Business technologists produce tech outside their own department, reports Gartner

Half of business technologists produce capabilities for users beyond their own department and/or enterprise, according to a new survey from Gartner, Inc. They are largely in charge of developing analytics skills (36%), but they also work on digital commerce platforms, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotic process automation, among other things.

Employees that report outside of IT departments and provide technology or analytics capabilities for internal or external business usage are defined as business technologists by Gartner.

“Technology work, once primarily the purview of dedicated IT shops, is being democratized,” said Raf Gelders, research vice president at Gartner.

Also said, “The best enterprises compete in the digital economy by harnessing the expertise and ingenuity of all their employees, and progressive CIOs are working with other C-suite leaders to do just that.” 

Business Technologists Find and Create Value by Collaborating with IT

The democratisation of technology development beyond IT experts is enabled by a substantial increase in digitalization potential combined with decreasing entry barriers (e.g., low-code development tools and AI assisted development). In their daily work, 77% of business technologists employ a combination of automation, integration, application development, data science, and AI tools.

When compared to building technology or analytics skills on their own, four out of five respondents said they found more value in cooperating with IT rather than trying to get around them, citing better innovation, security, and speed. Furthermore, 76 percent of business technologists believe they are responsible for ensuring that their work is secure, complies with legal requirements, and has no negative influence on others.

According to Gartner research, companies that successfully support business technologists are 2.6 times more likely to achieve faster digital business outcomes.

“Business technologists expand the CIO’s strategic reach as IT equips and empowers employees across the enterprise to build digital capabilities for making or saving money,” said Gelders.

Added, “Focusing hiring efforts and investments to fully leverage this resource base provides a major opportunity for CIOs to work with other enterprise business leaders.”