Non-IT leaders to build most of tech products by 2024, says report

A new category of buyers outside of the traditional IT enterprise are occupying a larger share of the overall IT market and by 2024, 80 per cent of technology products and services will be built by those who are not technology professionals, a Gartner report said on Monday.

Currently, the total business-led IT spend averages up to 36 per cent of the total formal IT budget.

Gartner anticipates that in 2023, $30 billion in revenue will be generated by products and services that did not exist pre-pandemic.

"Digital business is treated as a team sport by CEOs and no longer the sole domain of the IT department," said Rajesh Kandaswamy, distinguished research vice president at Gartner.

"Growth in digital data, low-code development tools and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted development are among the many factors that enable the democratization of technology development beyond IT professionals," he said in a statement.

Technology encroachment into all areas of business and among consumers creates demand for products and services outside of IT departments.

This has been compounded by the Covid-19 crisis, which has only expanded the amount and type of use cases technology is needed to fulfill.

The rapid expansion of cloud services, digital business initiatives and remote services has opened the door for new possibilities in integrations and optimization.

Covid-19 has also reduced barriers for those outside of IT to create technology-based solutions by providing an entry point for anyone who was able to serve pandemic-induced needs.

These entrants include non-technology professions within enterprises -- or "business technologists" -- citizen developers, data scientists and AI systems that generate software.

Technology providers are now finding themselves increasingly entering markets related to, or in competition with, non-technology providers, including innovative firms in financial services and retail.

"The latter is creating IT-driven solutions more frequently and with more ambition as more enterprises continue their digital transformation efforts," the report mentioned.

Gartner expects high-profile announcements of technology launches from nontech companies to proliferate over the next 12 months.

--IANS

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