Collaborative innovation to see IT through economic downturn, says Harvey Nash

Innovation collaboration is key to maintaining competitive advantage throughout the current economic downturn, according to new research from professional recruitment consultancy, Harvey Nash(i). The annual survey of over 360 UK CIOs and senior technology professionals revealed an overwhelming majority (83%) of IT leaders felt their business colleagues expected them to deliver innovation to improve competitive advantage, and saw those innovation projects that generated the highest returns featured more collaboration than average.

The survey, conducted in partnership with PA Consulting, revealed that whilst innovation is seen as a route to drive competitive advantage and entry to new markets, the Board still relies heavily on technology to enhance operational efficiency, with the majority (76%) of respondents believing this was the most important business issue. Interestingly, one of the most significant benefits of innovation is improvements in internal processes with two thirds (65%) of respondents achieving cost reductions or efficiency improvements.

Those IT functions that invested in innovation have reaped the benefits, with innovation projects believed to have been either reasonably or very successful 80 per cent of the time. Innovation also yielded a return on investment of five per cent or more for over half (55%) of respondents.

ìWe are seeing innovation collaboration happening more and more frequently and the more IT leaders collaborate the better the resultsî, said Bryan MacDonald, director, chief information officer practice at Harvey Nash. ìIT leaders are collaborating with suppliers and customers to help drive efficiency and create new revenue streams. With greater results on tighter budgets, we expect the IT function to be rewarded with the strategic influence they desire.î

The amount invested in innovation also correlates to the chances of success. Across all respondents, the vast majority (75%) invested between zero and eight per cent of their IT budgets. However, of the group gaining a ROI of more than ten per cent, nearly half (46%) invested more than eight per cent of their IT budgets with 33 per cent investing more than 15 per cent of IT budgets.

(i) Survey conducted online by Harvey Nash between February and May 2008 amongst more than 360 senior level IT professionals from businesses across the UK. This is the 10th in a series of annual CIO surveys conducted by Harvey Nash to identify emerging trends and issues in IT leadership and has firmly established itself as the industry benchmark over the past decade.