CIO Tech Poll: Tech Priorities study outlines tech investment plans as organizations plan for effects of recession
Boston, Mass.: Foundry’s executive-level IT media brand providing insight into business technology leadership, released recently the annual CIO Tech Poll: Tech Priorities research, outlining how organizations are investing in technology in the face of a recession. The research explores how organizations are progressing forward, outlines the technology areas IT leaders will be focused on, and measures the direction of investments in those tech categories.
Despite healthy budgets, IT priorities adjust to macroeconomic conditions
Although the majority of IT decision-makers expect the economy to go into a recession in 2023, or are already in one, more than half (51%) expect their budgets to increase, while 37% expect them to remain stable, and only 12% expect a decrease. Organizations are accelerating work on technology projects that are expected to alleviate the impact of economic slowdown, and where possible are consolidating vendor contracts to reduce expenses.
Not surprisingly the number one technology area organizations are investing in, specifically to help alleviate the impact of the economic recession, is automation tools (72%), followed by cybersecurity tools which remains a constant regardless of economic conditions (61%), and cloud adoption (58%).
Technologies which are top of mind, but not yet in production (being researched and piloted currently), include: AI/machine learning, followed by data analytics frameworks, business process management/workflow automation, employee experience technologies, and IT/OT convergence. Although blockchain is one of the top technologies being researched (25%), the results also show that a majority of respondents (51%) say their organizations are not interested in adopting it for their organizations. The interest in blockchain has not moved forward over the past few years as perhaps expected – in 2020 when blockchain was first added to this survey, 39% of respondents said they were researching it, which dropped to 34% in 2021. Organizations not interested in blockchain has remained in the 50-54% range over the past three years.
The top technologies seeing increased investment over the next year include: cybersecurity, BI/analytics tools, data analytics frameworks, AI & machine learning, and robotic process automation. Security continues to be a top priority as the majority say that cybersecurity is the most important tech project they are currently working on, while data & analytics rises to the top for technologies expected to alter business operations.
“Because organizations are consolidating vendor contracts to reduce expenses, it is even more important for emerging technology vendors to educate buyers on the value of their solutions” said Holly McWalter, Marketing & Research Specialist, Foundry. “Pilot testing/product demonstrations, and external events/conferences (virtual or in-person) are important tactics to incorporate into strategic plans as they are the top resources utilized by organizations to evaluate emerging technology vendors.”
