Abstract: Catalyst for change. Expert on what’s possible. Guru of risk management. These are some of the many roles CIOs will play in the Enterprise of the Future, a vision outlined in the 2008 IBM Global CEO Study. The study results foretell an Enterprise of the Future characterized by accelerating, wide-ranging, uncertain change. Rather than resisting this change, the CEOs who participated in the study are embracing it. They are setting a new enterprise agenda centred around change that encompasses innovation, global integration, evolving business models and a new focus on corporate social responsibility.

What does this new CEO agenda mean to CIOs? It challenges them to become leaders and masters of change by enabling flexible, automated IT infrastructures that can not only respond dynamically to change, but actually drive change across the enterprise. Businesses and IT organisations alike must be hungry for change, plus they must be innovative in their product differentiation, integrated across the globe, disruptive in their business models and genuine in their concern for society.

Abstract: In a business environment characterized by constant change and global opportunity, where success rides on companies' ability to get comfortable with unpredictability and risk, four C-suite leaders are zeroing in on enterprisewide integration and collaboration as essential enablers for business growth. Rather than sit idly by and react to change as it occurs, today’s top highest ranking executives have other plans. According to IBM’s landmark Global CEO Study, CEOs and other senior business leaders are moving proactively and aggressively toward new business designs, building collaborative energy and delivering a steady stream of differentiating ideas and innovations. Now the CEO study—and IBM’s companion CFO, CHRO and CIO studies—offer a bird’s eye view into the business traits and transformation deemed essential for business growth and success in the years to come. Not only do these studies summarise the sentiments of C-suite leaders in companies of every size, sector and region around the globe, they illustrate the convergent thinking that’s occurring at the executive table—and the powerful implications for CIOs.