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CIOs Target Legacy IT in Push for Digital Transformation

CIOs around the globe are more determined than ever to achieve digital transformation within their organizations despite setbacks experienced over the past year, according to a survey by Logicalis.

The survey, which polled 890 CIOs across 23 countries, unearthed surprising findings this year. Although CIOs are determined to achieve digital transformation, optimism about their strides toward success has waned over the last 12 months.

While only 11 percent report their organizations have “no desire” for transformation, those that ideologically embrace digital transformation have made only minimal advancements to date:

■ Just 5 percent classify their organizations as “digital innovators,” down from 6 percent in last year’s survey.

■ Fewer CIOs (19 percent) see their organizations as early adopters today, a step back from last year’s 22 percent.

■ However, the proportion of CIOs that characterize themselves as part of an early majority with digital transformation rose from 45 percent last year to 49 percent this year, illustrating that, despite difficulties, IT leaders are moving ahead with digital transformation plans.

Overcoming Difficulties

The main barriers to delivering digital transformation, CIOs say, include complexity, cost, culture, skills and security issues. Notably, 44 percent of CIOs cite the complexity of legacy technology as their top obstacle, while 50 percent point to cost, 56 percent name organizational culture as their largest issue, 34 percent say it’s a lack of skills, and 32 percent identify security as their biggest hurdle.

Far from discouraged, CIOs around the world have big plans for overcoming these digital transformation barriers:

■ 51 percent say they plan to replace and/or adapt existing infrastructure.

■ 51 percent plan to attempt culture change within their organizations.

■ 38 percent will address skills shortages through increased training and development.

■ 31 percent expect to invest in extra security capabilities.

“The way businesses view technology is undergoing an exciting yet fundamental shift,” says Vince DeLuca, CEO of Logicalis US. “The goal behind technology is no longer simply about implementing and managing tools that enable people to do their jobs. In a digitally transformed enterprise, it’s about giving people access to the information they need to fuel business agility and growth and to empower collaboration that will create business models no one has yet imagined. Digital transformation is the foundation upon which this new way of doing business will be built, and as this year’s Global CIO Survey indicates, IT leaders around the world not only recognize this, but they are determined to provide the platform their organizations need to embrace the change that is to come.”

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CIOs Target Legacy IT in Push for Digital Transformation

CIOs around the globe are more determined than ever to achieve digital transformation within their organizations despite setbacks experienced over the past year, according to a survey by Logicalis.

The survey, which polled 890 CIOs across 23 countries, unearthed surprising findings this year. Although CIOs are determined to achieve digital transformation, optimism about their strides toward success has waned over the last 12 months.

While only 11 percent report their organizations have “no desire” for transformation, those that ideologically embrace digital transformation have made only minimal advancements to date:

■ Just 5 percent classify their organizations as “digital innovators,” down from 6 percent in last year’s survey.

■ Fewer CIOs (19 percent) see their organizations as early adopters today, a step back from last year’s 22 percent.

■ However, the proportion of CIOs that characterize themselves as part of an early majority with digital transformation rose from 45 percent last year to 49 percent this year, illustrating that, despite difficulties, IT leaders are moving ahead with digital transformation plans.

Overcoming Difficulties

The main barriers to delivering digital transformation, CIOs say, include complexity, cost, culture, skills and security issues. Notably, 44 percent of CIOs cite the complexity of legacy technology as their top obstacle, while 50 percent point to cost, 56 percent name organizational culture as their largest issue, 34 percent say it’s a lack of skills, and 32 percent identify security as their biggest hurdle.

Far from discouraged, CIOs around the world have big plans for overcoming these digital transformation barriers:

■ 51 percent say they plan to replace and/or adapt existing infrastructure.

■ 51 percent plan to attempt culture change within their organizations.

■ 38 percent will address skills shortages through increased training and development.

■ 31 percent expect to invest in extra security capabilities.

“The way businesses view technology is undergoing an exciting yet fundamental shift,” says Vince DeLuca, CEO of Logicalis US. “The goal behind technology is no longer simply about implementing and managing tools that enable people to do their jobs. In a digitally transformed enterprise, it’s about giving people access to the information they need to fuel business agility and growth and to empower collaboration that will create business models no one has yet imagined. Digital transformation is the foundation upon which this new way of doing business will be built, and as this year’s Global CIO Survey indicates, IT leaders around the world not only recognize this, but they are determined to provide the platform their organizations need to embrace the change that is to come.”

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According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
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In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

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In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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