Dive Brief:
- Technology organizations will enter 2023 with conflicting priorities, in a clash that will challenge their ability to innovate, according to a report from Snow Software published Wednesday. The company surveyed 800 global IT decision-makers.
- A ranked list of priorities for leaders in 2023 shows the No. 1 directive next year will be to reduce costs. Lowering security risks and digital transformation are the second and third priorities, according to the report.
- Driving innovation for competitive advantage dropped in importance in 2023, down to the No. 8 spot from No. 5 this year.
Dive Insight:
Despite the macroeconomic environment, cost-cutting and security goals will take precedence for leaders. With an eye toward reducing or right-sizing spend, IT organizations may struggle to experiment and work on innovative solutions.
Globally, the most recent projections suggest enterprise IT spending will increase 5.1% next year despite economic woes, reaching $4.6 trillion worldwide next year, according to Gartner.
One major theme for next year might be right-sizing of spending and resources, according to Lior Koriat, CEO of software company Quali.
"Organizations will look for consolidation across the board — from architecture tools to collaboration apps — to reduce spend, improve productivity, and closely examine and prioritize the 'must-haves' of the organization," Koriat said in an email.
But transformation initiatives could see more opportunities as leaders connect IT work to projects that deliver faster returns.
In the process of consolidation and rationalizing resource use, businesses risk falling behind with innovation, said Alastair Pooley, CIO at Snow Software.
"Carving out time and budget for innovation projects can be difficult to justify during a recession but remains key to driving the organization forward, Pooley said in an email. “One approach is to ensure you are still investing in automation of repetitive, low-value activities for your team, which in turn can free up significant time for future innovation.”
Adding to the challenges ahead is the spread of technology across business units, which can lead to disjointed efforts as centralized IT gets pulled in different directions.
“Avoiding distractions and getting sidetracked is all about managing your stakeholders and understanding the true priorities of the business," said Pooley. "Competing departments can easily use up all of the time and resources in IT. Addressing urgent requests without realizing what strategic goals might be neglected is an extremely common distraction for many teams."
Strong communication, prioritization and correctly managing priorities can help keep technology resources in line with the most pressing enterprise needs, Pooley said.
