The technology landscape is set to undergo significant transformation in 2024, driven by a variety of factors that will impact your current and future customers’ technology investments.
For organizations like yours, it’s critical to stay ahead of these rapidly evolving macro trends to:
- Understand the evolving challenges and priorities of your customers, from cybersecurity and risk management to IT automation and beyond.
- Align your marketing and sales efforts with these changing dynamics, addressing key pain points and demonstrating how your solutions can solve these emerging problems.
- Develop and promote content that reflects the latest tech trends, ensuring that your messaging resonates with your audience and reflects what’s top-of-mind for buyers.
- Assess market demand for your products or services in light of these evolving trends, to ensure your strategy stays relevant.
To gain deeper insights into these shifts, MarketingVogue and Enterprise Strategy Group conducted a comprehensive study on media consumption in 2024. The findings highlighted key disruptors, ranging from cybersecurity risks like internal threat actors and Ransomware as a Service (RaaS), to growing concerns around IT skills shortages, expanding cloud adoption, hybrid workforce needs, and overall business growth.
Let’s dive into the top five technology investment drivers and disruptors that are set to shape buyers’ tech investments in 2024:
1. Cybersecurity and Risk Management
As cyberattacks grow more sophisticated and exploit vulnerabilities in organizations, cybersecurity remains a top priority. In 2024, businesses will continue to invest heavily in solutions like multi-factor authentication, vulnerability management tools, email security, threat detection and response systems, and zero trust identity and access management to protect sensitive data and mitigate cyber risks.
2. Data-Driven Initiatives
Organizations are increasingly recognizing the value of democratizing data to drive smarter decision-making and enhance operational efficiency. This trend is fueling investments in data analytics, business intelligence platforms, data governance, and advanced data science solutions, including machine learning (ML). These technologies are being adopted across various functions such as marketing, sales, finance, and operations to unlock deeper insights and improve performance.
3. IT Automation
IT automation is transforming how departments operate by streamlining routine tasks and freeing up resources for strategic projects. In 2024, businesses will continue to invest in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI (GenAI), as a way to reduce manual workloads and enhance productivity, enabling IT teams to focus on innovation.
4. IT Skills Shortages
With the demand for skilled IT professionals far outpacing supply, organizations are facing a talent shortage that is impacting their ability to meet technology needs. In response, companies are increasing investments in training and development programs, exploring new talent acquisition strategies, and adopting automation tools to fill skill gaps and maintain business continuity.
5. Cloud Initiatives
Cloud computing remains a key area of focus, with businesses expanding their cloud adoption to support new workloads and modernize existing IT infrastructures. In 2024, we expect significant growth in hybrid cloud, off-premises cloud (IaaS/PaaS), and multi-cloud deployments. Additionally, businesses will explore new cloud-based services to enhance flexibility and scalability.
Bonus Driver: Generative AI
While still in its early stages, generative AI (GenAI) is rapidly emerging as a major tech investment driver, with a staggering 909% growth in purchase intent activity. However, buyers are cautious, with concerns around trust and reliability. As a result, they prefer engaging with content created by independent experts to make informed decisions about GenAI solutions. This will shape how companies market and position AI products in 2024.
Regional Drivers of Tech Investments
The key tech investment trends identified earlier are manifesting differently across regions, influencing how businesses prioritize their technology spending. In North America, the top six investment areas all play a significant role in shaping tech purchase decisions, with data-driven initiatives slightly surpassing cybersecurity as the #1 priority. This reflects the growing importance of data analytics, business intelligence, and AI-powered insights across industries.
In contrast, in APAC, Generative AI (GenAI) ranks lower on the list of tech priorities. While AI holds promise, many APAC professionals remain cautious, carefully evaluating ethical implications and assessing practical use cases before fully committing to its adoption.
Cybersecurity and risk management continue to dominate as the top priority across APAC and EMEA, underlining the global urgency to address evolving threats. Meanwhile, though cloud initiatives rank lower in priority, they still attract considerable attention, with businesses across all regions recognizing the need for scalable, flexible cloud solutions.
Better Buyer Connections Begin with Understanding Their Priorities
Even if your product or service isn’t directly aligned with the top six investment drivers, understanding these priorities is critical for refining your go-to-market (GTM) strategy. By positioning your solutions in a way that addresses these key areas—whether it’s helping businesses manage cybersecurity risks, leverage data more effectively, or adopt automation—you can better align with your buyers’ needs.
Additionally, providing educational content that helps your audience navigate a rapidly changing tech landscape will position you as a trusted resource. Buyers who feel supported in their decision-making process are more likely to consider your offering when they’re ready to make a purchase, increasing your chances of landing on their short list.
