IDC has released its predictions for how New Zealand organisations will deploy and consume technology over the next five years.

According to the report IDC FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2021 Predictions – New Zealand Implications, IDC predicts that the focus of digital decision makers in New Zealand will concentrate on filling the gaps exposed in digital transformation plans.

Furthermore, decision makers will focus on cloud centric infrastructure, hybrid by design workforces and operating models that flourish beyond the perimeter of the organisation, the analysts state.

IDC NZ country manager Louise Francis says, "The 2021 IT Industry predictions reflect the speed of how New Zealand businesses have adapted to the next normal, with a crystalised focus on how innovation will help them grow and thrive in a post COVID-19 economy.

"The mantra of business and digital resiliency will be amplified in 2021 as organisations prepare to respond to continued uncertainty and disruption throughout the year."

Francis says, "Throughout this period, it is essential that businesses understand how the IT landscape is morphing.

"This understanding includes where to start, how to create an innovative mindset, and how to effectively manage and implement the changes required to enable responsiveness during times of ambiguity and change.

"This year's predictions provide the compass heading for digitally determined organisations to reassess, strengthen and relaunch their future enterprise roadmap fit for the next normal."

IDC's top 10 trends for New Zealand are:

Cloud Centric IT: By the end of 2021, based on lessons learned, 60% of New Zealand enterprises will put a mechanism in place to shift to cloud-centric infrastructure and applications twice as fast as before the pandemic.

Edge Acceleration: Through 2023, reactions to changed workforce and operations practices during the pandemic will be the dominant accelerators for 75% of edge-driven investments and business model changes in most industries.

Hybrid by Design: By 2023, two thirds of NZX companies will commit to providing technical parity to a workforce that is hybrid by design rather than by circumstance, enabling them to work together separately and in real time.

Remediate Technical Debt: Through 2022, coping with technical debt accumulated during the pandemic will shadow 50% of CIOs, causing financial stress, inertial drag on IT agility, and "forced march" migrations to the cloud.

Digital Resiliency: In 2022, enterprises focused on digital resiliency will adapt to disruption and extend services to respond to new conditions 50% faster than ones fixated on restoring existing business/IT resiliency levels.

Automation Platforms: By 2023, an emerging cloud ecosystem for extending resource control and real-time analytics will be the underlying platform for all IT and business automation initiatives anywhere and everywhere.

Opportunistic AI Extension: By 2023, driven by the goal to embed intelligence in products and services, one in ten NZX companies will acquire at least one AI software start-up to ensure ownership of differentiated skills and IP.

ICT Ecosystem: By 2025 65% of enterprises will overhaul relationships with suppliers, providers, and partners to better execute digital strategies for ubiquitous deployment of resources and for autonomous IT operations.

ICT Joins Circular Economy: By 2025, 85% of NZX companies will mandate reusable materials in IT hardware supply chains, carbon neutrality targets for providers' facilities, and lower energy use as prerequisites for doing business.

People Still Matter: Through 2023, a third of enterprises' hybrid workforce and business automation efforts will be delayed or will fail outright due to underinvestment in building IT/Sec/DevOps teams with the right tools/skills.

The analysts are hosting a 2021 Australia and New Zealand IT Industry FutureScape webinar on 23rd February 2021.

Here IDC will present the Top 10 IT Industry trends and the implications which will influence and shape how New Zealand and Australia organisations recalibrate their future enterprise roadmap over the next five years.