Workato — Connect your apps. Automate your work. | Workato

Executive Summary

Budget

Business Technology teams have more budget than last year, but less room for experimentation and innovation.
Increasing Efficiency

The majority of Business Technology leaders think automation is the answer to maximizing efficiency in an uncertain economy.
SAAS Spend

57% of Business Technology leaders are being pressured by leadership to reduce SaaS spend. BT leaders don’t agree on a singular approach to meet this pressure.
Artificial Intelligence

AI is a priority for companies right now—92% of respondents said AI is a priority for them, and 75% have already implemented AI/ML (Machine Learning) solutions.
Hiring

The top skills leaders are looking for in Business Technology candidates are Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) knowledge (36%), software development skills (34%), and cybersecurity expertise (30%).
Investments

In 2021, Business Technology teams were concentrating on their cybersecurity programs, and this year is no different with 45% of leaders selecting this as an area where they are investing more than ever before.

BT: A strategic partner and expert innovator

Over the last decade—and especially since Covid-19—the way we work has changed dramatically, creating a need for an evolved sector of Information Technology (IT). Long gone are the days where IT teams were solely responsible for equipment provisioning and working through a queue of support tickets. The need for automation experts, cybercrime investigators, AI modelers, and true business partners has created a new arm of IT: Business Technology (BT).

BT teams are on the forefront of digital transformation. Their responsibilities extend far outside the traditional scope of IT to include partnering with teams across the organization to improve business processes; integrating the ever-growing ecosystem of the applications that power modern work; automating business processes to increase efficiency; and protecting their company’s network and data.

While the last few years have been anything but predictable, those working in Business Technology have iterated beyond the status quo, developing new ways to support a distributed workforce. Last year’s State of Business Technology report focused on how BT teams were enabling remote and hybrid work through creative solutions, but this year is focused on how they’re trimming the fat.

Widespread economic uncertainty has led to layoffs across all industries, mass budget cuts, and executives putting pressure on their team leaders to increase efficiency through any means possible. While this survey shows a favorable increase in budgets for most BT teams (a sign that company leadership acknowledges the new, expanded role BT encompasses), they are also being asked to cut SaaS (software-as-a-service) costs, produce more, and enable the business to run at maximum efficiency.

But Business Technology leaders are resilient. We are seeing an increase in the strategic value they’re providing to their organizations, and this moment of uncertainty will undoubtedly result in creative solutions to the challenging circumstances.

Methodology

This year’s State of Business Technology survey was conducted as a continuation of the 2020 and 2021 State of Business Technology reports, which were dedicated to exploring themes central to the BT industry. This year’s report presents new findings, unique to the current moment, as well as changing responses to previously.

How was the research conducted?

This year, Systematic+, a professional development community for BT professionals powered by Workato, 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 519 respondents varied in seniority, from Analysts to C-Suite Executives.

Business Technology teams today

Reporting Structure

Respondents from across all company sizes overwhelmingly report to the CIO or VP of IT of their organization (65%). Those that don’t report to their CIO or VP of IT are most likely to report to the CTO or VP of Engineering (15%) or the CFO or VP of Finance or Legal (8%) instead.

What Apps Respondents Manage

46% of respondents manage a CRM like Salesforce, and over half manage collaboration apps such as Slack, Teams, Gmail, and Outlook. In addition to these apps, 45% of respondents say they manage an ERP like Netsuite, SAP, Oracle, or Workday Financials.

From last year, there is a noticeable rise in respondents managing procurement and RPA.

What Does the Business Technology Role Entail?

62% of respondents are in charge of developing a long-term BT strategy that aligns with larger company initiatives, a sign of BT’s growing focus on partnering with other lines of business to drive value. Other important job responsibilities include planning and executing the backlog of IT projects across the organization and building, leading, and mentoring a team. In comparison from last year, these responsibilities focus more on strategy, collaboration, and mentorship.

Business Technology Budgets

In 2022, 80% of IT and BT teams saw an increase in their budget, with nearly a third reporting that it significantly increased. While in previous years this may have given teams more wiggle room to put money towards implementing innovative software and process improvements, this year, a larger percentage of teams’ overall budgets are going towards essential operating expenses. As economic growth has slowed, businesses are now tightening their belts and looking to optimize for efficiency.

Last year, the majority of respondents were able to put 30% of their total budget towards innovative new projects as they worked to solve the unique set of problems that arose in 2020 due to Covid-19. Innovation expenses are down 10% this year, with a majority of leaders saying that they can only put 20% of their budget towards innovation. 16% of respondents aren’t able to put any of their funds towards this category, a 9% increase from last year.

