Looking ahead to the remainder of 2024, the economic outlook for Australia and New Zealand is subdued. Both countries face similar economic challenges, including high inflation, slowing growth, and rising interest rates from mid-2023 onwards. Against this complex backdrop, Forrester predicts that technology spending in Australia will grow slightly (+4.0%) in 2024. And despite geographical proximity, cultural ties, and close economic ties, business and technology professionals in Australia and New Zealand have very different priorities as their organizations seek to return to sustainable growth. This creates a range of challenges and opportunities for both the business and technology sectors in both countries, including:
Business priorities and challenges. Australian business and technology professionals may have a more optimistic view of the economy, but they are equally focused on improving customer and business partner experiences. In New Zealand, they are looking to balance short-term tactical opportunities with planning for longer-term outcomes by prioritizing brand improvements and reducing enterprise risk. However, the return to growth is not without challenges. In both countries, lack of effective measurement of outcomes, resistance to technology adoption, and lack of resources have all been major obstacles. These challenges highlight the need for more robust strategic planning, partnerships, and judicious use of automation. IT priorities and actions. In a constantly changing technology environment, Australian and New Zealand leaders are focused on prioritizing reliability and resilience. Amid this dynamic, infrastructure modernization has emerged as a key element. Infrastructure modernization not only maintains continuous operations but also improves stakeholder experiences. This is becoming increasingly important as technology expectations rise among internal and external customers. But the challenging socio-economic conditions of the first few years post-pandemic have created additional hurdles. These include growing resource limitations, communication breakdowns and security issues; the latter exacerbated by failures such as the Optus and Mediaworks data breaches. The key to addressing these seemingly insurmountable problems lies in a renewed focus on improving business and technology alignment across an organisation’s strategy, operations and leadership. Investing in technology. Artificial intelligence and other key emerging technologies continue to transform the way businesses operate. In response, business and technology professionals in Australia and New Zealand remain committed to increasing investment in these new technologies. A strategic priority in exploring new growth opportunities on both sides of the Tasman Sea is the application of AI to IT operations and software development processes. However, these new areas are not without concerns. Public failures such as Australia’s Robodebt scandal have curbed local enthusiasm as companies grapple with the complex landscape of information security and data privacy. Given the growing threat of cybersecurity, it is reassuring to see significant investment in security and risk management due to take place in the coming year.
To address these complexities, CIOs of Australian and New Zealand organisations need to ensure effective resource management, comprehensive security measures, improved communication channels and align IT initiatives with strategic objectives. Forrester’s High Performance IT Framework helps drive continuous and better alignment across three dimensions: strategy, operations and leadership.
For more insights and recommendations, Forrester clients can read the full report here or engage with Forrester analysts to discuss how these findings can inform their organization’s strategic planning for the next 12 months.
