Technology leaders have been shown to uplift digital adoption and talent attraction when they are given a seat at the top table, according to a new global survey from Nash Squared.

The Nash Squared Digital Leadership Report surveyed 2,104 technology/digital leaders across the globe over the summer of 2023, reaching 86 countries in total.

Leaders of the digital world shared insights, stats, and outlooks pertinent to AI, hybrid working realities, and the skills shortages.

But the study also revealed the value of tech leaders themselves, with boards which include tech and digital leaders seeing a 20% increase in adopting new technology, and nearly a quarter (24%) advantage in attracting and retaining talent.

What’s more, over two thirds (68%) of technology leaders globally are members of the operational board/executive management team, the highest level since 2017 (71%).

The report also detailed leader insights around AI, tech investment, hybrid work, and the skills gap.

AI 

Ahead of the AI safety summit in Bletchley Park taking place this week, AI regulation is one of the top topics among business leaders and government officials alike.

The report however, found that this emerging technology is still at the experimentation stage globally. Despite the predicted market growth of AI, only one in ten tech leaders across the globe report having large scale implementations of AI, a figure that has not changed in five years.

Still, about half (49%) of global organisations are either piloting or conducting a small scale implementation of AI – for generative AI, this figure drops to about a third.

Further, while the EU already has government regulations in place and the UK is set to discuss AI safety, only two in ten (21%) of global organisations have an AI policy in place, with more than a third (36%) have no plans to attempt such a policy at this time.

Two major concerns are hindering the continued acceleration of AI adoption among tech leaders, including data privacy and emerging cyber threats.

Still, seven in ten technology leaders across the globe think that the benefits of AI outweigh the risks – they also think on average, only 17% of jobs will be lost to automation.

“Over the years there has been much hype about the potential for AI, but this year our research suggests we may have reached a tipping point. AI sits at the intersection of people and technology, and with the recent mass adoption of generative AI, the opportunities and challenges for organisations is potentially vast,” Bev White, CEO of Nash Squared said.

“It could be the trigger that prompts an avalanche of AI investment –similar to the mass adoption of cloud over the last ten years. This just makes the regulation and governance of AI more important than ever.

“Despite their keenness, many tech leaders admit that they don’t have a clear picture of the way forward and feel unprepared for the challenges ahead. Establishing clear guardrails, guidelines and ethical safety nets around AI is simply essential. Otherwise, what could be one of the truly transformational enablers of the modern age could instead become one of its biggest, risk-laden destabilisers.”

Tech Investment

After hyper growth both during and when coming out of the pandemic, expectations of technology spend and investment in people have returned to more ‘normal’ levels, the report says, with tech leaders still optimistic about 2024 growth.

Almost half (45%) expect their overall technology budget to increase during the next 12 months – a figure broadly in line with pre-pandemic years.

Recommended reading

• Scottish startups remain hopful despite facing a challenging year
• AI: Cyber-friend or cyber-foe?
• How Many Tech Leaders Expect Revenue Growth This Year?

Half (50%) of tech leaders also expect to increase their headcount, which is the second highest reading in the last decade outside of the pandemic peak, although a significant fall on last year.

Somewhat surprisingly, however, is that investment in emerging tech has largely stalled except in the pilots of AI, quantum technology, and the metaverse.

Work Culture: Inclusion and Hybrid Working

Changes in work culture have seen the office fluctuate. Research from Nash Squared found an interesting correlation between flexible working policies and the number of women in organisations.

A high number of mandated days in the office appears to have a negative impact on the proportion of new female hires in the tech team over the last two years.

Companies with five mandated office days have about 22% of women in the tech team, but for those without mandated in-office days, 28% of the tech team hired recently are women.

This largely falls to societal pressures meaning more women are help responsible for caring duties, making it more likely for them to elect flexible work so they can manage care work as well.

Despite the potential for hurting gender inclusivity, 84% of small businesses report that their in-office policy is working well compared to 66% of large organisations.

Globally, it seams, inclusion efforts – at least in terms of gender – have not lead to overall improvement. 14% of tech leaders globally identified as female, which is the same as last year. On tech teams, women represented 23% of workers both in the UK and on average globally.

Talent Shortage

Globally, it appears the skills shortage is easing slightly, with 54% of tech leaders saying that the skills shortage is preventing them from keeping pace with change, down from a record 70% last year.

However, although scarcity of top skills for every type of technology professional has fallen year-on-year, there still remains a shortage with the most scarce skills being data engineers, enterprise architects, software engineers and technical architects.

Cybersecurity specialists did see the largest fall in demand (37%), despite sitting at the top three most scarce skills in recent years.

Despite this drop, a quarter of technology leaders globally still struggle to find the right cybersecurity skills. The report also suggests that, if AI begins to generate new levels of cyber risk, cyber specialists may once again top the league table of skills in demand.