State of IT in Europe 02 IT’s Focus Pivots from Infrastructure to Business Value 8 Once upon a time, IT’s job was to “keep the lights European IT’s Mandate Expands in a New Era on.” Now, there is incredible pressure on IT to be IT teams in Europe are still “keeping the lights on,” but are more than ever the linchpin for the linchpin that gives businesses the capabilities business value in a hypercompetitive marketplace. and the innovations needed to carve out a place in a hypercompetitive marketplace. Over the next 12–18 months, 81% of European IT Percentage of European IT Leaders Who Believe leaders say that IT is entering a new era driven by the Following about IT’s Changing Role customer expectations and 76% believe that IT is in the midst of the biggest historical shift in its role IT is entering a new era driven yet. IT is not only expected to deliver innovation, by customer expectations 81% but it is also expected to be the primary enabler of customer experience initiatives, according to 79% IT is the primary enabler of customer of European IT leaders. experience initiatives 79% Companies need to see IT in a new light if they want IT is currently in the midst of the biggest to harness technology to help them craft quality historical shift in its role 76% customer experiences that will differentiate them in the marketplace. And IT teams need to respond with an expanded view of their role. High-performing European IT leaders are 1.3x more likely than underperformers to believe that IT works as an extension or partner to business units, rather than as a separate function. Salesforce Research