IT gets bigger budgets and more respect as a result of COVID-19

A survey of 153 IT decision makers across the UK and US finds that 43 percent of IT leaders feel more respected by their business counterparts since the start of the pandemic.

The research by digital transformation company Ensono also reveals that one in three have been given more scope to define IT spend and a third of organizations are looking to increase IT budgets.

More organizations are looking to digitally transform due to pressures from COVID-19. In fact, 56 percent of IT decision makers say they have witnessed a greater urgency for digital transformation. And almost a quarter of organizations surveyed have been forced to begin digitally transforming now.

The pandemic has helped improve understanding of IT according to 38 percent of respondents. 30 percent of IT decision makers now have more control over business decisions, compared to just four percent who state they have less control now. Only 10 percent feel the pandemic has not changed their relationship in any way with the business.

"As businesses have had to quickly adapt to the new working realities brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, IT departments too have had to adjust their priorities to keep pace with the speed of change created by COVID," says Paola Doebel, senior VP, managing director of North America at Ensono. "The IT department has been trusted to act fast and deliver so businesses can continue to move forward and safely address the needs of their team members and customers."

IT departments have been able to prove its value by keeping businesses running despite the major disruption the pandemic brought, both in terms of working from home due to social distancing and increases in digital service demand. One in four have faced no issues with downtime compared to just two percent having recorded between 24 and 48 hours of downtime. In addition 20 percent have found their scope of work has increased to include areas outside of IT.

Barney Taylor, managing director, Europe at Ensono says, "It's important that digital transformation happening now and into the future continues to deliver to the business. CIOs need to ensure they are not innovating in a vacuum and are taking the necessary steps to ensure they are delivering not only to the business and shareholders, but ultimately to their end users."

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