Soaring inflation, rising interest rates, supply chain disruption, spikes in chip costs, war, and other market crises have collectively crippled the global economy. As a result, businesses across industries and sizes have started tightening their belt, looking for any way to optimize their spending.

With businesses running on a digital layer, optimizing spending on technology holds prominence. CIOs and CTOs now feel more accountable for every penny that goes into IT.

So what are businesses doing to ride a macroeconomic tide like this?  

The ManageEngine ITOM solutions team decided to uncover the IT budgeting strategies and best practices IT leaders are adopting to withstand pressing economic times. We polled over 470 CIOs, CTOs, and IT directors.

And the results are in.

Despite the economic downturn, 70% of businesses are either retaining or increasing their IT budget. As the world becomes increasingly digital, year-over-year increases in IT spending should come as no surprise. But amid a challenging economic state like this, with businesses mustering their morale to survive, IT budget increases are inarguably unusual and often draw scrutiny.

Why are businesses increasing their IT budgets?

Organizations that were determined to spend on IT during the pandemic emerged stronger than the ones who put their IT spending on hold. So post pandemic, the perception shifted from spending on IT to investing in IT.

Moreover, unlike other business operations, in ITOps, organizations can achieve cost optimization not just by reducing costs but by maximizing value. So the better question is not if businesses are increasing their IT budgets, but what they’re going to spend their increasing budgets on.

Discover the resilient IT budgeting strategies your peers are betting on to adapt and thrive during economic turbulence: check out our latest infographic, IT budgeting to weather macroeconomic uncertainties in 2023.