A recent IBM study reveals that business leaders’ confidence in IT has significantly declined, with only 47% considering their IT organization effective, down from 69% in 2013. This discontent stems from rising expectations for technology to deliver competitive advantages and inadequate communication between IT and business leaders. To improve IT service delivery, the report suggests increasing female representation in tech, addressing technical debt, leveraging AI for modernization, measuring technology’s impact on business outcomes, and involving the workforce in AI initiatives.
The SaaS Disruption Report: Security & Data by Onymos and Enterprise Strategy Group. reveals that 78% of U.S. tech leaders are concerned about SaaS security threats as reliance on these applications grows. Key risks include granting data access to third-party providers, leading to potential cyberattacks and data leaks. The report emphasizes the importance of data retention and highlights that 72% of leaders prioritize security. Recommendations include adopting a “no-data” architecture to maintain data ownership and conducting regular security audits to mitigate risks associated with SaaS applications.
Enterprises are increasingly adopting cloud solutions to meet the demand for generative AI and machine learning, with 63% reporting accelerated cloud adoption this year, pre Foundry research. Despite challenges like talent shortages and cost concerns, companies plan to allocate over 25% of their IT budgets to cloud technologies, averaging $95 million, with a significant portion directed toward AI platforms. Cloud consumption has grown approximately 20% year over year, and major providers are expanding infrastructure in response. However, concerns over costs, security, and integration remain prevalent among IT leaders.
Why do we care?
It’s that first one I’m going to linger on, as I think the other two are supporting of the general IT services strategy. IBM’s survey highlights more of what I mentioned in the last story, and raises the bar. It’s becoming table stakes to be involved in the business, delivering business outcomes, with technology as part of the competitive advantage. Fail here and you lose.