Businesses investment on emerging technologies year-on-year is increasing, but firms are struggling to expand pilot use cases into live deployments, according to a new study from EY.

The firm’s latest Reimagining Industry Futures report reveals that enterprise technology investment remains strong, with nearly half (47%) of the 1,600+ organisations surveyed investing in genAI, 43% backing IoT, and 33% focusing on 5G.

At the same time, decision-making inside enterprises is diffusing more widely across the C-suite, with 49% of CEO respondents now involved in emerging technology strategy, including choice of suppliers, with the study finding that organisations where the CEO is a key decision-maker are further along the technology investment curve.

For example, over half (51%) of businesses with CEOs involved in new technology decisions are investing in genAI, compared with 44% of organisations where the CEO is less involved.

However, despite the upward trend in technology investments, the research shows that too many organisations are still in trial mode. 

The data shows the proportion of businesses with active IoT deployments is in decline, slipping to 16% this year compared with 19% in 2024, while active deployments of edge computing are also flat year-on-year at 22%, with only 1% of organisations having active deployments of genAI.

“As well as posing a challenge to unlocking long-term value, a failure to progress beyond the trial phase means businesses risk missing out on the combined impact of different technologies deployed together, an area where almost four in five organisations are looking to achieve more,” said Rob Atkinson, EY UK&I’s technology market leader.

“There could also be a danger that too many emerging technologies initiatives will be conducted in isolation, limiting the resulting business benefits.”

EY claims that a major stumbling block for businesses is the awareness of suppliers, with many finding it challenging to make informed decisions about which ICT providers can help with their digital transformation.

Almost three-quarters (73%) of firms said they need a better understanding of the supplier landscape, with more than half (56%) reporting they don’t know enough about their technology vendor’s additional partners.

That is leading to frustrations, and ultimately to the consolidation of suppliers. Around a third (35%) of enterprises across sectors said they plan to reduce the number of ICT vendors they use in the coming 12 months, driven by efforts to improve security, lower overall expenditure and reduce technology complexity.

The research shows that ICT suppliers need to therefore adapt their strategies to remain useful. According to EY, 33% of respondents described their ideal vendor as being able to provide measurable business outcomes, while the same number are looking for suppliers that can give access to the wider partner ecosystem.

The ability to scale and integrate different technologies is also important (25%),  ranking ahead of value-based pricing (10%), a signal that firms are looking beyond cost advantages when choosing suppliers.

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“The intention to focus spending on a smaller number of key suppliers makes it even more important that ICT providers present themselves as effective ecosystem orchestrators, able to provide end-to-end solutions with the assistance of partners and intermediaries,” said Atkinson.

“While enterprises remain committed to embracing leading-edge technologies like genAI, IoT and 5G, they are facing challenges in translating their investments into real business value. 

“Now is the time for IoT suppliers to reposition themselves as holistic partners to their business customers and help them realise the full benefits of their spending on digital transformation.”