Spiceworks Study Reveals Emerging Tech Adoption Rates Are up to 10 Times Higher in Large Enterprises

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at SpiceWorld 2018, Spiceworks announced the 2019 State of Future Workplace Tech report examining the emerging technology trends organizations are adopting across North America and Europe. The report shows adoption rates of emerging technology in large enterprises are up to 10 times higher than in small businesses. In fact, by 2020, 86 percent of companies with more than 5,000 employees plan to adopt IoT solutions, 65 percent plan to deploy edge computing technology, 64 percent expect to use artificial intelligence, and 56 percent expect to utilize blockchain-enabled technology. Since larger organizations are more likely to increase IT budgets in 2019, the findings indicate they're able to simultaneously upgrade outdated infrastructure, implement the latest security solutions, and invest in innovation.

"Larger companies have more resources and manpower to dedicate towards testing, deploying, and managing emerging technologies," said Peter Tsai, senior technology analyst at Spiceworks. "On the other hand, small businesses aren't increasing IT budgets at the same rate as large enterprises, so they're focusing their limited resources on more immediate concerns, such as refreshing aging and potentially out-of-support infrastructure, software, and services. As a result, many small companies are putting off adopting emerging tech until its proven to have a significant impact in the workplace."

Highlights of emerging tech adoption rates across all company sizes include:

• 37 percent of organizations currently use IT automation, 36 percent use gigabit Wi-Fi networking, and 27 percent use IoT technology, but by 2020, these figures are expected to jump to 58 percent, 61 percent, and 48 percent, respectively.
• 18 percent of organizations have adopted converged/hyperconverged infrastructure, 18 percent have deployed container technology, and 15 percent are using 3D printers.
• 15 percent of organizations are using edge computing and 15 percent are using serverless computing, but by 2020, these figures are expected to jump to 31 percent and 34 percent, respectively.
• With the exception of large enterprises, fewer companies have adopted virtual reality (14 percent), artificial intelligence (10 percent), or blockchain-enabled technology (9 percent).

In addition to investing in innovation, organizations are also investing in emerging security solutions to protect their networks from cyberattacks. The results show anti-ransomware solutions, employee security training tools (e.g., end user security testing), and hardware-based authentication (e.g., security tokens) have the highest current adoption rates at 43 percent, 41 percent, and 35 percent, respectively. Fewer organizations are using IoT security solutions (17 percent), security solutions powered by AI (16 percent), or deception technology (15 percent).

Similar to other emerging tech trends, large enterprises are adopting most emerging security solutions at a higher rate than smaller organizations. In fact, the 2019 State of IT Budgets report shows growing security concerns are the top reason enterprises with more than 5,000 employees are boosting budgets in 2019. Currently, these large enterprises have the highest current adoption rates for browser isolation (43 percent), IoT security solutions (40 percent), cloud workload protection (39 percent), and deception technology (29 percent).  

Financial services organizations are the earliest adopters of most emerging tech while government is behind the curve

When examining the data by industry, the results show financial services organizations are the earliest adopters of most emerging technologies, while government institutions lag other industries in most cases. For example, the financial services industry has the highest current adoption of IT automation (43 percent), serverless computing (23 percent), AI (21 percent), and blockchain technology (21 percent). In fact, an additional 22 percent of financial services organizations plan to adopt blockchain-enabled technology by 2020. Conversely, government organizations have the lowest adoption rates for most emerging technologies, including IoT (15 percent), edge computing (5 percent), AI (4 percent), and blockchain technology (2 percent).

Financial services organizations also have the highest current adoption rates for most emerging security solutions, including employee security training tools (52 percent), user behavior analytics tools (34 percent), cloud workload protection (28 percent), browser isolation (27 percent), and AI-powered security solutions (24 percent). However, government institutions are also behind the curve when it comes to the latest security tools. For example, only 36 percent of government organizations have adopted employee security training tools, 9 percent have adopted browser isolation, and only 7 percent have adopted security solutions powered by AI.

IT automation expected to have the biggest impact on businesses

Among emerging tech trends, 41 percent of IT decision makers predict IT automation technologies will have the biggest impact on their business, while about 30 percent believe IoT technology and gigabit Wi-Fi networking will make the biggest mark. However, the opinions vary by company size. For example, IT decision makers who work at large enterprises with more than 5,000 employees believe AI, containers, and blockchain-enabled technology will have a much bigger impact on their business. 

The study also shows that among emerging security solutions, 59 percent of IT decision makers believe employee security training tools are the most effective way to prevent security incidents, followed by breach detection systems (37 percent), anti-ransomware solutions (37 percent), and user behavior analytics (33 percent).

Methodology 
The survey was conducted by Spiceworks in July 2018 and included 780 respondents from North America and Europe. Respondents are among the millions of business technology buyers in Spiceworks and represent a variety of company sizes including small-to-medium-sized businesses as well as enterprises. Respondents come from a variety of industries including manufacturing, healthcare, non-profits, education, government, and finance. For more information and a complete list of survey results, visit https://www.spiceworks.com/marketing/state-of-it/report/future-tech.

About Spiceworks 
Spiceworks is the marketplace that connects the IT industry to help technology buyers and sellers get their jobs done, every day. The company helps people in the world's businesses to find, adopt, and manage the latest technologies while also helping IT brands build, market, and support better products and services. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Spiceworks empowers people to use technology to make their organizations, their communities, and the world better. For more information, visit https://www.spiceworks.com/.   

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Media Contact: 
Risa Kleen   
Spiceworks   
[email protected]  

SOURCE Spiceworks

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