State of Business Technology Report 2021 business technology research, it industry research reports, business technology research 2021, it industry research reports 2021

State of Business Technology

An Evolving Role: Business Technology

In the last decade, the ever-increasing reliance on SaaS applications, along with rapid technological advancements in the workplace, created the need for a new team to manage the technology that fuels modern work. An expansion of traditional Information Technology (IT), Business Technology (BT) teams are charged with integrating an ecosystem of applications, automating business processes to increase efficiency, and helping teams implement technical solutions to their problems. As a relatively new team tasked with overseeing the constantly changing and evolving technology that enables work as we know it, BT teams face unique challenges that have yet to be solved. They’re on the digital frontlines, problem solving, iterating, and learning every day. With companies now using an average of 1,295 cloud services, BT teams are the backbone of revenue and efficiency. This report will explore the current state of the industry, highlighting common challenges and frustrations, diving deep into the impact of COVID-19 on BT teams, and presenting a picture of the future of BT.

What's in this Report?

Methodology How Is COVID-19 Impacting Digital Initiatives? Important Investments, According to Business Technology Teams How Business Users Are Contributing to Automation Goals Business Technology and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Work-Life Balance for Business Technology Professionals Business Technology and Back to Office Business Technology’s Biggest Collaborators Frustrations + Challenges How Is BT Working with Data? Conclusion

Methodology

The purpose of the 2021 Business Technology Survey is to continue exploring the themes identified in the 2020 State of Business Technology Report, which surveyed a group of BT professionals and their business colleagues in late 2019. This year’s report presents new findings, unique to the unprecedented challenges brought on by COVID-19, as well as new insight into how the answers to previously surveyed questions are changing.

How Was the Research Conducted?

55% of respondents manage a CRM like Salesforce, and just as many manage collaboration apps such as Slack, Teams, Gmail, and Outlook. In addition to these apps, 40% of respondents say they manage an ERP like NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, or Workday. New apps are gaining prominence and the app landscape looks somewhat different for BT teams this year compared to last year. For example, ServiceNow went from being managed by only 19% of respondents to 34%.

Number of Apps Evaluated by Company Size

How Is COVID-19 Impacting Digital Initiatives?

76% of respondents note an increase in their digital initiatives due to COVID-19, and only 8% say that the pandemic is forcing them to take on these projects at a slower pace. Many of these initiatives involve cloud apps (50%) and cloud infrastructure (44%), as well as cybersecurity (45%) and data analytics (45%).

After seeing a major emphasis on automation last year for BT leaders, this year we’ve seen an interest in different automations, as well as an overwhelming comfort level with business users configuring their own automations, integrations, and processes. As low-code platforms enter more and more organizations, this comfort with business users solving their own problems through automation will likely continue to rise. The W*rk Automation Index confirms this trend, finding that 45% of automations created on Workato’s platform are brought to fruition by business users.

Almost 1 in 4 BT teams are investing more than ever in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) , and 71% of respondents say they’ve already implemented solutions using AI/ML at their organizations.

Despite the fact that both declining work-life balance and the rise of burnout throughout 2020 have been called out as dire public health issues both pre- and post-pandemic, 92% of BT professionals are satisfied with their current work-life balance, and 89% are satisfied with their current workload. As a whole, dissatisfaction levels for work-life balance increase slightly with company size, and those at mid-size companies have the highest satisfaction rates.

66% of respondents are currently working in a hybrid model, working both from home and also in the office.

Despite the major role BT has played in setting the foundation for a hybrid work model, 42% of respondents say that while they implemented solutions at the height of the pandemic, they’ve since abandoned those solutions. While the unexpected shift to remote work provided no shortage of challenges for companies to solve at the onset of COVID-19, 51% of recently surveyed employers now support a hybrid work model, and 63% of high-revenue growth companies embrace hybrid work. BT will continue to be central to creating processes that bridge the gap between work and home, whether companies hire fully remote employees or encourage a hybrid workforce.

65% of BT professionals note an increase in collaboration with other teams this year, while just 13% say collaboration is decreasing.

Despite the major changes that occurred between late 2019 and the summer of 2021, the main frustrations and challenges remain the same for BT professionals.

Data storage and data analytics are two of the areas BT professionals say their teams are investing in this year, behind cloud applications, cloud infrastructure, and cybersecurity. We know that data is now a priority for BT, but what specifically are teams doing to support their organization’s data initiatives? Over half of respondents are responsible for data integrations, and data cleansing and standardization is part of 44% of respondents’ responsibilities. In line with increasing cybersecurity concerns, 43% of respondents are also working on data masking and encryption, as well as archiving and deletion.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, larger companies are likely to evaluate more apps per quarter, and 18% evaluate more than 10. On a whole, however, the majority of respondents evaluate 3 to 5 apps per quarter (43%).

