Understanding Shifting Technology Acquisition Patterns

How much control of tech spending has shifted away from the CIO and moved into the hands of line-of-business managers is a hot — and hotly debated — question among CIOs and vendors. In this report, we provide a framework for answering that question. Applying that framework against our detailed breakdown of the new technology purchases in the US from 2009 to 2015, we estimate that just 7.2% of total US spending on new technologies in 2015 will be executed by business units without CIO involvement — a share that, based on trends, is not likely to rise dramatically. Another 10% will be new technology spending that starts with the business but then involves the CIO's department for implementation and management. The largest share — more than a third — will be projects where the CIO's team and business jointly handle all the stages of the tech-buying process. The remainder — a share shrinking from almost 55% in 2009 to less than 47% by 2015 — consists of a combination of "classic IT" new projects that the CIO's department initiates with business involvement and then implements and manages, or technology-specific purchases where the CIO's department manages all phases.