Today
Spiceworks Ziff Davis announced its annual 2021 State of IT study
examining technology budget shifts and emerging technology adoption
trends in organizations across North America and Europe.
The
findings show the global COVID-19 crisis to be a catalyst for change,
spurring businesses to continue to invest in technology to support and
secure a remote workforce, despite slowing corporate revenue growth
resulting from the pandemic. Of the more than 1,000 businesses surveyed,
76% plan on long-term IT changes as a result of COVID-19, and 44% plan
to accelerate digital transformation plans.
However,
with organizations looking to cut back on expenses, tech budget growth
has slowed compared to last year. Among businesses taking part in the
study, 33% plan to increase their IT budgets in 2021, compared to 44% in
the prior year, while 17% of companies expect IT budgets to decline in
2021.
Similar
to findings from previous waves, replacing aging IT infrastructure and
growing security concerns will be among the biggest drivers of budget
growth next year. But with more than half of businesses planning to
retain flexible work policies permanently, the "remote work revolution"
will continue to drive new spending. Among the businesses increasing IT
spend in 2021, the following factors will influence budget growth next
year: Increased priority on IT projects (45%), changes to business
operations during COVID-19 (38%), and the need to support a remote
workforce (36%).
"During
the rush to remote work caused by the pandemic, it quickly became clear
that technology is the glue that keeps businesses and employees
connected," said Peter Tsai, senior technology analyst at Spiceworks
Ziff Davis. "With more people working remotely than ever before and
face-to-face meetings out of the question, organizations wouldn't have
been able to maintain business continuity or keep productivity levels
high without the many technologies companies rely on... including laptops,
video conferencing, VPN, chat apps, internet connectivity, and more."
Spending Shifts and Slowing Future Tech Adoption
As
working remotely becomes the new normal, IT needs will shift. As in
previous years, hardware will still account for the biggest portion of
IT budgets in 2021. But as a percentage of total IT budgets, anticipated
spending in this category has dropped significantly in the last two
years - from 35% in 2019 to 31% in 2021 - as businesses increase cloud
and managed services spending.
Additionally,
while businesses will continue to invest in emerging tech, adoption
plans are expected to drop significantly year over year, especially
among smaller businesses, which will deprioritize cutting-edge features
in favor of more pressing needs such as updating outdated infrastructure
and securing a remote workforce.
At
the same time, enterprises (1,000+ employees) will adopt select
emerging technologies at up to 5x the rate of small businesses (1-99
employees) over the next two years, as is the case with Blockchain (9%
current and planned adoption among small businesses vs. 53% among
enterprises). Additionally, enterprises will adopt IT automation
technology, virtual reality, edge computing, containers, 5G, and VDI at
significantly higher rates than SMBs.
Methodology
The
survey was conducted by Spiceworks Ziff Davis in June and July 2020 and
included 1,073 business technology buyers from organizations across
North America and Europe. Respondents represent a variety of company
sizes, including small-to-medium-sized businesses and enterprises, in
addition to a variety of industries, including manufacturing,
healthcare, non-profit, education, government, and finance. For more
information and a complete list of survey results, visit https://swzd.com/resources/state-of-it.