Dive Brief:

• Nearly seven out of 10 business leaders rank resource optimization as the top priority for their technology investments this year, according to Grant Thornton research.
• The study shows that as technology spending rises, companies are learning lessons on how to optimize their investment returns, according to a report on the findings.
• “The old playbook of big bang deployments is fading fast,” the report said. “Leaders are adopting more iterative approaches that allow them to adapt quickly and drive higher margins over time.”

Dive Insight:

Worldwide information technology spending is expected to total $5.43 trillion in 2025, an increase of 7.9% from 2024, according to a Gartner forecast last month.

“While there is a business pause on net-new spending due to a spike in global uncertainty, the effect is subsumed by ongoing AI and generative AI (GenAI) digitization initiatives,” John-David Lovelock, a distinguished vice president analyst at Gartner, said in a press release at the time.

Companies approach spending more cautiously amid economic uncertainty and geopolitical risks, Gartner said. Competitiveness is a primary reason why enterprises will invest in technology and business change despite an “eroding environment,” it said.

Besides macroeconomic challenges, CFOs and other business leaders must also grapple with how to optimize their tech investments amid rising costs.

Large enterprises on average lost $104 million in 2024 due to IT inefficiencies, digital adoption platform provider WalkMe found in a study released this year. 

According to Grant Thornton’s report, most executives (93%) plan to increase their tech investments this year, but the “competitive edge is no longer in large, monolithic systems.”

“Modern tech allows for modularized deployment,” Grant Thornton Technology Modernization Principal Tony Dinola said in the report. “Instead of 24- or 36-month projects, we’re talking six- to eight-week cycles. You get value faster and can stop if it’s not delivering.”