Escape the code-heavy models inflating tech debt

New research serves as a wake-up call for CIOs and CTOs bleeding budget on integration and managed services.

Enterprise transformation isn’t short on software; it’s weighed down by code sprawl and the ecosystem built to maintain it. Each new bespoke line of code adds a maintenance tail that inflates services spend and tech debt, pulling budgets into integration and upkeep while software-led innovation stalls and reliance on systems integrators increases.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will compound the problem if it simply generates more code on legacy stacks; however, used within guardrails to refactor, standardize, and assemble governed components, it can reduce tech debt. The current operating model must evolve.

HFS Research, in partnership with Unqork, surveyed 123 large enterprises (revenues greater than $1 billion) to understand IT budgets, services-to-software ratios, systems integrator (SI) relationships, AI adoption, and governance patterns.

The survey uncovered five key takeaways: