Companies across industries are seeing an increase in technology spending to meet the growing demands of doing business. Enterprise software alone is forecasted to account for $670 billion in 2022. For IT leaders, this is explosive growth that’s been a long time coming. IT roles have been in a state of transition for the last few decades, with their responsibilities increasing from keeping computers updated and the lights on to leading the charge in ensuring streamlined financial management, digital safety, employee productivity, and a plethora of digital process enhancements.
There must be a serious consideration of trends in the industry and how it will continue to grow and develop moving forward. According to Gartner, “IT is transitioning from supporting the business to being the business—which means spending on technology shifts from a cost of operations to a cost of revenue. CIOs have a balancing act to perform, saving cash and expanding revenue.” This positions IT-centered businesses for unprecedented growth across industries and demands a level of consideration for IT professionals whose job descriptions are in a state of flux.
So what does this mean for IT professionals and the businesses they serve? Here are some trends leaders must be aware of that will shape the industry moving forward.
The rise of digital workplaces
Companies are looking for modern solutions to modern problems. At the start of the pandemic, one of those problems was a huge shift in the way we work. With the influx of people working remotely came an increase in the digital landscape. This also forced companies to change their IT service delivery models.
This shift in work environments requires new hybrid and virtual offices that will empower employees to get their work done from anywhere while driving results for their organizations. For IT leaders working within budget constraints, it is necessary to prioritize technology that makes this transition easier while benefiting the bottom line.
The digital employee experience will continue to transform with an emphasis on working anywhere. It’s no longer a revolutionary change: it’s the new normal. The key to making it work is to align it with the broader strategic initiatives across the organization.
Companies will continue to spend money solidifying their infrastructure, as working remotely won’t be going anywhere any time soon. As companies add more mobile devices, distributed work systems, IoT, and SaaS licenses, IT and Finance teams may struggle with managing invoices and ensuring they are not overpaying. IT teams have often relied on Telecom Expense Management and IT Financial Management platforms to help manage and lower their IT costs. As digital workplaces become more prevalent, expect to see Telecom Expense Management platforms adapt and offer even more services to help IT teams keep track of their growing spend.
Increases in cloud spending
With the increase of digitization comes an increase in cloud spending, as well as an increase in overall IT spending and staffing. This shows no signs of slowing down. Gartner forecasts a 21.7% growth in Cloud spending for 2022 (reaching $482 billion). Both Cloud and overall IT spending support the digital workforce and work-from-home model, and organizations that prioritize this spending on the front end will drive efficiency for their company.
For companies that want to stay competitive, IT teams will need to lead the shift to cloud-based networks over the traditional model. Technological innovation and new solutions will only continue to grow and boast serious advantages for businesses across industries (but especially the IT sector). And while the costs may seem prohibitive in comparison to IT budgets of the past, these solutions will drive new revenue-generating initiatives, enable higher levels of efficiency, and improve employee retention—all contributing to the financial success of a business.
However, this doesn’t mean businesses should spend recklessly. There are always ways of reevaluating and streamlining systems to see what is working. With every investment comes an invoice, and the easiest way to accidentally overspend is not keeping track of monthly recurring expenses. Many IT teams process hundreds, if not thousands, of these every month. Because of this, many companies will look to TEM (telecom expense management) and ITFM (IT Financial Management) providers for help.
Automating processes and breaking down company siloes
As companies see continued growth, they will face new challenges and need help to stay efficient. Automating and streamlining processes is a big step in a positive direction.
TEM providers can be siloed by the IT category (like mobile, fixed line, and cloud) and often those siloed platforms do not communicate with each other. Some TEM platforms have actually gone so far as to natively integrate with other IT Service Management platforms, such as ServiceNow. By integrating IT expense management software with ServiceNow, companies are one step closer to a unified platform for all their IT needs. When it comes to understanding total IT spend by department (which is imperative for companies positioned for growth), manual processes and spreadsheets simply won’t cut it. Automation and full spending visibility is the only way forward for companies to break down siloes between departments, scale their company, and map processes and procedures to their projected growth.
While it is exciting to run a company in this era of unprecedented digital growth, it comes with its own unique set of challenges. Enterprise organizations and their IT leaders need to be honest about where their businesses are today and where they are headed in order to fully grasp the amount of growth possible in these next few years.
