companies with revenue of $1 billion or less, are most likely to give the cold shoulder to hot technologies, largely because they don’t have the time, money or staff to experiment with them. Their lowest technological priorities are open source (10 percent), new technologies (28 percent), SOA (31 percent), supply chain automation (33 percent) and e-commerce (36 percent), according to “The State of the CIO” survey. When it comes to service-oriented architecture plans, which are hot now, 44 percent of Operational CIOs claimed they had no plans for SOA, the highest percentage of any archetype. That stat matches a 2006 Forrester report by VP Randy Heffner, which found that fewer midsize companies have innovative plans for SOA than larger ones. What’s interesting, however, is that midsize organizations want to pursue SOA: A 2005 Forrester survey reported that 44 percent of small and midsize companies said that implementing an SOA project was a high or critical priority. Of course, if you’re an Operational CIO having trouble proving the value of IT to the business (which nearly half are, according to our survey), then pursuing an SOA—or open-source or e-commerce—project just isn’t happening right now. Keeping the network running, e-mail up and the ERP implementation on schedule is. And “innovation” for the IT department usually means making existing products better—not dreaming up new ones in the lab. Just 3 percent of CIOs at midsize companies said innovation is a dominant part of their role, compared with those at small (15 percent) and large (9 percent) companies. “Where [the business] looks to us for innovation in IT is in finding better ways to make SAP work for them,” says Michael O’Dell, CIO of Pacific Coast Cos. “They’re not looking for technology just for the pure sake of technology; they’re looking for technology that provides a return on the investment.” Related content brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems, Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing feature 10 business intelligence certifications and certificates to advance your BI career From BI analysts and BI developers to BI architects and BI directors, business intelligence pros are in high demand. Here are the certifications and certificates that can give your career an edge. By Thor Olavsrud Dec 01, 2023 8 mins Certifications Business Intelligence IT Skills Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe