5 IT spend trends to watch

Emerging technology spend will give way to cloud and productivity software, according to Spiceworks Ziff Davis 2021 State of IT report. Enterprise technology felt the jolt of COVID-19, bringing priority tasks to the top and accelerating trends underway prior to disruption. The pivot to remote work and the financial pressures in the pandemic made value the keyword for enterprise technology, altering how executives gauge return on investment. After crisis mode subsided, shrinking budgets needed to stretch further. Tech spend is "so important for business continuity and business operations that they've become a mission-critical part of the budget" even in the context of future financial downturns, said Robin Peto, director of research strategy at Spiceworks Ziff Davis.