Technology leaders demonstrate resilience by championing purpose-driven innovation in the face of budget cuts and rising cyber threats.


In brief

  • Budget constraints are visible, with just 34% of tech leaders anticipating increases, a drop from 46% in 2023. This shift drives a greater emphasis on efficiency.
  • 92% of tech leaders are satisfied with their enterprise systems’ capabilities, indicating recent investments are paying off amid budget limitations.
  • AI adoption is accelerating with 10% of organisations now viewing AI as fundamental, up from just 2% last year.

Technology leaders in Ireland and their organisations are steering through a period of considerable disruption driven by economic challenges, geopolitical tensions, and rapid technological advancements. It’s a complex array of issues in the face of which technology leaders display a spirit of resilience and optimism, pressing ahead with investments in cybersecurity capabilities, cloud infrastructure, AI and other emerging technologies.

The EY Ireland Tech Leaders Outlook Survey 2025 underscores that despite financial constraints there’s a clear focus on value delivery and purposeful transformation initiatives. There is also a sense that investments in the technology estate in recent years are beginning to bear fruit with an overwhelming majority of respondents expressing a belief that existing systems can meet the current and future needs of the business. Budget limitations, however, emerged as a key underlying theme touching on almost every area of the IT function’s activity.


Budgets and transformation programmes take a hit
 

Rising cyber threats spur cloud investments
 

Confidence in technology adoption soars as barriers decline


AI adoption accelerates and gathers momentum
 

Data is the super fuel driving tech transformation
 

Sustainability tech tops emerging tech, but is position slipping?

Tech Leaders Outlook Survey 2025
1

Chapter 1

Budgets and transformation programmes take a hit

There’s clear focus on reducing operating costs and a growing acknowledgement of quality as a competitive differentiator.

Geopolitical turmoil, economic conditions and the inflationary pressures of recent years appear to be having an impact on IT spend with only 34% of technology leaders in Ireland foreseeing increases to the budget available to them over the next two years, down from 46% as recently as 2023. Moreover, limited budgets were cited by 19% of respondents as among the most significant challenges facing them this year, up from 11% in 2023.


This decrease reflects a growing sense of caution among leaders. The diminishing optimism regarding budget increases signals a broader trend of tightening financial resources that may have some implications for IT strategy and operations. As organisations grapple with budgetary constraints, it is essential for technology leaders to manage their financial limitations while seeking opportunities for investment that align with their overall business objectives.

“Global economic disruption and the evolving trading landscape is driving uncertainty which, in turn, is affecting the Irish IT investment landscape. Technology leaders’ budgets are seeing fewer increases across the board, and focus is on efficiency and cost reduction,” said Ronan Walsh, Consulting Partner and Head of Technology Consulting at EY Ireland

Ronan Walsh

Our survey, carried out against the backdrop of increased geopolitical tensions and ever-increasing uncertainty around global markets reveals that technology leaders are firmly focused on improving efficiency and reducing IT operating costs as they navigate tightening budgets.


The analysis of budget concerns reveals a change in sentiment and priorities. With a clear focus on improving efficiency and reducing operating costs, many organisations are deprioritising investments in emerging technologies as can be seen from our survey results.

This may also be driving a marked change in relation to the number of technology leaders planning or executing transformation programmes which now stands at 31%, down from 44% in 2023.


The decline can be attributed to the need for immediate cost control rather than long-term investment in transformation, which often requires substantial financial resources.

“There is a clear link between the current geopolitical situation and the significant decrease in the number of technology leaders planning or executing transformation programmes this year. With organisations across all sectors coming under increased cost pressures, there may be less scope to embark on transformation programmes without a clear business case and line of sight to delivering business value. In some cases, the need to reduce costs and stay competitive is driving the transformation requirement,” said Colin Reilly, Partner, SAP Practice Leader and Technology Consulting CIO at EY Ireland.

Colin Reilly

Interestingly, the primary motivations for those pursuing transformation have shifted with those pursuing transformation programmes highly focused on improving the quality of products and services. 63% of respondents identify it as the primary reason, up from 46% in 2024. This indicates a growing recognition of the importance of quality as a competitive differentiator in a challenging market. 

 

Our survey also saw a dramatic drop in the number of technology leaders anticipating an increase to their IT capacity and capability over the next two years, with 76% either planning to maintain current staffing levels or potentially reduce their workforce over the next two years.

 

This is despite difficulty in attracting, hiring and retaining the right talent continuing to be cited as the top challenge facing technology leaders in Ireland. As budget constraints arise, retaining existing staff becomes crucial to avoid the costs of recruiting and training new talent. Technology leaders may also foresee a global economic downturn or expect AI to have a plateauing effect on staffing needs in the coming years. They need to strike a balance between addressing operational demands and investing in future talent to keep their organisations competitive.

Tech Leaders Outlook Survey
2

Chapter 2

Rising cyber threats spur cloud investments

Cybersecurity capabilities identified as the top area requiring investment and improvement over the next two years.

