This document summarizes the results of a survey of 186 IT leaders about their technology priorities and budgets for 2018. It found that security-related projects, like business continuity and disaster recovery, were the most important initiatives. Most respondents expected their overall IT budgets to increase in the next year. Emerging technologies like analytics, cloud computing, and IoT were areas where organizations were most open to partnering with newer vendors. The document provides details on the survey methodology and breakdown of responses by industry, job role, and technology category.

1. CIO Tech Poll: Tech Priorities 2018

2. 2
Purpose and Methodology
CIO Tech Poll:
Tech Priorities
was conducted to
gauge for the
upcoming year
which technology
areas will be the
focus of IT leaders,
and to measure
the direction of
spending within
those categories.
Top Represented
Industries:
High Tech 15%
Financial Services 11%
Services (Legal/Consulting/
Real Estate) 9%
Government 9%
Manufacturing 9%
Retail/Wholesale/
Distribution 8%
Healthcare 7%
Education 5%
Total respondents: 186
Audience base: CIO Forum on
LinkedIn and CIO
Audience
Heads of IT: 100%
Job Titles: C-level 67%
Director/Manager/
Supervisor 20%
EVP/SVP/VP 10%
Other 3%

3. 3
54% 53%
32%
46%
48%
51% 53%
57%
53%
56%
59%
50%
18%
19%
29%
16%
13%
23%
13% 11%
12% 13% 14%
12%
28% 28%
39%
38% 39%
36% 34% 33% 35%
31%
25%
38%
Nov. 10 Apr. 11 Aug. 11 Jan. 12 July 12 Nov. 12 Nov. 13 Nov. 14 Nov. 15 Nov. 16 May 17 Dec. 17
Increase Decrease Remain the Same
Enterprises Expect Tech Budget Growth
Source: CIO Tech Poll: Tech Priorities, 2010 - 2018; CIO Tech Poll: Economic Outlook, 2011 - 2017
Q: Will your overall IT budget increase, decrease or remain the same in the next 12 months compared to the past 12 months?
57% Enterprise
45% SMB
28% Enterprise
45% SMB
16% Enterprise
10% SMB

4. 4Source: CIO Tech Poll: Tech Priorities, 2018
Q: Which option best describes your current activity for each of the following technology initiatives? AND Will your spending for each of the
following technology initiatives increase, decrease or remain the same in the next 12 months compared to the past 12 months? BASE: Among those having
some interest in the technology initiative.
Aligning Research with Tech Initiative Spending
47% 47% 46% 45% 44% 43% 43% 41%
35%
12%
37%
20%
23%
44% 44%
16% 16%
27%
Biz continuity/
disaster recovery
Predictive analytics Public cloud Hybrid cloud Machine learning/
cognitive systems
AI Mobile devices Data
mgmt./storage
Private cloud
33% 32% 32%
29% 29% 28% 27% 25%
37%
28%
32%
9%
22% 24%
16%
21%
Internet of Things Software defined
WAN
SDN Virtualization,
server
Virtualization,
storage
Robotics Co-location
services
Virtualization,
desktop/application
Plan to
increase
spending
in the next
12 months
Actively
researching
or have on
their radar

5. 5
Security Related Tools Prove to be Single
Most Important Tech Project
Q: Of the technologies that you mentioned you have implemented or are considering implementing, which is the single most important technology
project that your IT department is working on right now?
Source: CIO Tech Poll: Tech Priorities, 2018
3%
4%
4%
6%
8%
8%
11%
12%
13%
22%
SDN
Internet of Things
Machine learning
Artificial Intelligence
Public cloud
Mobile devices
Hybrid cloud
Data management/storage
Predicitve analytics
Business continuity/disaster recovery
16% Enterprise
8% SMB
0% Enterprise
12% SMB

6. 6
New Data/Analytics Companies Have an Advantage
Source: CIO Tech Poll: Tech Priorities, 2017
Q: For which technology areas is your organization most likely to consider partnering with a newer technology vendor?
23%
24%
25%
27%
32%
36%
38%
43%
43%
57%
Storage
Hardware/servers
Application development
Unified communications
Enterprise applications (BI, CRM, ERP, etc,)
Social media
Mobile
Cloud computing
Connected devices/Internet of Things
Big data and analytics

7. 7
Continue the Conversation
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