Posted:

19 Jan 2021

Top enterprise tech trends to look out for in 2021

B2B Tech Tuesday is our regular check-in here at Spreckley, where we share all the most interesting and useful B2B and enterprise technology news, innovations and trends.

This week, we look at the Forbes’ latest predictions for the top enterprise technology trends to look out for in 2021. Additionally, we consider a new report that looks at how the Covid-19 pandemic has increased businesses’ appreciation of technology. Finally, some new research claims that IT professionals are no longer the primary decision-makers for B2B tech purchasing, with finance, biz dev, sales and marketing increasingly calling the shots it seems.

 

Top enterprise tech trends for 2021

Forbes eases us into 2021, with an interesting predictions piece, looking at the Top Enterprise Tech Trends to watch out for over the next year. The writers put forward the argument that,

“while Covid-19 certainly reminded everyone of the sudden, large-scale impact of the unexpected, its second-order effects have also served as accelerants for many ongoing evolutions in technology and business that had already been underway for years.”

To recap, the three longer-term enterprise tech trends that are identified are as follows:

  • Robust and holistic data-operations management is no longer a mere nice-to-have.
  • With in-house software developers in the spotlight, strategic enterprises are ramping up security and productivity.
  • Automation is empowering enterprises to set a new bar for high-touch customer experiences.

You can check out the full piece right here for further details on each of the above.

 

Covid-19 has increased businesses’ appreciation of tech

Elsewhere, Verdict offers an interesting report on the ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic has increased businesses’ appreciation of technology.

Based on GlobalData’s Emerging Technology Sentiment Analysis Q4 2020, the report notes that one

“particular beneficiary has been cybersecurity, with 57% of respondents to our poll stating that their attitude towards cybersecurity had become more positive in 2020.

“This is unsurprising. Cyber protection agencies around the world reported increases in cyberattacks in 2020. With more operations than ever being conducted remotely, the importance of cybersecurity has increased.

“Positive sentiment towards cloud computing, another widely used technology, has also increased. Like cybersecurity, cloud computing increased in prominence last year due to the enforced shift to home working. As demand for cloud services increased, so did sentiment towards the technology for more than half of our respondents.

“The increase in positive sentiment extends to less mature technologies, such as augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), and even 5G, all of which were viewed more positively at the end of the year than at the start by more than half of those surveyed.”

“Looking into the future, AI is perceived as having the most disruptive potential. Almost 50% of our poll respondents expect AI to significantly disrupt their industries, the most of any emerging technology. As high-performance computing enables more data points to be processed faster, AI’s disruptive force will become increasingly evident.”

 

IT pros no longer primary B2B tech buyers

Finally this week, it’s becoming increasingly clear that IT professionals are no longer the primary decision makers for B2B technology buying, as Netimperative reports.

“Instead finance, business development and sales and marketing calling the shots, according to new research by LinkedIn… IT is the most influential voice in only a third (39%) of technology buying decisions, down from 75% in 2014. Meanwhile, over half of tech decision-makers (56%) now sit outside the IT department, in roles such as sales and marketing, business development, and finance.

“The LinkedIn B2B Technology Buying Survey, now in its seventh year, surveyed over 2,000 technology decision-makers across EMEA about their involvement in purchasing tech hardware and software, and their plans for the next 12 months. It found that budgets are holding up for many organisations, despite the impact of Covid-19, with nearly half (43%) of respondents saying their budget will stay the same or increase. This compares to 47% who said their budget will decrease or halt altogether in the next 12 months.

“What our research shows is that technology buyers are frequently not who you might expect, and, in most cases, are anonymous to brands because they will never hear from them directly. As a result, it is vital to ensure that these individuals have all the information that they need during these ‘invisible stages’ of the buying process.”

For further details, you can check out the LinkedIn Technology Buyers Survey Report here.