Organisations are highly receptive to adopting new technologies and are continuing to expand their IT budgets with growth and innovation being one specific focus, according to new research.
The 2018 CIO Tech Poll: Economic Outlook from CIO, IDG’s executive-level tech media brand, found that nearly one third (31 per cent) of tech budgets are focused on areas like machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Some organisations are more focused on the ‘what’s next?’ as 16 per cent of respondents say at least half of their IT budget is allocated towards growth and innovation.
The average total annual tech budget is £91m ($121m), and when asked how their tech budget is expected to change in the next 12 months, three-fifths of respondents (57 per cent) anticipate a budget increase.
The survey also showed that on average, two thirds of IT budgets are dedicated to solutions that maintain the current business. These include tools that run the business such as administrative initiatives, operational activities and inventory replacement.
As organisations become more invested in innovative technologies, the research examines who is primarily responsible for driving investment in six specific technologies: AI, cloud, data and analytics, IoT, machine learning and mobility.
Within this mix of emerging and established tools IT holds primary responsibility in all these areas, especially when it comes to cloud computing (76 per cent).
While the IT department leads tech investment, they collaborate with colleagues in various departments on new technologies. With departments throughout the organisation needing tech enhancements, operations (50 per cent), marketing (47 per cent) and engineering (38 per cent) are all expected to experience an increase in their budgets dedicated to technology within the next 12 months.
“Technology solutions continue to evolve as digital transformation creates opportunity for new and revamped products,” said Adam Dennison, senior vice president/publisher, CIO.
“Organisations see the value tech enhancements bring to their business and tech executives are not slow to reevaluate their plans and align their best practices with these next best tools. IT executives are consistently increasing their tech budgets to research key technologies and expand their solutions at the best interest of their organisation’s success.”
Throughout a fiscal year, the study notes, it is common for priorities to shift and budgets to be redirected. The majority of respondents said that their past budget shifts occurred due to IT initiatives/projects starting and stopping (47 per cent), system upgrades/maintenance (43 per cent) and a change in the number of IT initiatives starting in given year (40 per cent).
Future budget changes are expected to be driven by new mandates from executive management, and pressure from line of business to make changes to IT operations or strategy.
Survey results are based on 240 respondents who indicated they are the top IT executive at their company or business unit in the US and other countries.
