Fifty-three percent of organisations reported that their board of directors are among the main decision makers for emerging technology (ET) investments, just behind chief information officers (CIOs) and chief technology officers (CTOs), according to a recent survey by Gartner.
“ET purchase decisions are no longer under the sole purview of IT,” said Danielle Casey, senior principal research analyst at Gartner.
“The business has more confidence in these technologies as they move past hype and toward tangible ROI, resulting in growing investments and scaling out projects,” she added.
5G drew the highest average investment in 2021, with survey respondents reporting an average of $465,000 invested in the technology followed by IoT at $417,000.
Edge technologies stood at $262,000 and are projected to experience the highest investment increase in 2022, growing 76 percent to $462,000.
“Organisations are using 5G and edge technologies to improve employee productivity, augment existing products and services by making them more connected and intelligent, and automate business processes,” said Casey.
Ninety percent of survey respondents reported ET investments are either meeting or exceeding user expectations.
In the few instances when ET did not meet expectations, 20 percent reported staff related issues, such as lack of skills or adoption by staff, and 12 percent reported unexpected costs.
“The survey showed that the most important consideration when selecting one vendor’s ET over the other is their ability to provide demonstrable use cases and a track record of success,” said Casey.
“Product managers should emphasize business value and communicate success stories when promoting ET to keep this momentum of adoption and investment going,” she added.