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Executive Summary

Due in part to the widespread impact of COVID-19 on businesses worldwide, budgets for Business Technology teams are largely increasing, and many digital initiatives are being accelerated this year.

Half of respondents say that their switch to cloud applications is accelerating due to COVID-19, and 45% are moving forward fast with projects related to cybersecurity and data analytics. Cloud migration, along with protecting online data, has become an essential part of uniting a largely remote workforce. Investing in these initiatives is recognized as a priority by leadership, and Business Technology budgets are increasing for 65% of respondents, with only 13% experiencing a cut in resources. In terms of how companies are breaking down their BT budgets, large enterprise companies are feeling the pressure to innovate in this digital world and allocating 50% on average to innovation projects, as compared to medium-sized businesses, who are allocating 30% of the budget to innovation projects.

What the Current App Landscape Looks Like for Respondents

Important Investments, According to Business Technology Teams

How Business Users Are Contributing to Automation Goals

Business Technology and Artificial Intelligence /Machine Learning

Work-Life Balance for Business Technology Professionals

Business Technology’s Biggest Collaborators

Business Technology and Back to Office

Frustrations + Challenges

How Is BT Working with Data?

Conclusion

COVID-19 changed the way companies operate forever, and Business Technology teams were at the center of supporting and igniting the changes that gave businesses a lifeline throughout the most difficult stages of the pandemic. The evolving reality of what it means to support customers, provide digitally-driven solutions, and manage a remote workforce brought new areas to the forefront for BT teams, and in solving new challenges, BT established new collaborators as well as a growing trust in business users to problem solve using automation.

This year, Workato, an Enterprise Automation platform, commissioned Atomik Research, an independent market research firm, to conduct an online survey of full-time IT and BT professionals located at companies throughout the United States with more than 100 employees. The resulting 534 respondents varied in seniority, from Analysts to C-Suite Executives.

2021

The democratization of automation is on the rise, with 78% saying they feel comfortable allowing business users to build their own automations, integrations, and systems processes

Scroll to Top Methodology How Is COVID-19 Impacting Digital Initiatives? Important Investments, According to Business Technology Teams How Business Users Are Contributing to Automation Goals Business Technology and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Work-Life Balance for Business Technology Professionals Business Technology and Back to Office Business Technology’s Biggest Collaborators Frustrations + Challenges How Is BT Working with Data? Conclusion

The speed with which Business Technology teams are able to deliver to their Line of Business (LOB) colleagues remains the #1 frustration for this group, although the number of respondents who selected this answer decreased from 62% to 52% this year. Behind their ability to deliver results quickly, respondents cite frustration with their current integration and automation tools (43%) and budget constraints (41%).

Business Technology leaders are facing the same frustrations and challenges in their role now as they were in the 2020 State of Business Technology report.

The percentage of respondents using Helpdesk and ITSM automations doubled this year, from 21% to 44%. This is in-line with Workato’s 2021 W*rk Automation Index, which finds that the total volume of automated Helpdesk processes in use on the platform more than tripled from 2020.

This year, Business Technology teams are doubling down on implementing automations that delight and empower employees and customers.

For 92% of respondents experimenting with AI/ML at their organization, these initiatives are considered a priority.

71% of Business Technology teams say they’ve now implemented at least one Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning (AI/ML) solution for their organization.

Respondents see the greatest increase in collaboration with the Business Development and Customer Success teams. 78% of respondents say that they feel comfortable allowing business users to build their own automations, integrations, and systems processes, increasing collaboration and alignment across teams.

Most Business Technology professionals note an increase in collaboration across all teams this year.

Manager 39%

C-Suite 18%

Director 15%

Technology Architect 11%

Vice President 8%

Analyst 8%

Respondents from across all company sizes overwhelmingly report to the CIO or VP of IT of their organization (71%). Those that don’t report to their CIO or VP of IT are most likely to report to the CTO or VP of Engineering (8%) or the CFO or VP of Finance or Legal (5%) instead.

