And while we’re looking at business, Deloitte with a new signal survey for Q1 2022. Quoting liberally from TechRepublic.
According to the CFO Signals report, the 36% of CFOs expecting North America’s economy to be better dropped from 45% in the prior quarter. Similarly, 26% of CFOs said they expect Europe’s economy to improve a year out, a sharp decline from 40% in 4Q21. There was also a drop in the percentage of CFOs expecting Asia’s economy, excluding China, to improve in 12 months, at 33%, compared to 37% in 4Q21.
More than one-third (34%) of CFOs indicated they are very satisfied (5%) or satisfied (29%) with their organizations’ IT services. Another 34% reported they are somewhat satisfied. Sixteen percent of CFOs said they are somewhat dissatisfied with their organizations’ IT services. Eight percent noted they are dissatisfied, and just 1% said they are very dissatisfied.
CFOs indicated their organizations’ overall IT spend was 3.1% of annual revenue. The percentage varied somewhat from industry to industry. On the high end, 8% of CFOs reported their overall IT spend is more than 6% of annual revenue. The average of 3.1% was lower than the 4.25% average that CIOs cited in the 2020 Global Technology Leadership Study regarding their companies’ technology budget as a percentage of annual revenue.
And let’s combine that with data from Orbus software. Technology spending has increased on average by 43 percent since the start of the pandemic.
The most common reasons for increased IT spending, according to the Orbus Software survey, are new technology to support working from home and hybrid working (71 percent), rising technology costs (69 percent), and additional IT regulations (56 percent).
However, when it comes to new technology, only 30 percent of respondents report that all the new technology has brought tangible value. Just over half said most of those initiatives have added tangible value. A full 62 percent also noted there is a gap between what companies are trying to do versus what they actually achieve.
The survey also finds most respondents (79 percent) reporting that all or most of the technology purchases over the past 24 months have been pre-planned, compared to 13 percent who say they have been last minute. The survey also reveals that 95 percent have a technology roadmap in place to help make informed technology purchases. Those plans range for as long as anywhere from six months (26 percent) to 12 months (37 percent) to 18 months or longer (33 percent).
Why do we care?
It seems I’m not the only one worried about the choppy waters ahead. There was a flurry of self-congratulations from the IT industry as the pandemic hit for the efforts to keep businesses afloat. That honeymoon is long over. Let’s note that now, those new investments … aren’t necessarily being felt by the organization. Like the previous story, today, it’s about making sure technology investments are being handled by those who call the shots.
