It’s one of the biggest bugbears in the industry. You’re expected to keep everything running 24/7, but management just won’t give you the money to do your job.
“Do less with more,” they tell you. Do what with what now? But because they have very little idea about what you do, it’s expected you’ll just do some tech wizardry and make things happen.
But there’s good news on the horizon. In 2018 things might be looking up, with the vast majority of IT budgets expected to stabilize or grow in 2018, according to the latest industry survey.
More than one thousand IT buyers across North America and Europe were surveyed as part of Spicework’s annual ‘State of IT’ report. And the results were quite eye-opening.
Almost Nobody is Prepared for GDPR
Given the survey’s findings, we wouldn’t be surprised if you read this headline and went “GDPR… what?”
As of mid-2017, well over half of IT experts hadn’t allocated any budget towards GDPR compliance, or were unclear if it even existed.
This is a pretty big deal, considering GDPR’s global scope… and the small fact that breaching it could cost your company over $20 Million USD (or 4% of your global annual revenue, whichever is higher).
To learn more about the GDPR, we’ve written two articles – one about what the GDPR is, and another about how to become GDPR compliant. We highly recommend giving both a detailed read.
Almost Half of IT Budgets are Going to Rise
The big finding from the report is that most companies across the globe will either be keeping budgets steady, or boosting them over the next 12 months.
Almost half – 44% of respondents – expect their IT budgets to increase. And by quite a bit. They predict a 19% jump in the company IT budget on average.
Meanwhile, almost the same number expect things to be kept the same (43% of respondents). Only 11% expect a budget decrease.
Given the majority of respondents are in an executive level position – IT Directors, CEOs, Owners, or IT Managers – their expectations are probably not pipe dreams, but rooted in actual
So why the sudden jump? The study asserts an ever-increasing dependence on technology in the workplace might be the culprit, which is a fairly safe bet.
The Continued Rise of Cloud
“Thanks to an increasingly mobile workforce, the potential for more collaboration across oceans, and the flexibility and scalability of cloud solutions, more workloads are being supported by cloud-based infrastructure services,” according to the report.
Most people are moving to the cloud to handle communications and collaboration (42%), or backup and disaster recovery (41%). This isn’t a big surprise, given how there’s some really good cloud backup products out there.
Adoption of New Technology
AI, 3D printing, VR, Automation. The IT industry is jumping into 2018 with both feet forward, eager to get their feet wet with the latest tech.
Currently, 29% of all organizations have adopted IoT, 18% have adopted VR, and 13% have adopted AI! And many businesses have stated they plan to adopt these technologies in the coming year.
Perhaps it’s the rise in IT budgets is leading more companies to adopt these new technologies – or perhaps the technologies are the reason for the budget boost?
Do you think your budget is going to get boosted in 2018? Leave your comment below!
