Mobile, BI and Cloud Drive Increased IT Spending

CIO — The latest CIO Magazine Tech Poll/Tech Priorities survey indicates that IT budgets will rise over the next 12 months and investment in mobile technology will garner the largest chunk of increasing IT budgets. IT executives are also targeting spending initiatives on cloud computing services and business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) among their top three areas of interest.

According to the latest CIO surveyalmost half, or 48 percent, of 269 top IT decision-makers report that IT spending will increase over the next year, 39 percent expect budgets to remain flat, and 13 percent anticipate IT budget cuts.

These figures align closely with a similar survey taken six months prior, in January 2012, when 46 percent of respondents reported increased spending, 38 percent said budgets would remain flat, and 16 percent reported less spending.

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Business process innovation is the key driver for increased spending at over one-third, or 35 percent, of responding organizations. Twenty-two percent of respondents report the drivers for increase spending in each of two areas: creating top line revenue growth and more efficient management of IT infrastructure while 18 percent of organizations are looking to lower business operating costs.

CIO — The latest CIO Magazine Tech Poll/Tech Priorities survey indicates that IT budgets will rise over the next 12 months and investment in mobile technology will garner the largest chunk of increasing IT budgets. IT executives are also targeting spending initiatives on cloud computing services and business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) among their top three areas of interest.

According to the latest CIO surveyalmost half, or 48 percent, of 269 top IT decision-makers report that IT spending will increase over the next year, 39 percent expect budgets to remain flat, and 13 percent anticipate IT budget cuts.

These figures align closely with a similar survey taken six months prior, in January 2012, when 46 percent of respondents reported increased spending, 38 percent said budgets would remain flat, and 16 percent reported less spending.

Become an Insider member and download the full report

Business process innovation is the key driver for increased spending at over one-third, or 35 percent, of responding organizations. Twenty-two percent of respondents report the drivers for increase spending in each of two areas: creating top line revenue growth and more efficient management of IT infrastructure while 18 percent of organizations are looking to lower business operating costs.

At Troy Design & Manufacturing Co., the IT organization is looking at an increased operating budget of about 15 percent and a 20 percent increase in the capital acquisitions budget moving into 2013 compared to 2012, according to Lee S. Murray, director of IT.

The main driver of increased spending is to increase overall business. Murray anticipates an increase spending in fundamental technologies as well as new capital acquisitions to accommodate rapid growth at the organization.

"There is also momentum for mobile deployments and we're moving as rapidly as we can into this area," he says.

Mobile technologies are a hot investment area for CIOs with 58 percent planning spending increases over the next 12 months. Many organizations are in the process of piloting mobile-related technologies. For example, 25 percent, of IT leaders report that they're experimenting with mobile technology, with 20 percent piloting tablets, and 19 percent in a pilot phase with social media/collaboration tools.

Top-line revenue growth is the key driver for increased IT spending at Hargrove Inc., an event company specializing in trade show management, special event production and exhibition design and fabrication.

Barr Snyderwine, CIO of Hargrove, explains that customer-facing applications that provide an increased and improved customer experience, and target customer retention are vital to the company's IT efforts.