Business Technology Roundtable

2014 will likely be a year of dual business goals for forward-thinking senior executives. Responding to ongoing needs for business efficiency and growth, but also adapting to exploit a fundamentally different digital commerce paradigm. Commercial digitalization, based upon the latest and most effective business technology advances has already begun, but most chief information officers (CIOs) do not feel prepared for this next era, according to a global survey of IT leaders by Gartner, Inc. Their latest market study showed that many CIOs feel overwhelmed by the prospect of building digital leadership while renovating their core of IT infrastructure. The Gartner survey found that 51 percent of CIOs are concerned that the digital transformation is coming faster than they can cope -- and 42 percent don't feel that they have the employee talent to face this future. "2014 must be a year of significant change if CIOs are to help their businesses and public sector agencies remai...

Many industries are facing accelerating pressure for fundamental business process transformation -- including embracing digital business technology, in order to survive and stay competitive -- according to the latest market study by Gartner. "Transformation remains a critically important phenomenon across all industries. Many industries will face intense challenges in 2014 and beyond, and will have no choice but to radically change their established business models," said Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner . Last year saw many industry decision-makers focusing on adopting new technologies to improve business operations by addressing developments such as the convergence of social, mobile, cloud and Big Data. Gartner believes that this trend is driven in part by the challenges of consumer empowerment and market commoditization, which in many ways are greater than in the past, and are particularly difficult for traditional enterp...