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Gartner: Funding for Tech Purchases Moving Outside IT

Almost three-fourths (74%) of technology purchases are funded, at least partially, by business units (BUs) outside of IT, according to a recent Gartner survey.

Only 26% of technology investments are funded entirely by the IT organization.

In November and December 2021, Gartner surveyed 1,120 manager-level or higher respondents in organizations with at least $1 million in annual revenue in North America, Western Europe and Asia/Pacific to understand how organizations approach large-scale buying efforts for enterprise technology.

"As technology becomes more critical to and embedded across the business, buying team dynamics continue to evolve. In the past, it was relatively easy to predict who buyers were, but all that has changed," said Derry N. Finkeldey, Research VP at Gartner.

"Gartner research found that 41% of employees are business technologists, creating technology or analytics capabilities for internal or external business use and reporting outside of IT departments. In a world where most technologists work outside the corporate IT department, literally anyone could be a technology buyer for their organization."

The survey found that across large purchases in every major technology category, organizations take varying approaches to funding:

■ The most common funding approach for hardware, technology services and managed services is for IT to fund the entire purchase, followed by funding coming from multiple departments or BUs and IT.

■ The most common funding model for software and integrated solutions flip these two: Funding by multiple departments and IT is most common, followed by IT-only funding.

■ IT is providing at least part of the funding in 70% of the purchases studied.

■ 75% of respondents using shared funding approaches experienced delays reaching agreement on the budget allocation between groups.

"High-tech providers need new approaches to identify not only whom to engage, but also how to engage B2B buyers across all BUs, with confidence that their approaches will be effective and their roadmaps compelling. Product leaders need to coach teams tasked with discovering budget availability to extend that research to also include the funding approach," said Finkeldey.

Even as the role of business technologists grows, product leaders should not bypass central IT representatives even when addressing an industry- or line-of-business-specific use case with an identified business champion, because in nearly every case, IT will continue to provide at least partial funding.

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Gartner: Funding for Tech Purchases Moving Outside IT

Almost three-fourths (74%) of technology purchases are funded, at least partially, by business units (BUs) outside of IT, according to a recent Gartner survey.

Only 26% of technology investments are funded entirely by the IT organization.

In November and December 2021, Gartner surveyed 1,120 manager-level or higher respondents in organizations with at least $1 million in annual revenue in North America, Western Europe and Asia/Pacific to understand how organizations approach large-scale buying efforts for enterprise technology.

"As technology becomes more critical to and embedded across the business, buying team dynamics continue to evolve. In the past, it was relatively easy to predict who buyers were, but all that has changed," said Derry N. Finkeldey, Research VP at Gartner.

"Gartner research found that 41% of employees are business technologists, creating technology or analytics capabilities for internal or external business use and reporting outside of IT departments. In a world where most technologists work outside the corporate IT department, literally anyone could be a technology buyer for their organization."

The survey found that across large purchases in every major technology category, organizations take varying approaches to funding:

■ The most common funding approach for hardware, technology services and managed services is for IT to fund the entire purchase, followed by funding coming from multiple departments or BUs and IT.

■ The most common funding model for software and integrated solutions flip these two: Funding by multiple departments and IT is most common, followed by IT-only funding.

■ IT is providing at least part of the funding in 70% of the purchases studied.

■ 75% of respondents using shared funding approaches experienced delays reaching agreement on the budget allocation between groups.

"High-tech providers need new approaches to identify not only whom to engage, but also how to engage B2B buyers across all BUs, with confidence that their approaches will be effective and their roadmaps compelling. Product leaders need to coach teams tasked with discovering budget availability to extend that research to also include the funding approach," said Finkeldey.

Even as the role of business technologists grows, product leaders should not bypass central IT representatives even when addressing an industry- or line-of-business-specific use case with an identified business champion, because in nearly every case, IT will continue to provide at least partial funding.

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According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

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In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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