An Accenture survey completed earlier this year shows declining confidence in enterprise IT, greater use of external cloud services. But new risks are coming with the growth of Shadow IT: both data security and the ability to predict IT costs are becoming more precarious.

Charles Babcock, Editor at Large, Cloud

October 19, 2016

2 Min Read
<p align="left">Survey information source: Accenture report "IT Is Dead. Long Live IT!"</p>

5 Reasons The CIO And CFO Should Be Best Friends

5 Reasons The CIO And CFO Should Be Best Friends


5 Reasons The CIO And CFO Should Be Best Friends (Click image for larger view and slideshow.)

Shadow IT is an old story at this point. But a survey from Accenture Strategy, a unit of Accenture consulting that helps companies adjust their business strategies to cope with digital disruption, aims to shine a new light on the topic.

The Accenture survey conducted earlier this year of 1,800 CIOs, CTOs, and C-level decision makers on the status of the IT department found that 77% of respondents said, "IT lacked the skill sets" to act as a service provider itself, as Accenture authors Mazen Baroudi and Matthew Taylor stated in their report, "IT Is Dead. Long Live IT!"

Like other surveys, including one by rival consulting firm Ernst & Young, the Accenture results showed that reliance on IT to originate technology was decreasing and that business decision-makers are showing an increasing willingness to go around IT and initiate an external technology service.

[See 9 Ways IT Can Ruin Its Relationship With the Business.]

The Accenture report also pointed out that even shadow IT implementers sense the risks inherent in bypassing the existing IT organization.

But there is hope -- if there's some reinvention.

Baroudi and Taylor recommended that IT become more of a service provider itself, and act as a broker for the services sought by the lines of business. However, IT will have to nurture its own disrupters to succeed in such a transition, they noted.

"In this new role (as a service broker), IT can not only protect the business but also help it achieve greater outcomes," the authors wrote.

Cover image: the-lightwriter/iStockphoto

About the Author(s)

Charles Babcock

Editor at Large, Cloud

Charles Babcock is an editor-at-large for InformationWeek and author of Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution, a McGraw-Hill book. He is the former editor-in-chief of Digital News, former software editor of Computerworld and former technology editor of Interactive Week. He is a graduate of Syracuse University where he obtained a bachelor's degree in journalism. He joined the publication in 2003.

Never Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.

You May Also Like


More Insights