75% government CIO budgets flat or up in 2013: Gartner

CIOs are now poised to boost business value of IT, says Gartner Research Director Rick Howard

Nearly 75% of government IT budgets globally are expected to be flat or increasing in 2013 despite a continuing drive to lower the cost of IT services, research firm Gartner said today.

After years of being told to "do more with less," many government CIOs said budgets have stabilised or are increasing, placing them in a better position to deliver and manage IT services more effectively and efficiently, according to Gartner Executive Programs 2013 CIO Agenda survey.

"These CIOs are now poised to boost the business value of IT by radically restructuring their services portfolio to drive innovation and improve the performance of government," Gartner Research Director Rick Howard said.

The findings are in contrast to private sector, which is significant as management practices, financial indicators, business metrics and the adoption of IT in government generally lag behind those of the private sector, he added.

Gartner has projected a modest compound annual growth rate of 1.3% for IT spending in the government and education sectors through to the end of 2017, with increased spending for IT services, software and data centres.

These increases are offset by reductions in internal technology services, devices and telecom services.

The annual survey was conducted worldwide with 1,959 CIOs from across industries in the fourth quarter of 2012. It included 398 public-sector CIOs from all tiers of government around the globe.

CIOs in government indicated that reducing overall business costs is now more important than reducing IT costs alone, which will permit government CIOs to accelerate enterprise-scale initiatives.
The business and technology priorities of government

CIOs are strongly aligned with their peers from all industries globally, with a few small differences, the survey said.

The survey also indicated that 76% of government CIOs have significant leadership responsibilities outside of IT, with only 24% having no responsibilities beyond IT. The average tenure of government CIOs is 3.8 years, compared to an average of 4.6 years across all industries.

According to the survey, the top 10 business and technology priorities of government CIOs include delivering operational results, improving IT applications and infrastructure, legacy modernisation, reducing enterprise costs and IT management.

"When faced with unsustainable business models, government executives are more willing to make targeted technology investments and undergo extensive organisational change necessary to achieve the productivity and quality gains made possible by IT," Howard said.

The top three technology priorities in 2013 have changed since 2012, with business intelligence and analytics moving from no 5 to the top spot in the priority list, followed by legacy modernisation and IT management.