While generative AI technology has garnered headlines and spawned new versions of many popular technologies—including intelligent automation platforms—it is not yet significantly impacting global IT spend, according to a Gartner report.
The Stamford, Conn.-based consultancy forecasts that worldwide IT spending will grow 4.3 percent in 2023 to $4.7 trillion, led by automation technologies that will help them overcome a widening talent gap. CIO’s polled in the Gartner survey who said they are losing the competition for IT talent are spending on technologies that will enable them to remain productive.
“Digital business transformations are beginning to morph,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished vice president analyst at Gartner. “IT projects are shifting from a focus on external facing deliverables such as revenue and customer experience, to more inward facing efforts focused on optimization.”
While generative AI hasn’t made a splash yet, Gartner predicts the technology will increasingly be added to software that’s already available. That trend has already begun in the intelligent automation space. Several companies have already announced new versions augmented by generative AI, and more will continue to do so.
“Generative AI’s best channel to market is through the software, hardware and services that organizations are already using,” said Lovelock. “Every year, new features are added to tech products and services as add-ons or upgrades. Most enterprises will incorporate generative AI in a slow and controlled manner through upgrades to tools that are already built into IT budgets.”