It’s time to free up IT leaders from ‘fixing’ to give them space to truly innovate.

2023 was the year of the ’overdue fix’. That’s according to Canon’s new research, which asked over 1,700 IT decision-makers (ITDMs) about their experiences from 2019 – 2023, along with their predictions for the next three years.

The IT Transformation Barometer revealed what it was really like to be an ITDM during the most turbulent 5 years in recent memory. While the height of Covid-19 might feel firmly in the past, the data shows that even last year, organisations were still focusing their procurement efforts on resolving ‘hangover’ issues from this time.

Encouragingly, many ITDMs predict by 2027 they will have greater opportunity to innovate in more exciting ways, adding new value through technologies such as automation and AI.

But reaching this point might be easier said than done. The data shows stressed ITDMs who get caught in a cycle of fixing overdue issues, are less likely to spend time on innovation that adds new value.

Everybody has strong memories of the disruption of the pandemic and so it’s no surprise to find this reflected in the data. At the peak of 2021, ITDMs said that budget cuts (51%) and resource issues (57%) were common.

Amid this disruption, ITDMs were scrambling to find ways simply to maintain business continuity; innovation was no longer a priority. Instead, IT leaders were forced to concentrate on immediate challenges. In fact, ITDMs reported a huge peak in everyday tactical problem solving, with 57% saying they spent a significant amount of time on maintaining hardware and 54% on resolving IT issues – far higher numbers than were seen both before and after this period.

Even though IT leaders were spending more time on strategy and planning, proportionately it was less important – no longer making their top three priorities – and innovation seems to have slowed accordingly. By 2023, 47% reported that outdated technology was holding their organisation back, putting pressure on IT leaders to make up for lost time.

When reflecting on 2023, we can see that the most pressing threats to business continuity are over. The amount of ITDMs who say it was challenging just to maintain hardware or resolve IT issues has more than halved.

It’s also positive to see that ITDMs have reported a spending more time on planning and strategy – rising from 32% to 44%However – likely because of the pause in innovation – the results suggest that most of this strategic planning was dedicated to fixing overdue issues or completing ongoing projects:

When asked about their procurement priorities, nearly 40% of IT leaders said they were prioritising reviewing and consolidating what they already had.

The specific projects they wanted to resolve, were not ‘new’: 98% of ITDMs said they were looking for ways to iron out issues with hybrid and remote working, with many saying they still didn’t have enough visibility or control over employee behaviour when they were outside the office.

Meanwhile, cloud migration was also listed as a high priority for 2023 (48% list it as a procurement focus). But for many, cloud migration might be less about adding new value, and more about concluding a long journey. After all, ITDMs recorded spending more and more time on cloud migration between 2019 and 2023. The fact that ITDMs predicted cloud migration would decrease in priority in the next three years, might indicate that some are bringing that period of transition to a close.

All in all, 2023 could be summarised as a year for housekeeping in terms of innovation.

What did ITDMs predict would increase in priority by 2027?

It’s interesting to see that the growth areas are more aspirational technologies including AI, automation and energy-efficient technology. Given the excitement about AI across all industries, it’s positive to see that even by 2023, it was already listed as the top priority; however, ITDMs predict it will become even more important by 2027. Energy-efficient technology is also predicted to increase in importance over time – reflecting the global focus on more sustainable technology solutions.

What does all this mean for organisations that want to progress with automation, AI and energy-efficient technology? It suggests that delaying investment in the everyday is not the answer. In fact, this may trap your IT teams into a cycle of innovating purely to fix overdue problems. Not only would that have the knock-on effect of curbing more aspirational innovation, but it would have a dramatic impact on the well-being of your IT leaders too.

Want to clear the way for IT leaders to focus on aspirational technologies that deliver additional value? It’s time to give them the budget and resource to stop a cycle of ‘fixing’ and start innovating for real.

Discover more insights from the IT Transformation Barometer report: from what makes IT leaders happiest at work? And why are they working harder than ever before?