Gartner Selects Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2024

Pictured above: Chris Howard, Gartner’s chief of research, onstage at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, presenting the top 10 technology trends.

At its IT Symposium/Xpo this week in Orlando, Florida, Gartner announced its list of 10 top strategic technology trends that organizations need to explore in 2024. These trends will drive significant disruption and opportunity for CIOs and other IT leaders within the next 36 months, according to Gartner.

Gartner’s Bart Willemsen

“Technology disruptions and socioeconomic uncertainties require willingness to act boldly and strategically enhance resilience over ad hoc responses,” said Bart Willemsen, VP analyst at Gartner. “IT leaders are in a unique position to strategically lay down a road map where technology investments help their business’s sustenance of success amidst these uncertainties and pressures.”

Gartner’s Chris Howard

“They and other executives must evaluate the impacts and benefits of strategic technology trends, but this is no small task given the increasing rate of technological innovation,” said Gartner’s Chris Howard. “For example, generative and other types of AI offer new opportunities and drive several trends. But deriving business value from the durable use of AI requires a disciplined approach to widespread adoption along with attention to the risks.”

Worldwide IT Spending Will Grow

Gartner forecasts that worldwide IT spending will grow 8% in 2024. That figure includes investment in artificial intelligence (AI), although Gartner says that the impact of spending on generative AI (GenAI) will not be felt until 2025.

Gartner’s John-David Lovelock

“In 2023 and 2024, very little IT spending will be tied to GenAI,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner. “However, organizations are continuing to invest in AI and automation to increase operational efficiency and bridge IT talent gaps. The hype around GenAI is supporting this trend, as CIOs recognize that today’s AI projects will be instrumental in developing an AI strategy and story before GenAI becomes part of their IT budgets starting in 2025.”

Gartner says the largest growth in spending will come in software (13.8%) and IT services (10.4%), followed by data center systems (9.5%), devices (4.8%) and communications services (3.3%).

Cybersecurity spending is driving growth in the software segment. In the 2024 Gartner CIO and Technology Executive Survey, 80% of CIOs reported that they plan to increase spending on cyber/information security in 2024, the top technology category for increased investment.

“AI has created a new security scare for organizations,” said Lovelock. “Gartner is projecting double-digit growth across all segments of enterprise security spending for 2024.”

Several of the top 10 technology trends involve AI, along with security, sustainability, platform engineering and more. The trends are examined in detail in the Gartner Special Report “Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2024.”

The gallery above provides a brief overview of Gartner’s top 10 strategic technology trends for 2023.