CIOs are Prepared for Likely Disruptive Scenarios in 2022, But Face Challenges with Skills Shortages and Enterprise Analytics

Technology leaders are prepared to address the transition to virtual work and as-a-service deployment in 2022 – two of the most likely disruptive scenarios, according to new Technology Key Issues research from The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT). However, according to the research, they lack confidence in their ability to deal with several other issues, including persistent skill shortages and the ability to develop more mature enterprise analytics capabilities that can drive business value.

The research also found that technology leaders expect to see unusually high increases in budgets and staffing in 2022. Additionally, according to the research, for the first time in five years, the rise in technology workload will be nearly matched by increases in the function’s staffing, operating budget and enterprise technology spending.

The full research, “The Technology Function Agenda: 2022 Key Issues,” is available from The Hackett Group on a complimentary basis, with registration, at this link: https://www.thehackettgroup.com/2022-technology-key-issues-2201/. Key findings from the research include:

CIOs are Well Prepared for Two of 2022’s Most Likely Disruptive Scenarios – Technology executives cited the transition to virtual working and the as-a-service deployment model as the mostly likely disruptors to their operations. But the study found that most are actively executing plans to deal with both of these issues and companies are likely to normalize these models in 2022. Cloud-based infrastructure is a chief enabler and is expected to see a 30% growth rate in volume of infrastructure deployed in 2022, according to the research. Self-service automation is another key technology, but to be fully effective companies must cultivate design thinking and other customer-centric skills. At the same time, our research noted that it will take more than technology to enable these models. It will require changes in how people lead teams, instill and maintain culture, and how they incent and reward collaboration and innovation.

Tech Leaders are Less Well Prepared to Deal with Persistent Skills Shortages, Another Likely Disruptor – According to the research, updating technology’s talent profile and closing skills gaps is a much more problematic challenge. Only 20% of survey respondents are acting now to resolve this long-festering problem, which has been worsened over the past two years by the Great Resignation. Talent profiles and skills sets must be rapidly modernized if technology organizations hope to shift from a tactical, transactional approach to a more strategic, service-oriented and customer-facing orientation.