The COVID-19 global pandemic fueled the trend of pushing executives outside of their comfort zone, while government-mandated lockdowns required their knowledge worker employees to work from home.
Companies that previously avoided 'Flexible Working' models were forced to embrace the pervasive trend in a matter of weeks, as new remote working policies became a CHRO standard practice.
As we enter 2022, more employers will empower their key employees to work wherever they desire and engage with customers whenever and however they prefer. Moreover, the ongoing transformation to an 'Anywhere Workspace' will drive strategic IT spending and advance cloud-based SaaS adoption.
Business Technology Market Development
Global enterprise IT spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2022, an increase of 5.5 percent over 2021, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner.
"Enterprises will increasingly build new technologies and software, rather than buy and implement them, leading to overall slower spending levels in 2022 compared to 2021," said John-David Lovelock, vice president at Gartner.
However, digital tech initiatives remain a top strategic business priority for companies as they continue to reinvent the future of work, focusing spending on making their infrastructure bulletproof and accommodating increasingly complex hybrid work for employees going into 2022.
Enterprise software is expected to have the highest growth in 2022 at 11.5 percent (see Table 1), driven by infrastructure software spending continuing to outpace application software spending.
As we enter 2022, more employers will empower their key employees to work wherever they desire and engage with customers whenever and however they prefer. Moreover, the ongoing transformation to an 'Anywhere Workspace' will drive strategic IT spending and advance cloud-based SaaS adoption.
Business Technology Market Development
Global enterprise IT spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2022, an increase of 5.5 percent over 2021, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner.
"Enterprises will increasingly build new technologies and software, rather than buy and implement them, leading to overall slower spending levels in 2022 compared to 2021," said John-David Lovelock, vice president at Gartner.
However, digital tech initiatives remain a top strategic business priority for companies as they continue to reinvent the future of work, focusing spending on making their infrastructure bulletproof and accommodating increasingly complex hybrid work for employees going into 2022.
Enterprise software is expected to have the highest growth in 2022 at 11.5 percent (see Table 1), driven by infrastructure software spending continuing to outpace application software spending.
Global spending growth on devices reached a peak in 2021 (15.1 percent) as remote work, telehealth and remote learning took hold, but Gartner expects 2022 will still show an uptick in enterprises that upgrade devices and/or invest in multiple devices to thrive in a hybrid work setting.
Outlook for IT Application Investment Growth
"What changed in 2020 and 2021 was not really the technology itself, but people’s willingness and eagerness to adopt it and use it in different ways," said Lovelock. "In 2022, CIOs need to reconfigure how work is done by embracing business composability and the technologies that accommodate asynchronous workflows."
Outlook for IT Application Investment Growth
"What changed in 2020 and 2021 was not really the technology itself, but people’s willingness and eagerness to adopt it and use it in different ways," said Lovelock. "In 2022, CIOs need to reconfigure how work is done by embracing business composability and the technologies that accommodate asynchronous workflows."
That said, I believe Line of Business (LoB) leaders will initiate more digital transformation projects and associated IT budget spending. In some cases, these decision-makers will also invest in hiring skilled 'Business Technologist' talent to drive change and accelerate digital workspace solution adoption.
CEOs and CFOs will apply IT budget allocation to the savvy leaders that enable the achievement of strategic digital business growth outcomes. In most cases, the CIO and their organization will continue to manage the technical support and IT infrastructure operations, as needed.