TOTAL

101—250 employees

251—500 employees

501—1000 employees

1001—2000 employees

MORE THAN 2000 employees

Total

101—250 employees

251—500 employees

501—1000 employees

1001—2000 employees

More than 2000 employees

65% of respondents say that they’re in charge of answering all IT questions for the organization (up from 32% last year), but that’s not all they do. BT professionals are also largely in charge of evaluating and rolling out applications across the company and implementing technical solutions for business teams suffering from pain points. Over half of respondents say that building automations is a part of their role.

What Does the Business Technology Role Entail?

Last year, respondents noted that their #1 responsibility was leading and building teams to support business processes, while this year it’s their #3. With so many people working remotely, the #1 responsibility is now supporting the entire organization by answering IT-related questions and tickets.

Despite it being a difficult year for businesses, 65% of BT teams received an increase to their budget, while only 13% of budgets decreased. This shows how much importance leadership is placing on BT during the mass transition to working from home.

Budgets for Business Technology Teams

BT teams are overwhelmingly seeing an increase in their budgets this year, and the focus of these increased funds goes beyond just “Keeping the Lights On.” COVID-19 and the mass shift to remote work is forcing companies to go digital, and larger organizations that may have been hesitant to abandon legacy processes now have no choice but to innovate. 35% of these large organizations now allocate over 50% of their budget for innovation expenses, showing how essential BT is in ushering work into a new era.

MORE THAN 2000 employees

1001—2000 employees

501—1000 employees

251—500 employees

101—250 employees

TOTAL

Total

101—250 employees

251—500 employees

501—1000 employees

1001—2000 employees

More than 2000 employees

Respondents are most likely (24%) to say that 70% of their budget goes to “Keeping the Lights On” (i.e. essential operating expenses) and 30% is allotted for innovation. The majority of respondents who say over half of their budget goes towards innovation come from larger companies, although 2% of respondents at emerging companies (100–250 employees) say 80% of their budget goes towards innovation.

A recent report by McKinsey, as well as reporting by Forbes and the New York Times, highlights the overwhelming need for companies to move onto the cloud due to the shift to remote work. 34% of organizations that McKinsey surveys note that they are experiencing increasing migration of assets to the cloud—and 27% see this as a change that will stick. McKinsey also finds that the move to the cloud, along with remote work in general, are the two COVID-19-fueled changes that are the most cost effective in comparison to pre-pandemic norms.

Enterprise automation platform Workato finds similar priorities for BT teams in the 2021 W*rk Automation Index. By analyzing data from its customer base before and after the start of COVID-19, the report shows that security and compliance automations grew by 171% and data pipeline automations by 152% year over year. Data is an invaluable tool when it comes to the effective operation of new technology fueling remote work. The W*rk Automation Index shows that many businesses are now strongly committed to data: automations supporting the connection of applications to move data in and out of data warehouses account for 29% of all automated processes within the IT department.

BT teams are investing their bigger budgets in cloud applications (44%) and cloud infrastructure (43%), along with cybersecurity (49%). Migrating to the cloud and developing a strong cybersecurity plan go hand-in-hand—with more and more information moving from on-premise storage to the cloud, it’s essential companies protect themselves. According to McKinsey, the increase of cloud application usage directly correlates with the shift to remote work—as does the need for more robust security measures. The global research and advisory firm Gartner predicts this major increase in adoption of cloud-based tools is just beginning. Henrique Cecci, senior research director at Gartner, confirms: “The economic, organizational, and societal impact of the pandemic will continue to serve as a catalyst for digital innovation and adoption of cloud services. This is especially true for use cases such as collaboration, remote work, and new digital services to support a hybrid workforce.” Gartner predicts that by 2026, public cloud spending will exceed 45% of all enterprise IT spending. This is an over 28% increase from where spending currently is.

Priority: Cloud Applications and Infrastructure for Hybrid Workforce Support

Job Titles of Respondents

Who Respondents Report to

Top Apps Managed by Business Technology Pros

Key Responsibilities of the Business Technology Role

Number of Apps Evaluated Per Quarter

Business Technology Budgets

Changes to Business Technology Budgets in 2021

Business Technology Budget Breakdown

Digital Initiatives Accelerated by COVID-19

Digital Initiatives with Increased Investment in 2021

Considering both the increase in the use of cloud applications, as well as the reality of what it takes to support a remote workforce, the focus on cybersecurity for BT teams in the last year doesn’t come as a surprise. Threats are more ubiquitous than ever: HP reports that between just February and April of 2020, there was a 238% increase in global cyberattack volume. From unsecured networks to the increased use of personal devices as work computers , there is no shortage of vulnerabilities for BT to keep top of mind when managing a remote workforce. HP confirms that IT leaders are increasing their focus on endpoint security, which they consider to be just as important as network security.

