Interop Digital 2020: How Will You Spend Your 2021 IT Budget?

Editor’s Note: Interop Digital 2020 took place from October 5-8, 2020 and we’re highlighting some of the panels and keynotes of interest to IT professionals. Check out the recap below,  and if you like what you see, you can register to view this session – and more than 50 others – on demand here.

How have technology trends shifted in the last year and how does this shift affect IT investment priorities for 2021? In the Interop Digital 2020 presentation, “How Will You Spend Your 2021 IT Budget?” Omdia’s Director for IT Data Tools and Insights, Daniel Mayo, broke down some research insights that can answer those questions. (Omdia is a research firm owned by ITPro Today’s parent company Informa.)

This panel provided an overview of a global survey of more than 6,500 IT executives in medium- and large-sized enterprise companies and focused in on how technology trends have shifted by industry – including the impact of COVID-19 and how that is affecting investment priorities for 2021.

The target executive for the How Will You Spend Your 2021 IT Budget survey was someone in the office of the CIO who understood the business strategy, IT priorities and allocation of the company budget for 2021.

The survey data was compiled from data across the regions of Europe (31.2%), Americas (29.6%), Asia & Oceania (25.9%), and the Middle East & Africa (13.3%). Industries included financial services and retail (41.4%), public services (25.5%), manufacturing and "other" (18.6%), and telecoms and media (14.5%).

Here are some highlights from key results that were shared in this session from Interop Digital 2020.

Respondents were asked, “How do you expect the COVID-19 health crisis to impact your organization’s revenue for the years 2020 and 2021?”

Sixty-five percent of representatives from the healthcare and life sciences industry indicated that they expected a slight increase in revenue growth with more than 20% of that group looking at significant increase. This is exactly what you would expect around a health crisis like COVID-19.

This group was followed by telecom and media (+40%) and professional services (35%). The government (24%) and education (19%) industries were the lowest.

The overall indication beyond the top companies’ revenue growth expectations is that COVID-19 is going to have a negative impact across many industries and related revenue.

Respondents were asked, “Did your organization’s IT budget increase or decrease from 2019 to 2020 and what is your expectation for 2020 to 2021?

Once again, in the healthcare and life sciences industry, 57% of respondents reported an increase between last year and this year. More than 20% reported an increase of over 6%, while approximately 35% reported an increase between 1% and 5%.

Large decreases in IT budget were seen from the education, government as well as the construction and real estate industries.

Customer Experience

Mayo concludes the presentation by making a point about the relative importance of transforming the customer experience across these industries. Within the survey, organizations considered the customer experience to be the least important concern right now during COVID-19 and over the next 18-month period.

Mayo counters this response by indicating that consideration should be given to transforming the customer experience when it comes to sales. Since COVID-19 has severely hampered travel for many, which means fewer in person opportunities to pitch products and services, then there should be some effort to change that experience to take advantage of virtual meeting and presentation options for the foreseeable future.