This is something that Gregory Paris, Director of Business Technology at People.ai, has seen himself and in conversations with other BT leaders. “When the economy softens, people have less of an appetite for riskier investments, and some innovative software or cutting-edge projects tend to become a lower priority.”

expectations-for-business-technology-teams

Even though budgets are mostly increasing for BT teams, so are expectations on work output. 39% reported that they are expected to get more done with fewer resources.

Ultimately, budgets are rising for BT teams, but there is less room for experimentation and innovation, and expectations for output are higher than ever.

Where Business Technology Teams

The great cybersecurity debate

In 2021, BT teams were concentrating on their cybersecurity programs, and this year is no different with 45% of leaders selecting this as an area where they are investing more than ever before. This focus on protecting the fort is right in line with the overwhelming increase in cyberattacks over the last year. The importance of making sure that your company avoids a security breach is one thing respondents of all levels of seniority seem to agree is a top priority.

It’s no surprise that Gartner also predicts that spending in the information security and risk management market will grow 12.2% in 2022. But is the emphasis on cybersecurity just a reaction to the market? Former CIO of both Visa and Okta, Mark Settle, is cognizant of the growing market for tools in the industry: “There’s an explosion of vendors in that space, a real explosion. So maybe the buyers are just reacting to the smorgasbord of opportunities.”

And as research done by cybersecurity company Gurucul found, spending on new tools doesn’t always solve your problems. In a survey of nearly 200 attendees of the June 2022 RSA conference, over 70% of organizations reported feeling that they have wasted budget trying (and failing) to remediate threats, “despite having an overabundance of tools at their disposal.” As BT teams continue fighting cyberattacks, it’ll be important to keep the possibility of over-tooling top of mind.

"There's an explosion of vendors in that space, a real explosion. So maybe the buyers are just reacting to the smorgasbord of opportunities."

Mark Settle

CIO and Author

2022-business-technology-team-investments

What else are people investing in?

Aside from cybersecurity, BT teams are investing in many of the same things as they were last year. Top focus areas also include cloud applications (38%) and data analytics (36%). In many ways, the top three investment areas run hand-in-hand, propelling one another forward. Cloud applications give access to new data to parse through, and secure networks are needed to support both the application and the data—especially if there is sensitive information involved.

Data drives the foundation of SaaS companies,” says Stephanie Dwight, Senior Director of Automation and Applications at Workato. “Data has to be secure because we are storing highly confidential financial statements or customer and employee data, and if at any time any of that is compromised, it really hits the reputation of the company.”

Outside of these three focus areas, there was an increased focus for teams on AI/ML technology as well as API integrations. Last year, 21% of respondents indicated their BT team invested in AI and ML, and that number is up 9% this year which reinforces the overall sentiment regarding the importance of AI seen in this year’s survey.

With the continued ubiquity of cloud applications, API integrations will continue to be critical to bringing applications into conversation with one another. The average enterprise uses 1,295 cloud services, and keeping them separate is a lost opportunity for increased efficiency through automation, increased data insights, and more.

Increasing Efficiency in a Time of Economic Uncertainty

Efficiency is top of mind for BT teams right now as we move into an era of economic uncertainty. So what are leaders leveraging to get their teams operating at max capacity? Automation.

The number one thing leaders are doing to increase efficiency is automating tedious work like helpdesk, approval workflows, and automation and integration management. With 58% of leaders focusing on using automation to drive efficiency, this year saw an uptick in how many companies have automated more complex processes like quote-to-cash (19% to 24%) and procure-to-pay (25% to 30%). Automating highly cross-functional end-to-end processes like these requires the whole organization to buy-in to the project, and while they can be time-consuming to implement, improvements in these areas are ripe for increasing efficiency.

In addition to leveraging automation, 51% of respondents are onboarding new technology to alleviate the pain of time-consuming problems despite the overall trends this survey found in application consolidation and reducing spend on SaaS. Even if leaders know that they need to cut back on their tech stack, a best-of-breed application ecosystem allows most problems to be solved with a unique tool. Keeping that balance between problem solving and avoiding application redundancies will continue to be a balancing act for BT leaders.

44% are auditing the business’s current processes to identify areas where they can improve the flow. Partnering with teams outside of IT is more critical than ever to increasing efficiency and pursuing operational excellence. By working with others to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, IT can turbocharge its impact on the business.

speed-of-digital-initiatives-due-to-current-economic-conditions

With all of the pressure on BT teams to perform right now, however, only 18% of leaders are not accepting new projects at this time. 78% of teams report that their digital initiatives are even accelerating, a continued trend from last year. “I used to say ‘no’ a lot,” says Carter Busse, Workato’s CIO. “Tech leaders are known for saying ‘no.’ But when I turned those no’s into asking better strategic questions, that’s when things changed for the better for me.”

