CIOs Prioritize Innovation to Improve Digital Customer Connections

The role of the CIO is evolving with an increased focus on unlocking customer connections through service innovation, according to the 2021 Global CIO Survey from Logicalis.


The study, which questions 1000 CIOs from around the world, reveals the shift in the role of the CIO with the majority of CIO respondents stating innovation, operational efficiency, and customer experience as their top priorities.

Over the last 12 months, there has been a notable shift in the defining aspects of the CIO role, with most respondents noting a significant increase in the time they now spend on innovation (79%), strategic planning (77%) and productivity (62%). This is a stark contrast to previous years, where the majority of CIOs reported a lack of time to spend on both innovation and strategic planning.

CIOs are now tasked with revolutionizing business infrastructures to tackle the modern world and increasingly digitally based interactions. Customers now expect to engage with businesses digitally as standard, and as a result companies need to innovate to redefine and elevate their customer interactions to stand out from the competition.

Over the last year, 73% of CIOs state the importance of customer experience has increased and this isn't slowing down any time soon.

Additionally, 4 in 5 (81%) respondents believe that their focus on redefining the customer experience will grow over the next 5 years.

CIOs should innovate to build agile and adaptable infrastructures which unearth hidden insights in the digital customer journey to empower closer customer connections. As IT leaders, they have the technical expertise to interpret customer engagement data and unearth hidden insights to improve the customer experience, optimize operations and achieve their business objectives.

Toby Alcock, CTO of Logicalis says: "Digital experience has become one of, if not the most, important way to reach, connect and communicate with customers in the new digital age. The ability to provide an optimal digital experience will determine the future of an organization. To deliver the digital experience, businesses should overhaul their infrastructure and leverage evolving technologies to interrogate the end-to-end digital customer journey. By being in closer proximity to customers, CIOs can ensure they can keep up with the needs and demands of the modern customer."

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CIOs Prioritize Innovation to Improve Digital Customer Connections

The role of the CIO is evolving with an increased focus on unlocking customer connections through service innovation, according to the 2021 Global CIO Survey from Logicalis.


The study, which questions 1000 CIOs from around the world, reveals the shift in the role of the CIO with the majority of CIO respondents stating innovation, operational efficiency, and customer experience as their top priorities.

Over the last 12 months, there has been a notable shift in the defining aspects of the CIO role, with most respondents noting a significant increase in the time they now spend on innovation (79%), strategic planning (77%) and productivity (62%). This is a stark contrast to previous years, where the majority of CIOs reported a lack of time to spend on both innovation and strategic planning.

CIOs are now tasked with revolutionizing business infrastructures to tackle the modern world and increasingly digitally based interactions. Customers now expect to engage with businesses digitally as standard, and as a result companies need to innovate to redefine and elevate their customer interactions to stand out from the competition.

Over the last year, 73% of CIOs state the importance of customer experience has increased and this isn't slowing down any time soon.

Additionally, 4 in 5 (81%) respondents believe that their focus on redefining the customer experience will grow over the next 5 years.

CIOs should innovate to build agile and adaptable infrastructures which unearth hidden insights in the digital customer journey to empower closer customer connections. As IT leaders, they have the technical expertise to interpret customer engagement data and unearth hidden insights to improve the customer experience, optimize operations and achieve their business objectives.

Toby Alcock, CTO of Logicalis says: "Digital experience has become one of, if not the most, important way to reach, connect and communicate with customers in the new digital age. The ability to provide an optimal digital experience will determine the future of an organization. To deliver the digital experience, businesses should overhaul their infrastructure and leverage evolving technologies to interrogate the end-to-end digital customer journey. By being in closer proximity to customers, CIOs can ensure they can keep up with the needs and demands of the modern customer."

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Data Center Outage Frequency Decreasing

Overall outage frequency and the general level of reported severity continue to decline, according to the Outage Analysis 2025 from Uptime Institute. However, cyber security incidents are on the rise and often have severe, lasting impacts ...

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Simplifying Actionable Problem-Solving with Decision Optimization

Regardless of their scale, business decisions often take time, effort, and a lot of back-and-forth discussion to reach any sort of actionable conclusion ... Any means of streamlining this process and getting from complex problems to optimal solutions more efficiently and reliably is key. How can organizations optimize their decision-making to save time and reduce excess effort from those involved? ...

Cloud Cost Crisis: As Semiconductor Tariffs Loom, CIOs Face Budget Overruns

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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