The perception of cyber threats and vulnerabilities has intensified, potentially also due to the current geopolitical situation, with 20% of technology leaders identifying them as a top challenge to organisational growth over the next two years, up from 10% in 2023. This has seen cybersecurity risk retain its position towards the top of the most significant challenges faced by the technology leaders surveyed. 

 

This is to be expected considering advances in AI technology and evolving global dynamics that are driving cybercriminals to become more entrepreneurial. Nation states are also waging cyber warfare, increasingly targeting unrelated businesses for disruption. Organisations must, therefore, balance immediate operational needs with the need to strengthen defences against sophisticated cyber threats that require a proactive approach to cybersecurity in strategic planning.

 

As such, technology leaders in Ireland have identified cybersecurity capabilities as the top area requiring investment / improvement over the next two years, with 48% of respondents choosing it ahead of other areas.

Cybersecurity has firmly established itself as the top investment priority for technology leaders over the coming years. This reflects a growing recognition that cyber risk is not just a technical issue, but one of the most pressing business challenges. The heightened awareness of threats and vulnerabilities is being met with a sense of urgency. Yet, it’s unfolding in the context of constrained budgets. Technology leaders are under pressure to do more with less, making smart, risk-aligned cybersecurity investment decisions more critical than ever.

Investment in infrastructure and supporting technologies was also identified as a top priority for technology leaders. This increased investment priority given to infrastructure and supporting technologies is potentially also linked to the recent geo-political upheaval with cloud being seen as more secure and with more limited resources, organisations tend to focus on the most mission critical areas for investment.


Cloud enters new phase of maturity

The focus on infrastructure reflects the continuing rapid growth in cloud adoption. The number of organisations hosting all core systems in the cloud has grown exponentially over the past two years.


This reflects a marked change in opinion and growing confidence in cloud technology. Businesses are increasingly moving critical operations to the cloud, recognising its potential for better security and data privacy. Cloud technology has become the default hosting option due to its flexibility, scalability, and security over on-premise solutions. This reflects growing trust driven by advancements in security and compliance.

The emphasis on cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure investment are closely linked. There is a growing realisation among technology leaders that the cloud offers superior security to organisations’ own data centres or other on-premise solutions. A move to the cloud therefore enhances cyber defences at the same time as delivering increased data management and governance capabilities along with highly flexible hosting arrangements.

The intersection of cloud adoption and cybersecurity investment highlights the need for a strong digital infrastructure in today’s complex global landscape.

Tech Leaders Outlook Survey 2025
3

Chapter 3

Confidence in technology adoption soars as barriers decline

Greater percentage of respondents now report having no data or technology barriers to their IT agendas compared to two years ago.

The results of our survey indicate a positive and optimistic outlook among technology leaders in Ireland regarding their existing systems and the adoption of new technologies. 

 

Notably, 92% of technology leaders are either satisfied or extremely satisfied with the current capabilities of their enterprise systems in terms of meeting future business requirements and challenges. This suggests that recent investments in technology are yielding benefits, potentially reducing the immediate need for additional expenditures, which is particularly relevant given current budgetary constraints.

 

A key finding is that more respondents (21%) now report no data or technology barriers to their IT agendas compared to two years ago (6%). While high implementation costs remain the top barrier, concerns have decreased from 57% in 2023 to 34% in the latest survey. Additionally, fewer technology leaders cite integration complexity and legacy infrastructure upgrades as barriers.

 

These findings reflect an evolving landscape for technology leaders, with a growing focus on understanding the challenges they face beyond cost-related issues. The decrease in concerns about application and infrastructure costs suggests that organisations are either discovering more cost-effective solutions or adapting their strategies to align with tighter budgets.

 

This trend may also be linked to the accelerated adoption of cloud technologies in recent years.

The simplicity offered by the cloud in terms of technology implementation, integration, and data management cannot be overstated. Organisations that have migrated to the cloud no longer need to establish new data centres when implementing new solutions or modifying existing systems. They can also scale capacity as needed, which enhances the affordability of new applications and infrastructure while reducing the complexity of integrating new systems.

The sense of optimism is also evident in technology leaders’ intentions in relation to new technology investments. For the first time, survey participants were asked to what extent, if any, expenditure on non-AI technology was being postponed to facilitate AI investments. The vast majority said they were not delaying non-AI investments, but many indicated a willingness to adjust spending should the need arise.

Not postponing investments in non-AI technology due to the expectation of significant advancements in AI that could impact their future technology needs

Tech Leaders Outlook Survey 2025
4

Chapter 4

AI adoption accelerates and gathers momentum

A critical priority for tech leaders in the coming two years is the adoption of emerging technologies to digitise processes.

Currently, 10% of organisations claim that AI is fundamental to their business, and they have already implemented numerous AI enabled use cases. While this percentage may seem modest, it marks a significant increase on the 2% who said so last year, indicating that the momentum is building. The second biggest priority for technology leaders over the next two years is adopting emerging technologies to digitise processes with investment in advanced AI and generative AI coming next.


