Tech in a turbulent economy

One of the biggest pressures facing business leaders is keeping up with the pace of technology change, without overspending on already lean IT budgets. 50% of respondents admitted that their tech department had faced budget cuts this year. When ranking by country, US businesses topped the list with 56% saying their budgets had been reduced, compared with 51% in the UK, 41% in the Netherlands and just 39% in Germany. After the Covid-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of IT-enabled remote working, our research has revealed that around half of respondents (48%) say they are back to ‘full time in-office’ working schedules. Our research revealed a major disparity between markets, with 64% of US respondents saying they are expected to be physically present five days a week, compared with just 37% in the UK and only 33% in the Netherlands. Our research also uncovered a broad consensus around synchronisation, with a notable portion of US respondents (82%) saying their business and technology strategies were aligned, a figure which drops to 76% in the UK.

Given the impact technology has on the business, it is perhaps surprising that only 63% of respondents said that the person tasked with leading the organisation’s technology function reported to the CEO. Next on the chain of command was the COO at 19% and 15% to the CFO. CEO accountability around tech was the highest in the US, with 70% of tech leaders reporting directly to the CEO, compared with 62% in the UK.Overall, the executives polled felt that technology was successfully driving transformation across their business, with 79% feeling it was effective. Of this figure, 84% of US respondents agreed, with 80% in the UK, 76% in Germany and only 66% in The Netherlands.