Aussie IT professionals more than double software investment in 2022

Australian IT professionals have more than doubled their software investment in 2022, according to a new report from monday.com. 

The report surveyed Australian IT decision makers for insights on how they are approaching work, IT spend, and software.

It found Australian professionals are more positive towards the use of software in business compared to their US and UK counterparts, with over one-third extremely satisfied with the capability of their tools to maximise efficiency. However, Australian respondents also led the survey at 35%, compared to the US and UK at 29% and 26% respectively, in identifying the significant room for improvement in their tools to further enhance overall productivity and efficiencies.

Conducted in partnership with independent research company RepData LLC, monday.com surveyed 1,500 IT managers, 500 each from the US, the UK and Australia. The report found that despite the challenging economic climate and ongoing tech skills shortage, Australian teams increased their software budgets in 2022 by more than 56%. The research also found that spending is set to continue in 2023 with 68% of local IT professionals looking to raise software budgets while consolidating platforms, focusing on tools that are both easy to use and integrate with other platforms.

"These results emphasise that digital transformation is not only well underway here in Australia, but set to accelerate over the coming years," says monday.com Vice President Asia Pacific and Japan, Dean Swan. 

"While trends emphasise consolidation and platforms that work intuitively with others, we expect 2023 to be a strong year for the software industry with companies doubling down on tools that increase efficiencies. 

"It's clear Australian IT professionals are more focused than ever on making their teams more productive and efficient through software that has high adoption and enables productivity in any environment, whether in person, remote, or hybrid."

The research also found that Australians use the least amount of software tools critical for their daily job function, with only 50% using four or more platforms every day. Despite their streamlined use of platforms compared to US and UK decision-makers, Australian IT professionals are more likely to reduce the total number of software platforms, stating that three or more tools could be removed without impacting productivity.

The report includes a number of notable findings about how IT decision-makers are approaching work this year and beyond, including:

Software budgets are increasing
More than half (56%) of AUS IT decision-makers increased their software budgets in 2022.
More than two in three (68%) expect to increase their software budget in 2023.

IT teams are streamlining their work by consolidating platforms
87% of AUS IT decision-makers say their organisation is likely to consolidate platforms to streamline work in 2023.
60% of AUS IT decision-makers say that workflow efficiency is the highest consideration for consolidating platforms.
28% believe three or more tools could be removed without impacting everyday work efficiencies

Most AUS IT workers spend some time in the office
88% of AUS IT decision-makers work in a hybrid environment.