Gartner: Technology-Related Change Higher Priority Than Ever

Healthy business conditions have led CEOs and senior business executives to expect business growth and accelerated technological innovation this year, according to a recent survey by Gartner. The anticipated technology boom this year is expected to be the No. 1 driver of business growth in 2015 and 2016.

Gartner released the results of its 2015 Gartner CEO and senior business executive survey this week, which included responses from 400 senior business leaders in user organizations worldwide during Q4 2014. The study is proof that the modest stability in global markets over the past year has spurred a rise in strategic investments for executives, many of whom expect 2015 to be a year marked by game-changing technological solutions, according to the announcement.

According to Gartner, growth and technology topped executives’ list of five most important business priorities for 2015, with customer facing and analytics capabilities also ranking among top responses. This year’s continued emphasis on overall growth and the means used to create growth mark an increased understanding of the power of technology to innovate in the workplace.

“This is the highest position we have ever seen for technology in this survey and it’s our firm belief that CEOs are more focused on this area than at any time since 1999,” said Mark Raskino, vice president and Gartner fellow, in a statement. “When we examine the subtext of the responses, the purpose of CEOs’ interest in technology becomes immediately obvious. Over half of the responses relate to revenue- and growth-related technology issues such as multichannel, e-commerce and m-commerce.”

When asked to choose their top five technology investments over the next five years, 37 percent of respondents ranked customer engagement management as their top priority, followed by digital marketing at 32 percent and business analytics at 28 percent, according to the announcement. And while cloud-based business also ranked highly this year, interest in the Internet of Things showed the most growth after breaking into the top five for the first time.

Despite the continued optimism for technology as a driver of growth, CEOs continue to worry about security risks brought about by the rise of digital practices, according to Gartner. Seventy-seven percent of survey respondents said they felt the digital world is “creating new types and levels of risks for our business,” with 65 percent agreeing that “investment in risk management practices is not keeping up with new and higher levels of risk.”

“Although this was a partly prompted finding, we also saw strong evidence of this rising concern elsewhere in the responses,” said Raskino. “CEOs are right to be concerned. As products and services become digital they add far greater utility for the customer but also far greater power for those dark forces who might usurp digital control. CEOs and CIOs should collaborate to jolt the executive team out of cyber-risk complacency.”

Gartner’s findings are concurrent with similar surveys released recently, including a CompTIA study that concluded the availability of hacking tools and the increased sophistication of hackers are the most prevalent risks to enterprise security.