WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Looking ahead into the New Year the key question remains the same; what are the strategic challenges that IT leaders will face in 2015?

The CIO is the number one executive to drive business innovation and new services across the business¹. One of the major challenges the CIO will face is balancing operational efficiency with business user satisfaction and using their feedback as a source of innovation.

At the same time, IT leaders need to adapt to be seen as a true business service. This will possibly be the biggest challenge CIOs will face in the coming years. According to Gartner, an average of 73% of enterprise technology spend is controlled by central IT². At an individual level, IT executives should use the question "Is what I'm doing right now delivering value to the business?" as a mantra.

Business-IT convergence will also be key in 2015. A study by Deloitte found that 61% of businesses rate IT as "fair" or "poor" business partners³. Organizations need to embark on the journey to humanize the interface between IT and the business – to get closer to the people and not hide behind digital frontiers like the service desk, SLAs and a service catalog. Those that do not will see budgets continue to leak into the cloud as business units continue to cut corporate IT out of the equation.

A new briefing paper from Axios Systems looks at the above challenges in more detail, focusing on how technology, business and consumer megatrends are impacting service management. On top of this, the paper looks at end user experience, Enterprise Service Management and The Internet of Things (giving business objects connectivity and intelligence). For each of these challenges there is an opportunity for IT to shine and take another step up the ladder to the top table.

Scott Leckie, CTO at Axios Systems, said "The role of the CIO is evolving, placing them not only as a critical interface between IT and the business, but ever more at the heart of business transformation. Our Service Management solution, assyst is purpose-built to help you manage IT from a business-value perspective – helping you to support business operations, growth and transformation, while working within a constrained technology budget."

For more information, the full briefing paper can be downloaded from: http://tinyurl.com/2015-itsm-challenges

About Axios Systems

For over 25 years, Axios Systems has been committed to delivering innovative IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions that help customers improve not only their infrastructure operations but also to enhance service delivery across business functions including HR, Facilities Management and Finance. Axios is recognized as a world leader by leading analysts and their global client base, with a 100% focus on service management technologies.

Axios's enterprise ITSM software, assyst, is purpose-built to transform IT departments into profitable business-focused customer service teams. assyst adds tangible value to each client's organization by building on the ITIL®  framework to help solve their business challenges across the organization.

In 2014, assyst was accredited for all fifteen PinkVERIFY™ ITIL® processes. Axios Systems was the first technology vendor to achieve this within a single solution.

For more information, please visit our website at www.axiossystems.com

¹ http://www.cio.co.uk/insight/strategy/cios-role-in-business-transformation-five-key-steps/
² Firstbiz. 35% of IT funding comes from outside the IT budget, finds Gartner CIO survey. [Online] May 15, 2014. http://firstbiz.firstpost.com/biztech/35-funding-comes-outside-budget-finds-gartner-cio-survey-84835.html.
³ Deloitte CIO Survey 2013

SOURCE Axios Systems