22% of all IT spending by Australian organisations now from lines of business outside IT

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – Australian businesses will experience a new wave of disruption in 2015 as a combination of wearable technology, remote working, online services and business unit technology spending change traditional IT spending and strategies, according a new research from emerging technology analyst firm Telsyte.

More than half of all CIOs believe line of business IT spending will exceed central IT spending within 5 years.

Telsyte senior analyst Rodney Gedda says business units like operations, marketing and finance have always had a say in the type of IT they use, but in today’s climate of on-demand procurement it’s easier than ever work with – or by-pass – IT to get a service they need.

“Today’s operations and marketing managers rely on technology to deliver business outcomes and the CIO is no longer the source of all procurement decisions,” Gedda says.

The Telsyte Australian Digital Workplace Study 2015 covers trends in business ICT spending and strategy and how IT and business leaders are preparing for the impact of emerging technologies.

Australian IT departments are also having to deal with more business unit IT spending with 79 per cent of organisations having at least one line of business – including marketing, operations and finance – with its own IT budget.

“This is up 5 per cent from 2014 and shows a growing demand for IT services from areas of the business like marketing. Combine this with more accessible cloud-based applications and the CIO has another information management procurement channel to deal with,” Gedda says, adding the central IT function still controls on average greater than 70 per cent of the total spending value.

The appetite for investment in 2015 is strong with organisations looking to increase ICT budgets by an average of 5 per cent and more than half (57%) of CIOs expect in-house IT staff numbers to increase this year.

Areas organisations are looking to increase spending most in include cloud computing, mobility, software-as-service and cloud UC and telephony.

“While operational cost savings remains the top business priority for 2015, both revenue growth and business process improvement are a higher priority than they were in 2014,” Gedda says.

The proliferation of consumer technology, including wearable computers, will extend the reach of the bring your own device (BYOD) phenomenon and organisations will need to prepare for more unmanaged devices on their networks.

“Like smartphones before them, wearable computers like augmented reality headsets might have business applications and people will find ways to be productive with them at work.”

The Telsyte Australian Digital Workplace Study 2015 is a comprehensive 100-page study that covers the key trends and strategies CIOs are employing to manage information and deal with social and technological change.

For further information on the study or media inquiries contact:

Rodney Gedda
Senior Analyst
Tel: +612 9235 5891
Email: rgedda@telsyte.com.au

For sales and consulting inquiries contact:

Foad Fadaghi
Managing Director
Tel: +612 9235 5851
Email: ffadaghi@telsyte.com.au

About The Australian Digital Workplace Study 2015

The Australian Digital Workplace Study 2015 is derived from primary research of 424 Australian CIOs and other ICT decision makers in organisations with 20 to 20,000+ employees. The comprehensive study provides subscribers with strategic insights on:

• What are organisations spending ICT budgets on and how are they changing?
• Are organisations outsourcing more and what value do they get from outsourcing?
• Which line of business units are spending on IT and what are the key trends?
• What are the top ICT and business priorities and challenges?
• Business mobile and fixed line use and spending
• How are work practices changing, including the penetration of remote working and teleworking?
• How is activity-based working (ABW) changing the way we work?
• What are the key Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy and intentions?
• Is Bring You Own Apps (BYOA) the next BYOD?
• Is social media being used for business benefit?
• What is the future of the enterprise business desktop?

About Telsyte

Telsyte delivers strategic insights and advisory services to businesses that are producing, or are impacted by, disruptive technologies. Telsyte publishes studies into emerging consumer and business markets and provides custom research and advisory services. Telsyte is a wholly-owned independent business unit of UXC Limited. UXC is an ASX-listed Australian IT services company and the largest Australian-owned ICT consultancy firm with over 2,500 customer organisations in the private and public sectors across Australasia. www.telsyte.com.au

The material in this article is copyright protected and not intended to be altered, copied, distributed or used for any commercial/non commercial purpose, except for news reporting, comment, criticism, teaching or scholarship.