3,300 decision-makers

We surveyed 3,300 decision-makers ranging from junior management to C-suite from IT and several other departments across organizations. We've split them into two broad categories: IT decision-makers (ITDMs) and business decision-makers (BDMs).

1,565

IT decision-makers (ITDMs)

1,735

Business decision-makers (BDMs)

11 sectors

The surveyed organizations ranged from smaller businesses to large enterprises from 11 sectors, including technology, financial services, energy, entertainment, and the public sector.

11 sectors

15 countries

The participants were from 15 countries across the globe, representing
North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

Dive into region-specific data, or scroll down for the global report.

The expanding role of IT

IT's role has expanded beyond being just a support function. This expanding
role brings with it new expectations and changes in how IT functions.

The key to success

91%

of all decision-makers (both ITDMs and BDMs) agree to some extent that their IT department's success is directly correlated with their organization's overall success.

Chart

In-house consultants

The IT department also plays a role in decision-making across areas such as strategy, security, finance, and even customer support, with the most common roles being approval and advice.

What role does your organization’s IT department play in decision-making across the following areas?

Strategy
42%

Approval

53%

Advice

Security
55%

Approval

47%

Advice

Controlling data access

83%

of BDMs reported that IT has complete or near-complete control of access to their department's data.

Driving sustainability

98%

of all decision-makers said their IT department plays a role in implementing sustainability policies in their organization.

Hub of innovation

90%

of all decision-makers agree that IT is more responsible for business innovation than ever before.

67%

of ITDMs believe that in the near future, IT will adopt new technology.

65%

of ITDMs believe that IT will play a greater role in setting strategy.

Who's in charge of security anyway?

Even as IT is being decentralized in several organizations (more on this below), many of our respondents
still hold the IT and security teams responsible for protecting the organization from cyberattacks.

Whose responsibility should it be to protect your organization from cyberattacks?

Vertical

This is despite just about half of BDMs saying IT plays a role in approving (55%) or advising (47%) departments on security.

Only 7% of decision-makers believe everyone in the organization has a responsibility towards cybersecurity.

With greater responsibility comes lesser power

29%

of BDMs said their IT department has complete authority
to prevent business decisions based on security and
technical concerns.

IT forwithby the people

For IT to succeed in the many roles it is expected to play,
collaboration is key, and this shows up in our data, too.

Working together to win together

88%

of decision-makers said that collaboration between their IT department
and other teams has increased in the last two years.

Working together to win together
  • Collaboration has increased significantly
  • Collaboration has stayed the same
  • Collaboration has decreased significantly
  • Collaboration has increased slightly
  • Collaboration has decreased slightly
  • Don’t know

One possible driver of this is the decentralization of organizations' IT structures.

The democratization of IT

64%

of ITDMs said their organization has successfully decentralized its IT.

30%

of ITDMs said their organization is attempting to decentralize IT.

This includes technology decisions and app development

96%

of BDMs said their department has autonomy when it comes to making technology decisions.

68%

of all decision-makers said their organization encourages non-IT employees to develop their own applications using low-code platforms.

Decentralized IT poses several challenges

99%

of ITDMs whose organizations have decentralized their IT or are in the process of doing so are facing challenges in maintaining security and quality levels.

Top challenges these ITDMs are facing in decentralizing their IT functions

Maintaining IT security levels
56%
Maintaining quality levels
45%

But the benefits seem aplenty

96% of all decision-makers believe there are benefits to the democratization of IT. These benefits include greater recognition of the importance of IT and increased scope for innovation.

Perceived benefits of the decentralization of IT functions according to all decision-makers

The importance of IT's role in the business will become more recognized and acknowledged
59%
Increased scope for innovation
57%
Professional growth through upskilling
55%

Centralized IT? Or IT teams for every department?

46%

of ITDMs believe there will be a need for central IT teams.

42%

of ITDMs believe that each department will have its own IT team.

The future is AI, but employees
aren't fully future-ready

AI adoption is rising

95%

of BDMs have invested in AI and ML and are using them for more than one use case. In terms of uses, automation leads the pack with preventing cyberattacks following close behind.

85%

of all decision-makers surveyed feel that AI and ML could strengthen their IT security framework.

Areas where BDMs' organizations have invested in AI and ML

Chart

Based on the responses of BDMs

85%

of all decision-makers surveyed feel that AI and ML could strengthen their IT security framework.

Everyone is using it

While IT is naturally the most likely department to be using AI and ML (44%), these technologies are also being used in:

Chart

Based on the responses of BDMs

But not to its fullest potential

Even as the use of new technologies increases, 93% of BDMs said their employees face barriers in taking full advantage of those technologies. A lack of training and a lack of basic technical knowledge are the two biggest challenges.

Top barriers to employees making full use of technology

Chart

Based on the responses of BDMs

Interestingly, nearly all (97%) of the ITDMs surveyed believe that teams across the organization need more technical training.

So who's going to train them?

While some BDMs outsource their technical training, 48% rely on their internal IT teams. Meanwhile, 43% have taken matters into their own hands and use online training courses.

Chart

Based on the responses of BDMs

IT leadership and the future

Even as the role of IT becomes more and more vital, IT leaders are increasingly
feeling more alienated from their organizations.

A lack of support

70%

of IT leaders agree that their organizations should have supported them more in the last two years.

Loyalty is dropping

Nearly half of the IT leaders surveyed are at risk of attrition.

49%

of IT leaders feel less loyalty towards their employers than they did two years ago.

48%

of IT leaders are actively looking for a new job.

The last straw

With only 5% of ITDMs saying that nothing will make them leave, organizations need to be careful not to take away certain key benefits if they want to retain IT talent.

Which of the below would drive you to resign from your current organization if it were no longer offered?

Chart

How can you make them stay?

Globally, the potential to upskill, the ability to guide change, and more collaboration are the top three things ITDMs want. However, this varies from region to region.

The top three things ITDMs want most from their roles in the next five years

Chart

Wrapping it up

Over the last two years, collaboration between IT and other departments has increased. Today, a vast majority of decision-makers believe their IT department's success is tied to their organization's success. Many organizations are trying to decentralize IT, despite the challenges this poses, due to the many benefits this will bring.

On the technology and talent front, the proliferation of technology throughout organizations has increased the technical proficiency of non-IT employees—but not to the extent that they can do without IT departments altogether. Yet even as the role of IT grows bigger, organizations are at risk of losing their IT experts who are feeling alienated due to a lack of support.

Wrapping it up
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