Tech priorities: forget the metaverse and blockchain
The top technology priorities for leaders is again a direct question. And, again, for IT professionals this was phrased as what they think the priorities should be.
Here we present two snapshots of the data. The first is technology priorities rated as number one, the second a combined rank of priorities rated in the top three.
Rank of number one tech priorities:
| Leaders | % | Professionals | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud | 27 | Cybersecurity | 25 |
| Cybersecurity | 24 | Bus Process A | 23 |
| Bus Process A | 19 | Cloud | 16 |
| AI | 10 | AI | 11 |
| As-a-service | 7 | As-a-service | 9 |
| Other | 4 | DevOps | 6 |
| 5G | 3 | Other | 4 |
| DevOps | 3 | IoT | 2 |
| Low code | 1 | 5G | 1 |
| Blockchain | 1 | Blockchain | 1 |
| Metaverse | 0 | Low code | 1 |
| Serverless | 0 | Serverless | 1 |
| IoT/Edge | 0 | Metaverse | 0 |
Combined ranking of business priorities that appeared in the top three:
| Leaders | % | Professionals | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud | 58 | Cybersecurity | 54 |
| Cybersecurity | 57 | Cloud | 48 |
| Bus Process A | 44 | Bus Process A | 47 |
| As-a-service | 33 | As-a-service | 30 |
| AI | 27 | AI | 29 |
| DevOps | 20 | DevOps | 28 |
| Low code | 9 | IoT | 14 |
| IoT/Edge | 9 | Low code | 9 |
| Other | 8 | Serverless | 8 |
| Serverless | 7 | Other | 7 |
| 5G | 6 | 5G | 4 |
| Blockchain | 3 | Blockchain | 3 |
| Metaverse | 2 | Metaverse | 2 |
Looking at the top priority, previous years have consistently featured cloud and cybersecurity in the top two, with an occasional swapping of order. This year was no different for IT leaders, with cloud a top priority for 27% (58% featured it in their top three) and cybersecurity for 24% (57% in top three).
Business process automation was the third top priority - selected by 19% (44% put this in the top three). Whilst AI was top priority for only 10%, its increasing profile was reflected in a top three placing by 27%. And the ‘as-a-service-model’ was selected by 33% as a top three priority.
Splitting out IT professionals proved interesting: cybersecurity was the top priority (25% selected it as such, whilst 54% ranked this as a top three item) but a clear second was business process automation at 23% (with 47% showing in the top three). Cloud was third on 16% (with 48% putting this in the top three).
The other technology and method figures were spread more widely, but there was also a consistent showing for AI and the ‘as-a-service’ model.
Whilst the cybersecurity number was comparable for both cohorts, the gap in both cloud and business process automation is interesting.
And there is a clear signal for Meta and crypto enthusiasts here – the metaverse and blockchain scoring very low in both sets of data.
Bubbling under in the comments were a few additional thoughts. One IT leader cited the more strategic ‘personalisation at scale’ as being a key priority. The IT professional comments were perhaps understandably more focused at keeping the lights on:
- upgrading laptops to Windows 10,
- improving architecture,
- focusing on data engineering first and data analysis second,
- full utilisation of Office365
- data privacy in app platforms.
