There is a newer version of this report available: Digital Intelligence Briefing: 2018 Digital Trends in IT

The 2017 Digital Trends in IT report, based on the seventh annual trends survey conducted by Econsultancy and Adobe, explores the digitally-driven opportunities and challenges facing organisations from the perspective of IT professionals.

IT is now seen as an increasingly strategic function within the business, and pivotal to organisational attempts to embrace digital transformation and customer experience initiatives. It is no longer sufficient for the IT department to act merely in a support role when it comes to delivering against the company’s overarching business objectives. IT leaders need to take ownership and drive change within the modern, digitally-enabled organisation.

The research is based on data from more than 500 IT leaders (manager level or above) who were among more than 14,000 digital professionals taking part in the seventh annual Digital Trends survey, carried out in November and December 2016.

The following sections are featured in the report:

  • What keeps IT leaders up at night?
  • 2017 priorities for success
  • Challenges of digital transformation
  • Actionable tips to help future-proof your IT function

 

Findings include:

  • There is heightened pressure on IT practitioners to stay abreast of customer trends, and to deliver infrastructures that enable the real-time and personalised services users increasingly expect in the digital age. Keeping up with changing customer expectations and behaviour was cited as a key challenge by 40% of respondents, a greater proportion than those worried about keeping IT systems up and running.

 

  • The threat of security breaches and cyber-risk threats is cited as a key concern by a higher proportion of respondents (41%) than any other area, and security of business and customer data is the most commonly cited IT leader priority for 2017.

 

  • Larger organisations are less confident than their smaller counterparts when it comes to the adequacy of digital skills and talent within their business. With the rise of digital transformation, data scientists are at a premium, and few organisations have all the resources they need to make use of new analytics tools and capabilities.

 

  • The impact of digital technology on workflows within organisations has been vast, affecting every business function from HR to finance, and marketing to procurement. Nearly half (49%) of IT executives indicate they have prioritised enhancement of digital workflows, for example via cloud-based tools, for 2017.

 

  • Keeping ahead of major technology connected to innovation is another key challenge for IT leaders. Executives at large companies are notably more inclined to feel pressure regarding tracking technology and innovation trends than smaller company peers (46% versus 36%).

 

Econsultancy’s Digital Intelligence Briefings, sponsored by Adobe, look at some of the most important trends affecting the marketing landscape.