BT Works With CIOs To Achieve The 'Digital Possible'

IRVING, Texas, April 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BT today announced the launch of "The Digital Possible," a global initiative aimed at empowering CIOs to better embrace ambitious digital transformation agendas for large organizations all over the world. BT's initiative will bring to market a wide range of new digital services, building on insight from its most recent research, "The BT CIO report 2016 – the digital CIO."

According to BT's survey of 1030 senior IT decision makers based in eleven countries, CIOs around the world are embracing digital transformation to reinvent their organizations' processes and systems. The impact of digital is such that the importance of the CIO at boardroom level continues to rise; 72 percent of senior IT decision makers say that the CIO has become more central in the boardroom over the last two years and 43 percent of CIOs say that they now spend more time dealing with corporate issues.

The flip side of this trend is that CIOs find themselves increasingly challenged to find the time to develop creative solutions for the business. Close to two-thirds (61 percent) of senior IT decision makers feel that the CIO is spending more time maintaining current IT systems than searching for new solutions. That is a drop from 2014, when the figure was 74 percent, but shows that despite ambitions for digital transformation, the CIO still has to deal with legacy systems.

The BT CIO report 2016 also shows that CIOs are clear on the most disruptive technology trends – cloud, mobility and collaboration, and data. According to the report, a fifth of global organizations are already completely cloud-centric, and a further 46 percent have more than half their applications and infrastructure in the cloud.

With the CIO acting as a catalyst, 76 percent of large organizations across the world have, or plan to adopt, a 'multi-speed' approach to technology-led initiatives. This involves more creativity, more flexibility and a more dynamic operating model. According to BT's research, 65 percent of CIOs are also noting rapid changes in the KPIs measuring their own performance, with a clear trend putting digital transformation at the center of all their activities.

In 72 percent of organizations covered by BT's latest research, multiple teams are sourcing and commissioning core IT products and services without the involvement of the IT function. The latest research suggests that the IT function is growing more comfortable with providing an overall enablement role, with a particular focus on data security, a suitably powerful infrastructure and ensuring there are no duplications of effort across the organization. These changing responsibilities underlie the new role of the digital CIO which operates horizontally, across the business as an enabler.

Responding to digital transformation's remarkable acceleration, BT will announce in the coming weeks and months a new wave of innovative services, accelerating the execution of its Cloud of Clouds portfolio strategy. They will cover the technologies identified by the BT CIO report 2016 as being the most disruptive: cloud, mobility and collaboration, and data.

These new launches will cover all areas of the Global Services portfolio, and include:

• UK and global mobility services leveraging BT's recent acquisition of EE;
• Unique real time big data analysis capabilities put to the service of customer relationship management;
• Further expansion of cloud connectivity as well as additional software defined networks and consultancy capabilities;
• New ways of customizing cloud services to meet the needs of individual organizations and industry sectors;
• New security and professional services capabilities will accompany those investments, empowering CIOs to make the bold decisions required on their digital journey.

"The pace of digital change is creating new opportunities for our customers and those opportunities require quick responses. The role of the digital CIO is one of the most demanding in business. They need to be strategic, creative, growth-minded and cost conscious," says Luis Alvarez, CEO of Global Services. "They have to understand technology and people, and balance control and safety with enablement and speed. They are becoming the pioneers of change. To be successful, they now require strategic partnerships within and beyond their organization. We are well placed to be their digital enabler. Today, we are committing to accelerate investments in our Cloud of Clouds portfolio to help them fully uncover and realize their own 'Digital Possible'."

About the BT CIO report 2016 – 'The digital CIO'
The research from the BT CIO report 2016, 'The digital CIO' was undertaken in March 2016 by Vanson Bourne, an independent market research firm. It builds on the insights contained in the 2014 report 'Creativity and the modern CIO.'  The research was conducted with 1030 senior IT decision makers working for multinational corporations across eleven countries, and additional insight from BT's technology and advisory experts.
The countries covered by the 2016 research are Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the UK and Ireland and the USA.

About BT
BT's purpose is to use the power of communications to make a better world. It is one of the world's leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in more than 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and internet products and services; and converged fixed-mobile products and services.   As of 31 March 2016, BT consisted principally of six customer-facing lines of business: BT Global Services, BT Business, BT Consumer, EE, BT Wholesale and Openreach.  With effect from 1 April 2016, the group has been reorganized and the customer-facing lines of business are now:  Global Services, Business and Public Sector, Consumer, EE, Wholesale and Ventures, and Openreach.

For the year ended 31 March 2015, BT Group's reported revenue was £17,979m with reported profit before taxation of £2,645m.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

For more information, visit www.btplc.com

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150929/271848LOGO

SOURCE BT

Related Links

http://www.btplc.com