By 2024, 80% of technology products and services will be built by those who are not technology professionals, according to Gartner Inc.
This trend is being driven by a new category of buyers outside of the traditional information technology enterprise sphere who are occupying a larger share of the overall IT market, the US based research firm says. Total business-led IT spending averages just 36% of the total formal IT budget.
"Digital business is treated as a team sport by CEOs and is no longer the sole domain of the IT department," said Rajesh Kandaswamy, distinguished research vice-president at Gartner.
"Growth in digital data, low-code development tools and artificial intelligence [AI]-assisted development are among the many factors that enable the democratisation of technology development beyond IT professionals."
Needs arising from the Covid-19 pandemic have also proved to be a major driver of the development of new products and services. Technology encroachment into all areas of business and among consumers has created demand for products and services outside of IT departments. These buyers' needs do not always fit neatly into the offerings from traditional providers.
This has been compounded by the pandemic, which has only expanded the number and type of use cases that technology is now needed to fulfil. In 2023, Gartner forecasts that US$30 billion in revenue will be generated by products and services that did not exist pre-pandemic.
The rapid expansion of cloud services, digital business initiatives and remote services has opened the door for new possibilities in integration and optimisation.
By 2024, Gartner analysts predict, one-third of technology providers will be competing with non-technology providers.
Covid-19 has also reduced barriers for those outside of the IT sector to create technology-based solutions by providing an entry point for anyone who was able to serve pandemic-induced needs. These entrants include non-technology professions within enterprises -- or "business technologists" -- citizen developers, data scientists and AI systems that generate software.
Technology providers are now finding themselves increasingly entering markets related to, or in competition with, non-technology providers, including innovative firms in financial services and retail. The latter is creating IT-driven solutions more frequently and with more ambition as more enterprises continue their digital transformation efforts.
Gartner expects high-profile announcements of technology launches from non-tech companies to proliferate over the next 12 months.
"The availability of business technologists provides new sources of innovation and the ability to get work done," said Mr Kandaswamy.
"Thus, technology and service providers will need to extend their sourcing of ideas and technology development into new communities, whether they are based on citizen development, their own customer communities or other sources."
More insights into where the industry is heading can be found in Gartner's "Tech Providers 2025 Special Report", which can be downloaded from https://gtnr.it/37swb4m
