The tenth annual IT Enterprise Insights study by research group Omdia reveals the latest developments in the enterprise IT industry. According to the study, IT has become a significant value driver for enterprises with 74% of respondents indicating increases to their overall budget dedicated to enterprise IT for the year 2023. This represents a shift from the 62% that was recorded in 2022.

The study is based upon a survey of over 6,500 global IT executives, examining the priorities of their IT department in the enterprise. The top business priority emerged as increasing operational efficiency, while the management of security, identity, and privacy was identified as the prime IT priority.

The development of generative AI (GenAI) was found to be on a rapid rise. However, most industries have not yet witnessed significant shifts in their enterprise technology priorities and spending due to GenAI as evidenced by the current spend allocations in the survey. This situation is expected to change soon as enterprises proceed with moving GenAI solutions from the evaluation and lab stages into production environments. Analysts credit this expected change to more vendor initiatives coming on stream combined with wider market adoption.

Cem Nurkan, Enterprise Technology Research Director at Omdia, shared his insights on the matter. "The term every company is an IT company has never been truer," he said. According to Nurkan, more and more companies are viewing Information and Communications Technology not just as an engine that keeps the business running but as a significant source of additional value to the organisation and a means to attract and retain talent.

Nurkan further highlighted the importance of understanding business challenges, IT investment priorities, objectives, and budget changes across industries and markets. He commented, "Our research offers vital information for technology vendors to effectively position their technology to their clients.”

In order to gather the data for the IT Enterprise Insights study, Omdia interviewed over 6,500 senior IT executives to gain insights about their organisations’ investment plans and priorities across 56 countries and 16 industry sectors. This annual research aids IT suppliers in understanding the changing needs of their customers and ensuring their strategies align with these evolving requirements.

The IT Enterprise Insights research is expected to be available to the public through the 2024 IT Enterprise Insights Spotlights Service.