Leadership and vision are vital components in establishing a disruptive technology strategy – along with the resources and funding to successfully adopt the right technologies for your business.

With so many exciting opportunities – and in many cases, existential threats – presented by disruptive technology, you would imagine that all technology leaders have made it a top priority. Here, the data reveals a mixed record.

Not all technology companies appear to be ready to adapt fully to disruptive technologies. Just 18 percent of the technology leaders taking part in the survey strongly agree that their organizations have a clear strategy and mission for disruptive technologies.  

Despite the transformative potential of disruptive technologies, many tech companies appear to treat it as an “IT” issue – rather than a C-level strategic imperative.  Respondents say that only 24 percent of investment decisions about new disruptive technologies are shared between technology and business management. And just half (53 percent) report that business and IT teams work together to co-create technology investment roadmaps. 

Tech organizations thrive on being agile and quick-moving, to make the right decisions on which technologies to adopt. Budgets are a vital part of this process, to free up investment funds for new opportunities. However, less than half of respondents claim to have flexible budgets, and only a minority ring-fence money for disruptive technology pilots.

Specialists in areas like IoT, AI, robotics and D&A are in high demand – especially those that can combine technical skills with a wider business understanding. Forty-eight percent are concerned about a skills shortage and a majority are planning to hire and/or train existing employers specifically to help implement disruptive technologies.

There are signs that investments are becoming more integrated into strategy and performance – but there is some way to go. Fewer than half of respondents (42 percent) say their organizations measure the success of technology initiatives in terms of business outcomes – rather than just system uptime. On a positive note, 54 percent of respondents say their organizations link investments to customer experience related measures, and 51 percent measure investments against productivity and 47 percent against operating costs.