TEKsystems’ Fifth Annual State of Digital Transformation Report Reveals New Drivers of Modernization for Today’s Tech Leaders

The report highlights the gap between digital leaders and laggards and an emphasis on AI, talent in 2024

HANOVER, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TEKsystems, a global provider of technology, business and talent solutions for more than 80% of the Fortune 500, today released its 2024 State of Digital Transformation Report. The report delves into the varied perspectives of IT decision-makers to showcase the widening gap between digital leaders and digital laggards, revealing which IT investments are driving digital transformation for today’s companies.

“The digital transformation priorities of today’s IT leaders have changed drastically due to the economic landscape, customer demands and the rapid pace of innovation,” said Ricardo Madan, senior vice president at TEKsystems and head of TEKsystems Global Services. “The findings reveal organizations are more optimistic about their IT investments this year and many are exploring new opportunities with AI and cloud-native technologies. IT leaders are prioritizing a migration from legacy technology more than any previous year, showcasing that the industry has recognized the importance of modernization at a large scale.”

TEKsystems’ fifth annual State of Digital Transformation Report explores themes around technology investments and IT talent while spotlighting the characteristics that set digital leaders apart from digital laggards, defining digital leaders as companies with a mature digital transformation plan and digital laggards as companies with tentative plans and limited digital transformation investments in place. The top findings include:

• 72% of digital leaders expect to increase spending in 2024 (compared to 50% of digital laggards), driven by upgrading legacy technology and investment in IaaS, SaaS, and cloud-native platforms.
• 34% of respondents say replacing or upgrading legacy tech is a top digital transformation goal, higher than in any previous year.
• AI and cybersecurity are the top critical skills for the next 12-24 months.
• 28% of North American respondents say a gap in technical talent is their biggest challenge, an increase from 22% in 2022.
• 1 in 3 organizations expect to spend $10 million or more per digital initiative on average in 2024.
• 75% of digital leaders are committed to ramping up AI-related business expenditures in 2024, with 45% of North American respondents planning to adopt AI and ML to improve business in the next 12-24 months (compared to only 31% last year).
• Over 50% of IT decision-makers are currently exploring AI use cases or piloting AI technologies.

“It’s clear digital leaders are seeing accelerated return on the investment from their IT investments compared to digital laggards because of the foundation they have built ready for cloud and AI; however, all IT decision-makers are struggling with the same challenge when it comes to acquiring trustable technology talent,” said Ramasamy Palaniappan, CTO at TEKsystems Global Services. “IT job growth has slowed and we see layoffs at tech-focused companies continuing, even as finding and keeping technical talent remains a top priority for today’s digital leaders. The findings reflect this talent skill gap, and it’s more clear than ever that digital transformation success is about people with right skills as much as it’s about technology.”

To learn more about the report, visit the TEKsystems website.

About the 2024 State of Digital Transformation Report.

TEKsystems conducted an online survey of 853 technology and business decision-makers in October 2023. Respondents included members of the C-suite, company executives, vice presidents, directors and managers who have final decision-making authority and/or influence on their organization’s digital transformation efforts. The sample includes a balance of decision-makers in enterprise IT and line-of-business functions in the United States, Canada, Australia, China, India, Singapore, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and the United Kingdom across a broad spectrum of industries.

Digital transformation refers to the process of using technology to create new business processes, culture and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements.

The report analyzed digital leaders versus digital laggards to uncover opportunities and achievement gaps. In this report, digital leaders are defined as companies with a mature digital transformation strategy where digital processes and mindsets are ingrained in the DNA of the organization. Digital laggards are defined as companies with tentative plans and limited digital transformation initiatives and investments in place.

About TEKsystems and TEKsystems Global Services.

We’re TEKsystems. We accelerate business transformation for our customers. We bring real-world expertise to solve complex technology, business and talent challenges—across the globe. We're a team of 80,000 strong, working with over 6,000 customers, including 80% of the Fortune 500 across North America, Europe and Asia, who partner with us for our scale, full-stack capabilities and speed. We’re strategic thinkers, hands-on collaborators, helping customers capitalize on change. We’re building tomorrow by delivering business outcomes and driving positive impacts in our global communities. TEKsystems is an Allegis Group company. Learn more at TEKsystems.com.