The findings are based on the views of nearly 1,250 organisations in the UK and Ireland, across 23 industries including finance, retail, manufacturing, education and healthcare. They reveal the technologies businesses are prioritising over the next 12 months as they recover from the impact of Covid-19.
Digital workspace solutions were found to be prioritised above all other technology areas, signalling a shift in digital strategies and work-style dynamics within the hybrid workplace.
The majority (69 per cent) of organisations surveyed said digital workspace solutions will be important within the coming year. Devices was the most cited digital workspace solution in 2021, selected by 48 per cent of respondents, helping to manage distributed workforces.
Following this, cybersecurity was the second most cited tech investment area for the next year (57 per cent of organisations).
Recent evidence from the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021 suggests that the security risk could be higher than ever under Covid-19, with remote working encouraging e-criminals to develop new techniques such as extortion campaigns leveraging phishing and network vulnerabilities.
Hybrid infrastructure, comprising data centre and cloud, public cloud and managed infrastructure was the third most important technology investment area with 40 per cent of organisations citing it as an IT focus in 2021/22.
Global enterprising spending on cloud is at an all-time high as a result of the pandemic, which saw many organisations accelerate deployment of cloud technologies while migrating away from their own data centres in pursuit of cost savings, productivity and business agility gains.
Some organisations also cited sustainability as a focus for the first time (ten per cent of respondents).
“Over the past 18 months or so, many businesses have been heavily challenged; working hard to limit the impact on business-as-usual or respond to unprecedented surges and pivots in demand,” said Richard Wyn Griffith, managing director of Softcat.
“People, empowered by technology, have made navigating this uncertain and disruptive period possible. And this will only continue as we learn to live and thrive with new ways of working.”