Dive Brief:
- Nearly 4 in 10 CIOs and CTOs grapple with burnout or worry as they uphold the technology backbones that support their organizations, according to a report from software development agency JetRockets published Monday.
- Just under one-quarter of executives say they are burnt out, and another 17% say they are worried about a lack of resources and support, according to the survey of 450 CIOs and CTOs, conducted by Momentive on behalf of JetRockets.
- Part of the stress comes from the ongoing skills crisis, with nearly 9 in 10 executives saying they've been impacted by the shortage of software developers.
Dive Insight:
The heat is turning up on a generation of tech leaders already worn down by 2020's rushed pivots. As the economic climate sours, the "do more with less" ethos is making a comeback, adding more stress to technology functions.
Undoubtedly, the main source of pressure on CIOs and CTOs today is the need to keep products up and running round the clock despite dwindling resources, said Forrester Senior Analyst Julie Mohr.
"We're heading into one of those times where we have to reduce costs, because there's this impending doom and gloom around a potential recession," said Mohr. Company leadership tends to respond to these situations with layoffs to help reduce cost — at the expense of the technology outfit.
Still, some say IT units could largely escape the impacts of a recession. IT budget projections for 2023 look resilient as leaders see expected returns on technology investments.
The evolution of the role itself is turning up the stress levels for tech leadership too, Natalie Kaminski, co-founder and CEO at JetRockets, said in an email. Executives are up against expectations of scaling innovation and output.
"But they’re also doing so at a time when budget constraints and the global talent shortage have reduced the amount of help they have at work," said Kaminski. "This means CIOs and CTOs are being required to do so much more with far fewer resources, which has really taken its toll.”
To ease the tension of a more-with-less IT approach, executives can turn to other ways to reduce costs that don't involve shrinking the workforce, such as vendor consolidation. This is happening already, as 57% of IT teams say they are under pressure to reduce SaaS spend, an upcoming study from Workato found.
"There are tool overlaps where you could simplify and save money," Mohr said.
