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 Stay in Control of Your Data with a Secure and Compliant Sovereign Cloud By Stan Kwong Mar 23, 2023 6 mins Cloud Security Cloud Computing News Accenture to lay off 19,000 to cut costs amid economic uncertainty Technology services giant Accenture will continue to hire but meanwhile is cutting staff to streamline operations in the face of economic headwinds. By Anirban Ghoshal Mar 23, 2023 2 mins IT Consulting Services Technology Industry BrandPost Advice from procurement: How to evaluate and propose new IT investments By clearly defining needs and requirements, evaluating TCO, and performing risk assessments, procurement and IT teams can work together to help their business leaders make more informed decisions for an improved bottom line. By Bo Bradshaw, Edgio Procurement Director Mar 23, 2023 5 mins SaaS BrandPost Why AI is key to hiring and retaining developers Data shows that the opportunity to build AI-powered apps figures very prominently in where developers decide to work. By Bryan Kirschner, Vice President, Strategy at DataStax Mar 23, 2023 4 mins Artificial Intelligence IT Leadership 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