60% Of CIOs Predict Spending On Analytics Will Increase This Year

• 60% of CIOs predict their spending on analytics and BI applications will increase in the next 12 months.
• 54% of enterprise CIOs predict spending on machine learning will increase in 2018.

These and many other fascinating insights are from IDG Research’s latest study, CIO Tech Poll: Tech Priorities 2018 (7 pp., PDF, opt-in). You can find a summary of the research here.The study is based on interviews with 186 senior IT executives, 67% of whom are C-level, 20% are directors, 10% are executive & senior vice presidents.  Please see the study for additional details regarding the methodology.  IDG found that analytics, cloud, and Internet of Things (IoT) are expected to have the greatest organizational impact over the next three to five years.

Key takeaways from the study include the following:

• Enterprise IT executives are predicting a higher rate of IT budget increases this year compared to aggregate Small & Medium Business (SMB) spending (57% 45% SMB). SMBs are likely to report that their IT budget will remain the same (45% SMB vs. 28% enterprise). There are a few regional differences to look at in the data, with North American IT execs less likely to report an increase compared to their Non-North American counterparts (47% say increase vs. 61% non-North American countries.)

• 47% of CIOs are increasing spending on predictive analytics and business continuity/disaster recovery in 2018. 46% plan to increase spending on public cloud, and 45% on hybrid cloud. IDG found that enterprises are predicting their spending on Internet of Things (IoT) will increase 40% this year. Enterprises are also very optimistic when it comes to the business value of machine learning, predicting a 54% increase in spending. Enterprises are also planning on ramping up investments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) by 50% and robotics by 34% over last year’s levels. The following graphic prioritizes each technology area that CIOs and IT executives plan on investing in this year (multiple responses were allowed in the survey).

• 60% of CIOs plan to increase spending on analytics this year. IDG found significant differences between enterprises and SMBs when it comes to spending by application category. 40% of enterprises predict they will increase their spending on Supply Chain Management (SCM) software in 2018, versus just 21% of SMBs. 60% of enterprises predict they will increase their spending on mobile enterprise apps, compared to 49% of SMBs. And 67% of enterprises predict they will spend more on analytics and BI apps this year, compared to 54% of SMBs.

• BI & analytics is the top application that is being researched and piloted by CIOs today. Windows 10 deployments, CRM, and social/collaboration tools are the top three applications in production in respondents’ business units or divisions. CIOs say that CRM, HR software and ERP systems are where they are concentrating their upgrading and refining efforts as the graphic below illustrates.

• 57% of CIOs say they would most likely consider partnering with a new Big Data and analytics vendor. When respondents were asked the question, “For which technology areas is your organization most likely to consider partnering with a newer technology vendor?” the majority said Big Data and Analytics, followed by Connected Devices/Internet of Things (IoT) (43%) and Cloud Computing (43%). The following graphic ranks technology areas by the level of interest CIOs have in partnering with newer technology vendors in each category.