HFS Pulse 2024: The rise of AI-led technology arbitrage and the red herring of IT spending rebound

HFS’ latest installment of Pulse data is here! Our Pulse series is designed to provide recurring state-of-the-market updates on IT and services trends and investments to help enterprises and providers make informed decisions. 2024 will be the year of AI-led technology arbitrage with a lumpy spending rebound.

• IT spending shows a welcome rebound across industries, but don’t get too excited. 2024 will be a lumpy year characterized by shorter contract lengths, heightened expectations for ROI, and major transformation initiatives chunked up into component parts. And IT no longer writes the checks, so ensure targeted offerings for the C-suite and line-of-business leaders.
• HFS research shows that 2024 will bring modest growth in labor-centric IT and business process services spending. AI-led technology spending is emerging as the growth engine of 2024 and is expected to drive significant investment. This is the rise of technology arbitrage. It will force a new S-curve of AI-driven value creation. Service providers have an opportunity to help drive AI maturity in 2024 and beyond.
• Expect a keen, continued focus on bottom-line impact and doing more with less. The “AADA quadfecta” of AI, automation, data, and analytics initiatives lead emerging tech investments. There are no easy choices driving IT services growth—expect BAU (business as usual) optimization and GenAI impact on quality assurance. Business process outsourcing (BPO) spending leans to operating model transformation and consulting.

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