Nearly half (46%) of world IT leaders said they are planning to deliver global growth in the next 12 months by expanding into new markets and that establishing and managing global connectivity (47%) is the single most critical factor in ensuring success when it comes to that global expansion. This is according to Expereo’s research of more than 650 CIOs in global enterprises with over US$500 million annual revenues across Europe, US and APAC.
When asked specifically about the biggest concern to delivering global growth in new regions, connectivity came out on top. Thirty-seven percent of CIOs said that effectively establishing connectivity in new regions is one of the major challenges in their role, 37% a major challenge for their organisation and 35% that their organisations’ business ambitions are constrained by legacy connectivity. The findings revealed that 42% of boards view global connectivity as a business asset that is critical to growth.
Other challenges to global growth included skills and resource retention (35%), complicated physical and geopolitical infrastructure (33%), regulation and compliance (32%) and legacy systems and local knowledge (both 31%).
When asked about where their organisation saw the biggest opportunity for growth, North America (37%) led the way, followed by Western Europe (32%), Eastern Europe (26%), Northern Europe (25%) and South America (25%).
Jean-Philippe Avelange, CIO for Expereo, said: “Evidently, connectivity is key to managing global offices and keeping them operational, keeping staff members and customers connected and engaged and ensuring the smooth roll-out of cloud and SaaS strategies, as well as hybrid, remote and flexible working practices.”
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