Grant Thornton Principal George DelPrete said the information technology budget challenges of the past few years has given tech managers an opportunity to better organize their spending priorities, Federal News Radio reported Friday.
Jason Miller writes the official cited a new TechAmerica CIO Survey, which found IT leaders spent 10 percent less on operations and maintenance of legacy systems compared to 2013.
Many respondents attributed the decrease in part to PortfolioStat, an Office of Management and Budget-instituted tool to help companies assess their IT portfolio management process.
“There’s been a big push from OMB through PortfolioStat to create more executive-level investment review boards to really have a good dialogue about IT spending and how it’s working,” DelPrete told Federal News Radio.
The budget dropping from the top to just third most pressing concern for federal IT leaders highlighted the “silver lining†behind the austerity measures of the past two years, said DelPrete, who produced the report with TechAmerica.
Security has again emerged as CIOs’ number one challenge after ranking second at last year’s survey, with 53 percent of those polled claiming threats increased from 25 percent to 50 percent over the past 12 months.
The poll, which involved close to 60 federal CIOs and senior tech managers from over 30 organizations, also highlighted lessons learned from utilizing shared services, respondents’ views on legislation, acquisition reform and the Federal Information Security Management Act, and the future of emergent technologies.