SaaS Management Will Only Get More Intense

Today, businesses are reckoning with SaaS bloat: a phenomenon in which too-quick adoption of new cloud-based tools has left companies with redundancies and unused licenses in their tech stack. They are overspending and unsure of how to better manage the ecosystem of best-of-breed applications they’ve procured.

Gartner predicts that “by 2023, organizations will overspend $750 million dollars on unused features of IT software.” Business Technology teams are doing everything they can to prove Gartner wrong going into 2023.

are-leaders-being-pressured-to-reduce-saas-spend

Over half of survey respondents are currently being pressured to reduce SaaS spend and avoid spending money on unnecessary software, even as 51% report evaluating more than 6 applications per quarter. Leaders are solving for this in a variety of ways: They’re consolidating application usage (40%), requesting usage-based pricing from vendors (37%), and implementing vendor management systems (56%).

Paris, People.ai’s Director of Business Technology, has developed a new rationalization process that he coaches business teams through not only when they want to procure new applications, but also at yearly renewals to test previous SaaS purchases that were bought during a time where spending was less tight.

“It’s been a very intense, very cross-functional initiative that I feel like Business Technology really needs to drive,” says Paris. But for him, the exploration has been well worth it: “BT can bring a lot of value to this process—not just by leading it, managing it, and making sure it happens—but by really coaching the business on how it thinks about spend and attributing value. We’ve done some creative brainstorming with the business to help them through that process and recognize that.”

72% of leaders are trying to find the balance between solving immediate needs with new technology and considering the long-term strategy for the company’s tech stack. But just because something was procured in a pinch doesn’t mean that it can’t be challenged down the road. Post-procurement rationalization exercises are another great way BT leaders like Paris are cutting spend.

how-business-technology-teams-approach-their-tech-stack-strategy

When it comes to consolidating application usage, something 40% of leaders report doing, the main problem lies in the lack of awareness around all of the applications a business is running. Research by Productiv shows that up to 43% of apps may be procured, provisioned, and run by shadow IT, the moniker for lines of business that avoid working with IT to procure new apps. With the proliferation of cloud-based software, it’s easier than ever for teams to buy software with a credit card, set it up themselves, and run it every day without the support of the IT team.

Vendor Management Systems Exceed Expectations

Last year, 78% of respondents stated that they were comfortable allowing business users to build their own automations, integrations, and systems processes. Extending that one step further to promote a culture where lines of business are empowered to research, implement, and manage their own software doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but this is where technology like a vendor management system (VMS) comes into play. VMS software has changed the game for business technology leaders who previously had no way to deal with shadow IT and the growing number of one-off apps purchased by lines of business. Now, BT leaders’ perspectives on vendor management have begun to shift.

Dwight, from Workato, compares VMS software to an HRIS: “When you think about an HRIS, it tracks your employees, their movement, and the kind of training they need to take, dotting all the I’s and making sure people get paid. It’s the same concept when it comes to our vendors: We have to do the same thing, making sure they are secure, that contracts are up to date, that we have a policy in place and can track everything. Having a VMS is critical for this.”

does-your-business-technology-team-use-a-vendor-management-system

ways-vendor-management-systems-are-helping-business-technology-teams

And Dwight isn’t the only leader relying on a VMS to keep track of the complexity of managing hundreds of applications. 80% of respondents have implemented one at their organization and are seeing tremendous value. Leaders report that implementing a VMS has improved their vendor onboarding process (54%), supported in maintaining compliance (52%), and provided timely contract renewals (50%). The benefits and insights are so powerful that for 41% of respondents, they’ve even been able to save money, and 73% say that their VMS exceeds or greatly exceeds their expectations.

"The benefits and insights provided by a VMS are so powerful that for 41% of respondents, they’ve been able to save money, and 73% say that their VMS exceeds or greatly exceeds their expectations."

satisfaction-levels-with-current-vendor-management-systems

While vendor management systems are bringing more applications into view for BT teams, results from the survey don’t suggest that IT needs to be managing the apps themselves—just that they need to know about them. Only 39% of respondents view central management as a solution to their growing SaaS problems, but 69% of leaders surveyed are trying to consolidate their tech stack or implement policies that encourage better application hygiene. In order to consolidate, there needs to be a source of truth of what the company is running.

AI is the Future but not a Priority for Some Large Companies

Across the board, AI is a priority for companies right now—92% of respondents agree with this sentiment, and 75% have already implemented AI/ML solutions. The majority of companies using this kind of technology have implemented a mix of solutions that are built in-house and leveraged via a third-party platform (37%).

business-technology-teams-building-their-own-ai-models

For companies who have yet to take the plunge, 41% don’t see the need, 31% don’t have the budget, and 34% don’t have folks on their team with the right skillset to manage it.

