OREANDA-NEWS. February 24, 2016. Digital is transforming the way consumers communicate, purchase, and work. Customers expect companies to provide modern, intuitive, and mobile technology. This expectation is bringing IT to the forefront, as businesses prioritize customer-driven apps along with the employee and partner apps they’re already creating.

How are IT leaders reacting to this industry shift? What are successful IT teams doing to keep up with customer demands, bridge the widening skills gap, and succeed in the digital era?

The answers are in the 2016 State of IT report, released today. This research shares insights from over 2,200 global CIOs and IT leaders on how they are innovating to keep up with digital transformation. Here are some quick stats on key trends emerging in IT today:

-Companies are shifting their focus towards customer-facing apps. And, tailoring apps to consumers means making them mobile-friendly. Nearly 90% of new apps developed by IT will be created with a mobile-first mindset.

-As IT becomes more customer-centric, a new leadership position requiring consumer and digital knowledge has cropped up: Sixty percent of companies currently employ a Chief Digital Officer.

- Technology is always changing, and customers and employees alike expect companies to keep up. High-performing IT teams are 3.7x more likely than underperformers to say they are excellent or above average at staying ahead of technology trends.

- The skills gap is widening as app demands increase. One-third of IT leaders struggle to keep skills current with emerging tech and trends, citing this as a top pain point.

- New technologies like cloud services are providing time and budget relief for IT teams across the globe. IT leaders across all performance levels list cloud migration as their top priority.