2023 IT Key Issues Research

In this episode of the Business Excelleration^® Podcast, what projects are technology leaders prioritizing in 2023? What challenges do they expect to face? A discussion of findings from our 2023 IT Key issues research with The Hackett Group’s Global IT Advisory Practice Leader Tammy Pinter, IT Transformation Practice Leader Mike Spires, and Technology Transformation Practice Co-Leader Michael Fuller.

Show Notes

Welcome to The Hackett Group’s “Business Excelleration Podcast®,” where week after week we hear from experts on how to avoid obstacles, manage detours and celebrate milestones on the journey to world-class performance. This episode is hosted by Gary Baker, Group Global Communications director at The Hackett Group. Today’s episode will discuss what projects technology leaders are prioritizing in 2023, the challenges they face and more as we look at our IT Key Issues research for 2023. His guests are The Hackett Group’s Global IT Advisory Practice Leader Tammy Pinter, IT Transformation Practice Leader Mike Spires and Technology Transformation Practice Co-Leader Michael Fuller.

Kicking off the conversation, Tammy leads the discussion toward the current business environment for information technology (IT) leaders and the challenges they expect to face this year. Inflationary pressures, global political turmoil and talent shortages should be included in the planning conducted by organizations for the next several years at the very least. Aligning organizations with strategies that can mitigate these risks is difficult and must be based on a strong cross-discipline approach. Mike adds that it is all about reviewing costs in the immediate short-term plans. In the longer term, it is about building in flexibility and the ability to pivot to new initiatives to drive change.

Global technology spend is expected to grow in 2023 as companies face the need to automate more. Workloads across business functions are expected to grow more than the budget and their head count. Thus, leaders are relying on technology to help fill the productivity gaps. We also see a technology spend gap not meeting the requirements of business functions. Next, Michael provides examples illustrating how organizations are working to close the technology spend gaps. We are seeing more and more automation in all forms, including in their native applications. Tammy has also received more advisor requests and consulting on vendor partner relationships of all kinds. Listen as Mike shares some key examples of vendor partner value realization. The pandemic and “great resignation” impacted technology organizations even more than the rest of normal business. In some cases, they saw more than 30% turnover for outsourcing providers. Figuring out the right way to partner with them to create an apprenticeship model for the work has been top of mind. Finally, we now see many of these relationships at their breaking point as organizations realize they did not adopt the proper partner model for their needs. Michael prefers looking at outcome-based key performance indicators to determine if the partnership is really working out.

Next, the conversation shifts to discussing the cloud as the biggest platform organizations must leverage for agility, growth, transformation and more. Forty two percent of organizations have legacy solutions that must be replaced because many of these applications are limiting agility and competitiveness. Given that The Hackett Group has clients in all stages of their cloud journey, Michael shares some of the common challenges companies have faced and how they are dealing with them. The largest problem facing IT organizations right now is the difficulty finding a standard way of working when facing so many different technological options. The Hackett Group is helping companies by helping them solidify a standard hybrid operating model, including all key interactions for different types of workloads. Additionally, they are leveraging technology to address these concerns.

Digitally transforming to scale is another key issue IT organizations are facing as they try to meet their transformation challenges. From a technology standpoint, more and more is being asked of us. With this in mind, our guests offer their best advice for clients in C-levels for 2023. First, Michael reveals that when organizations try to do too much too fast, they are bound to not optimize the outcomes they have in mind. He also elaborated on the importance of culture above all else. Then, Mike adds that you also need to have a plan, even while moving on the slower side. As outside forces shift, it is crucial that organizations have the ability to shift alongside it.

Timestamps

• 0:56 – Welcome to this episode hosted by Gary Baker.
• 1:32 – Tammy unpacks the business environment for IT leaders.
• 3:39 – How automation is helping to fill productivity gaps.
• 4:49 – Michael explains how companies are working to close their technology spend gaps.
• 7:24 – Working alongside vendor partners to drive value.
• 16:24 – The challenges companies are facing in their cloud journeys.
• 21:41 ­– Michael’s recommendations for clients in C-levels for 2023.
• 25:06 – Mike shares his best advice for working toward a vision.