As companies of all sizes adapted to new ways of doing business over the past year, 2021 brought with it new pressing themes, including changes to workforce strategy, the intersection of ESG and technology strategy and new avenues for adoption of emerging technologies. In our 3rd annual CIO Innovation Index, we explore each of these important topics, and take a look at year-over-year trends and benchmarks.
About our Survey
Sapphire created the CIO Innovation Index in an effort to help CIOs and technology leaders benchmark innovation strategies against their peers, and to help startups understand how best to engage with large enterprises and CIOs.
Last year’s report focused on “Startup Engagement Trends for the Crisis CIO,” and delved into the impact of the pandemic and economic disruption on innovation, startup adoption and technology budgets.
As companies of all sizes adapted to new ways of doing business over the past year, 2021 brought with it new pressing themes, including changes to workforce strategy, the intersection of ESG and technology strategy and new avenues for adoption of emerging technologies--important topics we explore in our 3rd annual CIO Innovation Index. In addition, we provide updated year-over-year metrics on the Index’s core benchmarks.
Key findings include
- Workforce strategy is undergoing major shifts with 91% of respondents making changes to their workforce strategy.
- CIOs are tapping into a number of channels for startup adoption. The VC community and professional networks continue to be important sources of startup discovery, but we’re also seeing cloud marketplaces take off.
- Technology executives have a stake in ESG, and CIOs are widely adopting tools to aid ESG goals. In fact, 87% of respondents are investing in tools to support efforts in areas like sustainability, diversity & inclusion, and data privacy.
- The proof-of-concept (POC) process is happening faster than ever. Our research shows that 91% of respondents are completing POCs in less than 6 months.
Check out the full report for more insightful data and trends!
