Midsize enterprises are heavily focusing on security and risk management, application and integration strategies and IT infrastructure and operations, according to tech research and consulting firm Gartner.
The Stamford, Conn. firm says the results of a survey of CIOs and IT leaders at medium-sized enterprises shows that organizations are undertaking projects to overhaul their security programs, revamp their application and infrastructure strategies and continue to make investments in cloud computing.
These organizations are shifting investments and increasing their IT budgets to fund their top tech priorities, but the accelerated rate of change in security, infrastructure, applications and cloud ecosystems is complicating the selection of new tools, says Mike Cisek, vice president analyst at Gartner.
This is requiring CIOs and IT leaders to rapidly operationalize their investments to deliver time to value, Cisek adds.
Out of the 134 IT leaders that responded, 79% identified security controls, tools and processes as their top priority. Meanwhile, 50% said vertical-specific apps such as ERP, CRM and HR tools are a top priority, and 34% also identified data analytics as a key tech investment.
When it comes to infrastructure and cloud, 42% said cloud migration is a top area of investment, and 34% say infrastructure compute and storage are top tech priorities.
The research comes as IT leaders head into the 2023 budgeting season anticipating a further economic downturn, and mid-sized enterprises are expected to be among the first to feel the effects of a struggling economy. The response to economic uncertainty is typically cost reduction, but with IT spending at those enterprisers accounting for 4.7% of total revenue, there is little room for cost optimization efforts, according to Cisek.
“During times of economic uncertainty, digital investments must align to business priority and support finance’s cash-flow strategies,” Cisek says. MSEs can most effectively navigate inflation by rationalizing their technology portfolios while investing in solutions that will yield financial or productivity benefits to IT, employees and customers.”
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