'Five or six years ago, I would have said that the CIO was fighting for a seat at the table. That's now changed': Logicalis CEO

The global MSP boss tells CRN what he thinks are the most important changes in end user procurement, and how that's impacting budgets

The role of chief information officers (CIOs) has expanded to more directly include business strategy responsibilities such as security, digital transformation, customer employee experiences and sustainability, says Logicalis' CEO Bob Bailkoski.

"If you'd have asked me five or six years ago, I would have said that the CIO was fighting for a seat at the table.

"That's now changed."

Speaking to CRN, Bailkoski said the changes are having a tangible impact on end user procurement, and is a shift that MSPs need to adapt to.

Logicalis commissioned a survey of 1,000 CIOs to try to find out more.

"What we found was that back in 2016, the role of CIOs was threatened by Shadow IT," he said.

"The IT team back then were basically tasked with keeping the lights on, keeping the machines operating and the network running smoothly."

"Then in 2018, 61 per cent of CIOs said they were measured by how much money they could save,"

Fast-forward to today, and 41 per cent of respondents said they have some level of core responsibility around business strategy.

81 per cent said they are also spending more time on innovation for the businesses' growth plans.

And over three quarters (77 per cent) are also now spending more time selling ideas into the board.

For Bailkoski, this in particular means that CIOs are now more important to driving channel spend than ever.

"77 per cent of companies are continuing to invest in digital transformation, which means that it's still a hot topic on everyone's agenda. It's a continuous journey.

"So, the relationship between the channel and CIOs has really improved over the last few years in terms of helping support those activities," Bailkoski said.

He added: "One of the key things that's really helped the CIO elevate its role is the pandemic. CIOs have really stepped up to the plate during the pandemic, helping organisations deliver transformation in record time, getting organisations working remotely."

Despite lockdowns in Europe being behind us, Logicalis' boss says that the lessons learned by end users during covid will remain influential.

"The context of pandemic is a critical feature of the CIOs role. And that will continue to be something that drives business between the channel and CIOs.

"If you think about the massive amount of spending that has been on security tools over the last five years, it's really incredible for me to know that over half of the CIOs that we surveyed, are increasing their spending or risk management."

The relationship between CIOs and partners

Bailkoski said that some of the other critical issues that CIOs will have to face going forward are perennial challenges around the skills gap and recruitment.

"And there are budget pressures that are bubbling up all the time. For CIOs, they need to be more efficient in what they do.

"So, those things are sort of slightly at odds with each other because the resources are becoming more expensive and expensive as time goes on. It becomes scarcer anyway. And you've got to find ways to make your environment more efficient."

The report found that to tackle this, 74 per cent of CIOs expect an increase in spending on partnerships with managed services providers.

Half of respondents also argued that if they engage effectively with a managed service provider, it will them free up resources.

The sustainability challenge

Sustainability was also singled out as an important focus for CIOs.

Almost half of respondents said they review carbon output and energy efficiency as part of the process of choosing new suppliers.

"There's also a broader business awareness understanding in this area, because 92 per cent of CIOs said, they see a clear link between sustainability and enterprise value business value overall," Bailkoski said.

Whether it's business strategy or sustainability drives, the rise of the CIO is a trend that he sees as positive for the channel, overall.

"In our view, that relationship between an MSP and customer will only become stronger.

"It's good for business.

"In our survey, 33 per cent of CIOs said that they were already working with MSPs today to try and harness the benefits of the digital services that they offer...And we in the channel have those skills."