And having someone who knows what they are doing is pretty important when it comes to truly unlocking the power of these tools. “It can be really risky to just find an enthusiast who knows nothing about the technology who says ‘I volunteer…you buy the tool, boss, and I’ll make it work!’” cautions Settle. “You need somebody with some experience or knowledge of the tool itself.”

top-reasons-companies-arent-implementing-ai-ml

At larger companies of over 2,000 people, 44% said they didn’t have a need for AI—this could potentially show an infrastructure so dependent on legacy systems that reconfiguring current processes to adopt this new technology is costly, difficult, or not worth it to the CIO. As McKinsey found, AI runs more efficiently on the cloud. For companies who are moving more slowly from their on-prem tools, AI may be a future investment.

At the end of the day, though, a world powered by AI isn’t that far-fetched: “Not too far in the future, we’re not going to talk about AI and ML as things in and of themselves—all business systems and technology are going to be based on that core foundation,” predicts Paris. “So right now, everybody makes a big distinction about it, but there’s a transformation of all kinds of business technologies to leverage those frameworks.”

"We're not going to talk about AI and ML as things in and of themselves. Right now, everybody makes a distinction, but there’s a transformation of all kinds of business tech to leverage those frameworks."

Gregory Paris

Director of Business Technology at People.ai

Hiring a Dream Business Technology Team

most-desired-skills-for-business-professionals

For Business Technology leaders building a team, the skills they look for in candidates are Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) knowledge (36%), software development skills (34%), and cybersecurity expertise (30%).

In line with the increased year-over-year investment in cybersecurity, it’s not surprising that it is one of the top skills hiring managers are looking for. As far as ITIL knowledge and software development skills, they’re essential for anyone looking to hire on their team. “If you are applying for a role on my BT team and I am going to bring you in for a conversation, it is a no-brainer that you have the experience from a technical standpoint,” says Dwight.

But what is really important to Dwight is an ability for business technology professionals to work closely with other teams. An ideal addition to the team must be able to “technically articulate a business problem and speak in that manner with our business customer, then come back and understand how to solve that problem with tech.” When auditing business problems and looking for technical solutions—the priority for Business Technology units—this skill is everything.

For companies in the 250–500 employee range, “soft skills” are the number one thing BT leaders look for in a candidate, followed by ITIL and cybersecurity knowledge. And while this set of abilities is often referred to as “soft,” they’re anything but. Skills like communication, collaboration, and time management are critical to success not only on an IT team, but in any modern workplace.

“Unfortunately, people in technology have struggled to appreciate and understand the importance of communication, collaboration, project management…these are things the most successful people in the world have mastered. They’re table stakes,” says Paris.

So what skills are at the bottom of the list for BT leaders? GTM tools. Only 18% of respondents look for that expertise when hiring. With the democratization of automation and the growing prevalence of low-code/no-code tools, this isn’t too surprising: Enterprise automation platform Workato found that 70% of automations built in sales and marketing are done so by the teams themselves, not by IT.

Despite an emphasis on hiring candidates with traditional IT skills, the labor market is tight right now. Focusing more on candidates’ potential and their openness to learn can not only help fill roles with eager talent but can also contribute to a more inclusive culture and higher performing teams.

"When auditing business problems and looking for technical solutions—the priority for Business Technology units—collaboration skills are everything."

What's Next for Business Technology?

There is no shortage of challenges facing today’s Business Technology leaders, but these tests only push the field forward and expand the ever-evolving role of those working on the digital frontlines. From adopting revolutionary new technology to empowering everyone across the business to take their tech stack into their own hands, Business Technology teams act as true partners and innovators for their organizations.

And while this rapidly developing industry provides ample opportunity for BT leaders to grow in their careers and create a foundation for the future, they don’t have to do it alone. The Systematic+ community provides a space for BT professionals to learn, problem solve, network, and even find their next role.

Founded in 2018 as a community for those working in Business Technology, Systematic+ has grown to over 5,000 members across the world, all working towards the same thing: Enabling the business through technology. Between monthly virtual and in-person meetups, a private online forum, and a yearly conference featuring members from the community, Systematic+ is an incubator for innovation in the Business Technology space.

“There are a lot of other folks out there who are doing what we’re doing, who have the same struggles, and who have solved problems that in some cases we haven't solved yet,” Adam Cole, Vice President of Business Technology at Tango Card, says of the community. “It’s really fantastic, and provides a lot of learning.”

State of Business Technology 2022