Priority: Cybersecurity

Many BT teams are also investing heavily in data-focused initiatives like data storage (38%) and analytics (36%). Many interactions across the business are now partially or 100% digital, so companies need to use customer data as an important performance indicator for sales and marketing tactics that previously took place in person. Data Analytics and BI investments also contribute to better customer data around product usage, engagement with Go To Market (GTM) activities, and Customer Support history. All of these data points are critical in pre-empting churn, identifying upsell opportunities, and understanding what’s working to bring in new leads. In order to bring actionable insights to teams like Support and GTM teams, BT is doubling down on data initiatives. That being said, GTM tools themselves and predictive analytics were the lowest-ranking investments for BT professionals. Only 15% of respondents say GTM tools is an area they’re investing in.

Priority: Data Analytics/BI

Business Technology’s Level of Comfort with Business Users Building Automations

78% of respondents are comfortable with allowing business users to work on their own automations, and Business Analysts, Business Operations, and Customer Success (CS) teams were the most likely to try their hands at automating. BT respondents say that 29% of both general CS teams, as well as those more specifically dedicated to operations, work on their own automations. This trend corresponds with an overall increase in collaboration with CS—35% of BT professionals say collaboration with CS increased this year, and CS-related automations have nearly doubled in popularity.

Percentage of Business Teams Building Their Own Automations

Top Automations Implemented by Business Technology

Last year’s State of Business Technology report finds that businesses were most likely to automate approval workflows and Quote to Cash, but 44% of current automations for this year’s respondents were focused on Helpdesk and ITSM. 37% of today’s automations help bridge the gap between CS and escalation to engineering. Businesses are working to provide exceptional service as customer interactions become completely digital, and are focusing their priorities around how to serve the greatest volume of Helpdesk tickets possible. Intercom finds that 73% of support leaders have an increased demand for quick, personalized support, but only 42% of those leaders are confident that they’re meeting their customers’ standards.

Have Organizations Implemented AI/ML?

Is AI/ML a Priority for the Organizations That Implement It?

Of the 71% who use AI/ML, 92% say that it is a priority for their team.

MORE THAN 2000 employees

1001—2000 employees

501—1000 employees

251—500 employees

101—250 employees

TOTAL

Level of Satisfaction with Work-Life Balance for Business Technology Pros

Total

101—250 employees

251—500 employees

501—1000 employees

1001—2000 employees

More than 2000 employees

Level of Satisfaction with Workload for Business Technology Pros

Do Business Technology Pros Use a Hybrid Work Model?

Change in Level of Collaboration Between Teams in 2021

With businesses aiming to prove the value of their product and keep customers potentially facing budget cuts at the onset of COVID-19 from churning, a strong collaboration with Customer Support (CS) was necessary. In line with the increase in CS-related automations, 35% of respondents note an increase of collaboration with CS teams in the last year, the highest increase in collaboration behind Business Development (46%). Over half of respondents across all company sizes collaborate with the Business Development (BD) team. Partner ecosystems can make or break businesses when new deals become more scarce, so the increased collaboration with BD could be an effort to streamline partner interactions.

Top Frustrations for Business Technology Pros

Overall, BT professionals are frustrated by the speed with which they can deliver to other Lines of Business (52%), as well as with their current integration and automation tools (43%).

Top Challenges for Business Technology Pros

The greatest challenges for BT teams are the time it takes to get things done using their current toolset (51%), and the fact they they are often stuck putting out fires rather than building systems (38%).

Top Data Management Responsibilities for Business Technology Teams

Teams That Have Increased Collaboration with Business Technology in 2021

Likeliness to Collaborate with Business Technology, by Team

Methodology

How Is COVID-19 Impacting Digital Initiatives?

Important Investments, According to Business Technology Teams

How Business Users Are Contributing to Automation Goals

Business Technology and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning

Work-Life Balance for Business Technology Professionals

Business Technology and Back to Office

Business Technology’s Biggest Collaborators

Frustrations + Challenges

How Is BT Working with Data?

Conclusion

Changes to Business Technology Budgets in 2021

Business Technology Budgets

Top Back-to-Office Initiatives for Business Technology

Top Automations Implemented by Business Technology

BT teams have been integral in supporting hybrid model infrastructure, and 79% of BT teams have helped implement solutions for returning back to the office. Nearly half of respondents have found ways to monitor how many people are coming in and out of the office, and 44% of respondents have automated equipment provisioning and determined ways to manage vaccination proof and verification.