How sustainability and AI top Irish technology leaders’ agenda

To retain key talent, the organisation must maintain focus on the following areas:

IT budget: IT budget availability is not seen as a challenge. The great majority of the technology leaders surveyed expect their allocation to either remain the same or increase over the next two years. This is broadly in line with the 2023 survey, indicating a stable and positive outlook for IT investments.

To effectively navigate the evolving landscape of sustainability reporting, technology leaders need to consider the following actions:

The relatively low level of investment in AI is likely related to the lack of maturity of GenAI technology. While its potential is quite widely appreciated, its application is constrained by many factors including the lack of an accepted industry standard product. There is likely to be a prolonged tussle between providers before a winner emerges.

Organisations appear to have quite a relaxed approach to the use of GenAI by their employees and, quite alarmingly, 59% do not have a formal usage policy (i.e., do’s, don’ts, permitted, prohibited, etc.) but say unlicensed GenAI is most likely used by its employees.

Organisational stance in relation to the use of GenAI tools by employees

Which of the following statements best reflects your organisation’s stance on the use of GenAI tools by employees in support of business operations?

This is both concerning and surprising as it seems to suggest a lack of appreciation for the potential security threat posed by unlicensed GenAI. These tools risk data privacy breaches and copyright infringement, leading to potential data leaks and increased cyber threats if not managed correctly.

Businesses must continue to monitor advances in AI and examine their potential value to ensure they do not lose ground to competitors. Organisations should remain firmly focused on the value case and avoid investing in technology for its own sake. 

It is clear from the results of the EY Ireland Tech Leaders Outlook Survey 2023 and 2024 that both the metaverse and extended reality technologies are yet to convince Irish business and technology leaders of their potential value. Those that are tracking the technology as a potential future investment are also not planning to implement anything in the next two years.

This is not to say that the technologies do not have their uses, but they tend to be quite niche. For example, while extended reality technology can be extremely useful in specific areas like training people who work in extreme environments or as a support tool for maintenance and repair engineers in the aerospace and high-end manufacturing sectors, it tends to be far too expensive for lower value applications where it is difficult to justify its added value. Indeed, the technology has in some ways become a solution seeking a problem in recent years.

It would, however, be premature to predict the imminent demise of either of these technologies. After all, software as a service (SaaS) faced failure in the 1990s and early 2000s due to technical and cost barriers, yet it has since become the standard for many software offerings. 

There have been some significant changes in relation to cloud adoption since the EY Ireland Tech Leaders Outlook Survey 2023. The number of organisations hosting all their corporate systems on the cloud has more than doubled to 32% from just 15% in 2023, while the number using cloud for less sensitive data and retaining critical systems on premises has fallen quite dramatically from 39% to 17%.

Organisational cloud strategy

Thinking about cloud in your organisation (private, hybrid or public), which of the following statements are true?

One third of respondents say they are pursuing a cloud strategy and are in the process of migrating away from on-premise infrastructure.

Conversely, just 13% of respondents described adopting greater use of cloud as one of the most important roles for senior technology leaders. This indicates the degree to which the cloud has matured as a technology and become the default for many organisations. Indeed, with more than 80% of organisations either on the cloud or migrating to it, the adoption phase would appear to be nearing its end. 

Cybersecurity matters emerge as a key area of concern for technology leaders in Ireland, with anticipation of increasing challenges over the next two years. The percentage of respondents who identified elevated cyber risks and the management of data protection and flows as critical challenges has risen to 61%, a notable increase from 53% in 2023.

Interestingly, when it comes to challenges to the organisation’s growth over the next two years, cyber threats increased by precisely the same amount as economic disruption decreased. This could suggest that the diminishing prospect of a global recession has seen technology leaders renew their focus on cybersecurity and that the threat environment may not be significantly worse than it was last year. However, with hackers and other bad actors now adding GenAI and other advanced tools to their malign arsenal it is no surprise that cyber awareness has increased.

This is perhaps one of the reasons why a quarter of respondents pointed to their organisation’s vulnerability to cyberattacks as an area of concern.

A significant number of respondents also say they do not have sufficient controls in place to identify and contain threats. From a positive perspective, this demonstrates an encouraging level of awareness of the evolution of the cyber threat scape and the growing sophistication of cybercriminals. On the other hand, cybersecurity does not feature at all among the top priorities for IT functions over the next two years.

Notwithstanding that apparent omission, the ability of the technology leaders to put adequate defences in place appears to be somewhat constrained by financial and other considerations. One of the more interesting findings from our survey is that the only area where they are experiencing any budgetary issues is cybersecurity.

Top two concerns regarding information security

What do you consider to be biggest challenge to your organisation’s growth over the coming two years?

The top two concerns expressed in relation to information security are lack of awareness and sponsorship for security related initiatives and the costs associated with cybersecurity and cyber insurance. This may point to a worrying disconnect between technology leaders and other senior leaders in organisations in matters of cybersecurity.

This could relate to the nature of the expenditure being sought. As a purely defensive measure, it is naturally difficult to estimate potential return on investment. Therefore, when cyber spend comes up against competing priorities at C-suite or board level, those with clear cost savings benefits or return on investment business cases are more likely to be favoured.

External factors also come into play and cyber insurance costs are increasing for all organisations in line with the evolution of the threat landscape. This is straining IT budgets available for cybersecurity spending.

Effective board representation is, therefore, crucial. Technology leaders with the ability to argue for cybersecurity investments face fewer budgeting challenges. They must have the ability to communicate the urgency of cyber threats to the C-suite and board members to secure the necessary support.