Technology is now essential infrastructure, but investment decisions are still made without a lifecycle view
New global research from 3stepIT and BNP Paribas 3 Step IT reveals a tech investment “impact gap” between what organizations expect technology to deliver and how they make investment decisions.
Organizations increasingly rely on technology to drive value and reduce risk. But most consistently underprioritize the lifecycle factors that determine whether this can be achieved.
Based on a survey of 1,000 tech leaders, the findings show that:
- 83% of organizations rank technology, alongside people, as the leading driver of business value.
- But just 16% strongly agree there’s a link between business strategy and technology procurement.
Meanwhile nearly 90% of leaders are evaluated on the overall business impact of technology, but nearly 6 in 10 do not have an effective way to demonstrate long-term value (58%).
“Technology is a strategic driver of value - raising the stakes for every investment decision. Leaders must balance cost, risk, and return with precision, yet most don't have a way to clearly evaluate the impact technology creates across its lifecycle,” said Jakob Lagander, CEO of 3stepIT
Investment decisions made on short-term metrics
Today, most investment decisions are still made without visibility of their lifecycle consequences. Instead, they are driven by what is easiest to see at the point of purchase.
Even as technology budgets increase for three-quarters of organizations, many leaders say:
The “impact gap”
This challenge is at the core of the technology “impact gap” revealed in our ‘Total Cost of Impact’ report. Leaders expect technology to deliver strategic value and reduce risk, but lifecycle factors such as operational efficiency, data security, workforce productivity, and end-of-life value recovery are consistently underweighted in decision-making.
Our research shows:
- 83% organizations say technology drives efficiency, and yet only 8% rate efficiency as a business-critical consideration1 when making investment decisions.
- 79% of organizations report technology drives employee performance, but only 7% rank user-friendliness as a critical investment priority.2
- 66% of organizations believe sustainable tech investment can help reduce costs, while only 13% consider environmental impact business-critical criteria in their decision-making.
“Tech investment decisions shape long-term value and risk. Having a lifecycle view upfront can be the difference between locking in hidden costs and vulnerabilities or building resilience and long-term competitive advantage,” said Jakob Lagander, CEO of 3stepIT.
The security "impact gap”
The “impact gap” is also leaving organizations exposed to serious security risks:
- Nearly a third lack confidence in the data security measures they have in place (28%)
- A third worry their technology assets are not sufficiently protected from breaches (33%).
- Nearly one in five have received a warning for data mismanagement or non-compliance (17%) or a customer/employee complaint about data handling (17%).
Yet these concerns are not consistently reflected in investment decisions. Although more than 6 in 10 leaders cite security as a top threat to their organization (62%), only 13% rate it as a business-critical3 priority during procurement.
The end-of-life "impact gap”
Responsible end-of-life management and value recovery are two of the key lifecycle factors that are often underprioritized when tech investments are made, and a clear example of how it becomes difficult for organizations to maximize value and minimize technology risks end-to-end.
Just 3 out of 5 organizations view IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) as a strategic priority (60%), and only half are confident that decommissioning risks are well understood internally (56%).
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on businesses to ensure data security, and compliance is strictly maintained during active use and through take-back, handling, and retirement, and still:
- Three-quarters prioritize the data security of active assets over retired ones (74%)
- One in five do not regularly audit or verify their ITAD providers (21%)
- Half acknowledge their decommissioning processes may fall short of data security (56%) and environmental (46%) compliance standards.
Without an end-to-end view, many organizations are also failing to embed value recovery processes into their investment decision-making and planning, with more than a quarter recovering no value from their decommissioned devices (26%)4.
Introducing Total Cost of Impact (TCI)
Total Cost of Impact (TCI) addresses this gap. The lifecycle-based model helps organizations evaluate the full impact of technology investment decisions before making any commitments.
TCI captures financial, operational, security and compliance, and environmental and social impacts from the outset and creates a common language for assessing cost, risk, and value in increasingly complex operating environments. This reduces friction, speeds up decision-making, and improves confidence that technology will deliver long-term value.
“Organizations that adopt a lifecycle view of technology now - treating it as critical infrastructure rather than a set of discrete investments - will build compounding advantages as decisions made early improve performance over time. In today’s fast-moving landscape, the gap is quickly widening between organizations that optimize for lifecycle impact and those that do not, as they become increasingly more efficient, agile, and resilient,” said Carmen Ene, CEO of BNP Paribas 3 Step IT, the company’s Joint Venture with BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions.
Read the full report: “Total Cost of Impact: A new lifecycle-based model for evaluating the full business impact of technology investment decisions”
About the research
The research was led by Coleman Parkes, a global market research agency that enables industry-leading businesses to stay ahead with survey data.
