Key CIO Takeaways from Gartner IT Symposium

It was nice to be back at a major trade show for the first time in a while earlier this week. While we have all been ramping up with some of our smaller in-market shows, it was good to see the Gartner IT Symposium back for the first time, in-person since 2019 in Orlando. And what a week it was!

The world is almost unrecognizable since we all last did this. And while there was a lot of excitement about being in an environment with fellow industry professionals, it was also easy to see the complete paradigm shift in terms of the technology and services people were talking about and there to see.

For me personally, the Keynote on Monday kicked off with some very pertinent points. There has never been a more important time for technology leaders to be aligned to the business objectives being set at the CEO level.

While the macroeconomic picture is challenging, no company is looking to shrink in this time. The recurring theme around “sustainable growth” for companies was very clear and how it is important that CIOs help drive these goals through productivity and the tools they are giving employees to achieve them.  

25% of employees would consider leaving their job because they don’t have the tools they need

That said, what was really interesting was when we heard that only 30% of employees feel that they have the correct tools to do their jobs. Even more interesting is that 25% of employees would consider leaving their job because they don’t have the tools they need.

What does this mean? We need to start thinking more strategically about the number of applications we have in our portfolios and the impact they have on an employee’s ability to effectively do their job. And it’s not just asking, “Do we have enough tools?” Because having too many applications can bring on a whole new set of problems as well. If every team is using a different collaboration tool, does that really enable collaboration? 

In order to enable strategic growth, we must keep a close eye on employee retention and sentiment. And understanding what you own from a SaaS perspective and how employees are engaging with those tools has never been more critical.

Here at Productiv, we believe that this is table stakes to drive that growth and executive alignment. Not only on how you optimize your portfolio around cost in these times, but also how you drive growth by allocating your spend more proactively into revenue generating activities and driving employee productivity to the same end.

Read the next blog in this series for a deeper dive into these areas of cost optimization and employee engagement.

— Aashish Chandarana, CIO at Productiv