As technology continues to be a business differentiator and provide competitive advantage, tech budgets are increasing for almost half of organizations (46%), according to the annual Forecast Survey from Computerworld.
The survey shows that tech leaders are focusing on business priorities that will help their organizations contain costs, optimize and automate business processes, and accelerate business processes and agility.
Per the study, in 2016 organizations will increase spending on security (50%), cloud computing (48%), business analytics (41%), mobile apps (36%), and virtualization (35%). As business-critical applications and infrastructure move to the cloud, on-premise software, data center modernization and modernizing/replacing legacy systems are receiving fewer dollars.
As building a digital enterprise continues to grow in importance, tech leaders are exploring new technologies. Nearly one-third of organizations (29%) are planning to spend money on Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives, followed by high-performance computing (HPC – 18%), and energy-saving and carbon reducing technologies (16%). Exploring new tech solutions and strategies does not stop there, the majority of enterprise organizations are adopting strategies around agile development and DevOps. This focus has grown from 48% in 2015 to 61% in 2016.
As technology trends advance, the promise of efficiencies is appealing; however having the right skillsets in place is vital for solutions to be fully utilized. While 37% of organizations are planning to increase headcount this year, finding employees with the necessary skillsets is proving difficult. Organizations are challenged to find employees with security, BI and analytics, cloud/SaaS, and programming/App Dev experience. These skillsets closely align with the areas receiving additional spending. Additionally, 42% are looking for employees with both a technology and business background to articulate IT’s value, showcasing that IT continues to embrace its new role as an organizational agent of change. Within organizations planning to increase head count, the most in-demand positions are IT architecture, programming/application development, project management and big data.
Methodology: Computerworld survey results are based on 181 respondents who are IT decision-makers across multiple industries.