According to new research from Opengear, 90% of CIOs reported that they were involved in digital transformation decision making for their organisations – but only 13% said network engineers played a role.

Additionally, only 17% of the CIOs surveyed reported that network managers were consulted in the decision making process.

In a survey of CIOs and network engineers in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Australia, just 28% of CIOs were very satisfied with their organisation’s network engineering talent and only 15% of network engineers were very satisfied with CIO leadership, suggesting a need for greater collaboration to reach digitisation goals.

78% of CIOs reported they made more use of networking and IT teams over the past two years, while 80% said the need for network engineers has increased over the past five years.

With demand for networking and IT expertise increasing, 39% of CIOs reported that a lack of skills and resources were some of the biggest barriers to digital transformation, with 34% citing a lack of digital skills as a particular issue.

Despite this, 35% of CIOs claimed that, while they wanted to recruit, many had not begun the process ­– and 62% said their organisation had not initiated a process of change management to ensure network engineers were equipped to support digital transformation initiatives.

“CIOs understand the importance of the digital capabilities and talents IT teams and network engineers bring to their organisations,” said Gary Marks, President of Opengear. “They appreciate the shortage of these skills impacting the industry today. Yet more is needed from CIOs and other executives to nurture and support these professionals. We must develop greater communication among leadership and engineers – not just in recruitment but also in training and change management. We must commit to involving network professionals much more in strategic decision-making to drive the future of networking and digital transformation.”