Key Findings

  • Technical debt remains a critical burden – On average, an organisation invests more than 30% of its IT budget and more than 20% of its IT human resources to manage and address technical debt.  Further, nearly seven out of 10 organisations believe technical debt has a high level of impact on their ability to innovate. For the most part, companies that are pursuing modernisation to actively reduce technical debt are finding that innovation is a key methodology to get the most out of the process. Innovation brings with it new insights and ways to use collected data, as well as service customers better.
  • Goals do not equate to strategy – Most organisations indicate they have clearly defined innovation goals; however, nearly half of organisations report they have not fully created a strategy to define that innovation.
  • The priority is optimisation – The area in which organisations focus their innovation efforts more than any other is optimisation of current systems and processes. By comparison, there is less focus on resilience and growth.   
  • Regulatory compliance and cybersecurity represent significant concerns – When it comes to innovation, IT leaders view regulatory and compliance requirements as the top challenge their organisations must address. Security is also top of mind: Four out of five organisations have a high level of concern about security risks related to the implementation of innovative new technologies. Regardless of organisation size, there remain significant questions and uncertainty when it comes to balancing innovation with protecting critical systems and data.
  • Access to talent, culture, budgeting and agile processes are the keys – They are the foundational elements to fuel innovation, alleviate technical debt and deal with competitive challenges.
  • Labs and think tanks are deployed often but not always – While a majority of organisations have created a dedicated lab or think tank that is focused on innovation, two out of five have not. Of note, as company size grows, so does the percentage of those leveraging these approaches.

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