IDC Predicts ‘Inertial Drag’ on Firms Piling Up ‘Technical Debt’

Three-quarters of the world’s top public companies “will commit to providing technical parity to a workforce that is hybrid by design" by 2023, predicted IDC Tuesday. This will enable employees “to work together separately and in real time,” it said. “The result will be a more collaborative, informed, and productive workforce.” It projects “technical debt” accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic will “shadow” 70% of chief information officers the next three years, causing financial stress, “inertial drag on IT agility” and "forced” migrations to the cloud. “Smart CIOs will look for opportunities to design next-generation digital platforms that modernize and rationalize infrastructure and applications while delivering flexible capabilities to create and deliver new products, services, and experiences to workers and customers.” Enterprises that focus on “digital resiliency” will adapt to disruption 50% faster than those “fixated” on restoring legacy systems, said IDC.