At the other end of the spectrum, the number of organisations without an AI strategy has fallen to 56% from 62% last year, in line with the increase in the number who have implemented a strategy. This indicates that organisations are adopting a cautious yet proactive approach to AI, recognising its importance while taking time to make informed decisions before committing to a strategy. Current caution in AI investment is likely due to the unpredictable pace of technological development that causes unease about solidifying strategies. Those fully embracing AI are adopting dynamic strategies that are regularly updated to reflect the latest capabilities and value.

“Two distinct approaches to AI and GenAI adoption seem to be emerging. There are the organisations that are reshaping their whole businesses around the technology and becoming AI first. And then there are those who need to see it deliver before they believe it and they won’t spend until they see clear winners in terms of use cases. That attitude is quite understandable given the number of businesses that have had poor experiences of investing in technology that failed to deliver,” said Tim Cush, Technology Consulting Partner, Head of Intelligent Automation & AI at EY Northern Ireland.

A photographic portrait of Tim Cush

Investing in the future

 

General AI and Generative AI (GenAI) are recognised as emerging technologies that will deliver most value to their organisations by 29% and 26% of technology leaders, respectively, slightly down from last year. Meanwhile, over a quarter of participants see AI, automation, and emerging technologies as key investment areas for the coming year.

 

The findings highlight a gap between the rapid adoption of GenAI tools and the lack of formal policies governing their use. Most organisations lack guidelines, risking misuse and inconsistent application, while only a small fraction have implemented strict usage policies, reflecting a reactive approach to governance.


“Initially, many organisations sought to restrict the use of Generative AI, but they have come to recognise that this is unviable as employees will use it regardless. As a result, they have chosen to trust their workforce to use it wisely. Some have developed their own tool, such as EY’s EYQ, to encourage employee use rather than trying to enforce other tools. This shift in approach enables employees to discover and experiment with new use cases that can benefit their employers,” said Tim Morthorst, Technology Consulting Director – Digital and Emerging Technologies at EY Ireland.

Tim Morthorst

GenAI transitions to practical use cases

The findings in relation to the use cases deemed to deliver most value to organisations appear to reflect the growing understanding of the technology and its potential. For example, its application in creative areas such as marketing content generation has fallen down the list with just 16% of respondents identifying creativity and design support, and 14% pointing to content creation, both down noticeably from last year.


Customer service and support topped the list this year, followed by reporting and query support, and sales and marketing data analysis. This indicates a better understanding of the technology’s strengths. However, the high costs of deploying it for customer service highlight that the focus on transformative outcomes still outweighs the value of simpler implementations. In contrast, reporting and query support, along with sales and marketing data analysis, offer greater potential for value creation.

Another notable finding is related to software coding assistance. In last year’s survey, 17% of respondents identified this as a key value creator while just 6% said so this year. 

The finding is surprising given the widespread use of AI and GenAI in software development. It likely reflects the unease many developers feel about vibe coding and its associated risks. Significant work remains for teams to establish formal methods for integrating GenAI into their operations.


Tech Leaders Outlook Survey 2025
5

Chapter 5

Data is the super fuel driving tech transformation

11% of respondents identified data quality and governance as the top areas requiring investment in the tech landscape over the next two years.

The value of data has long been recognised, but many organisations struggle to tap into its potential. The challenge lies in the vast amount of unstructured data that makes it difficult to mine using traditional technologies.

 

The rise of GenAI has transformed the landscape through its ability to interpret large unstructured datasets. This has reignited interest in data-heavy technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT). GenAI acts as a refinery that unlocks the value of this data. Combined with the rapid shift to cloud computing, which enhances data security and management, organisations can now maximise the value generated by IoT and similar technologies.

 

That changes the equation in relation to the return on investment in IoT to an organisation and the need to integrate operational technology (IT) with IoT. Both of these have seen small but significant increases in this year’s survey.


The perception of IoT as a standalone technology useful for monitoring and controlling industrial and other processes is changing and its value as a data harvester and collector is being recognised.

The convergence of IoT and data science is a game-changer that enables real-time insights and smarter decision-making across industries. With IoT devices generating vast amounts of data, data scientists play a crucial role in analysing this information to uncover trends and optimise processes. As we embrace this technology, we must also prioritise data privacy and security to protect sensitive information. However, it requires responsible innovation.

The shift is driven by the growing migration to the cloud, which simplifies data storage and access while enhancing security and management. This is crucial for technology leaders as augmented data analytics and governance tools are seen as valuable emerging technologies.

Data quality and governance were identified by 11% of respondents as an area of technology estate most in need of investment over the next two years, with 16% recognising them as key emerging technologies likely to attract investment. The number of technology leaders who cited data protection and managing data flows as a key challenge fell quite notably since last year (from 23% to 16%), reflecting the benefits of increased cloud adoption and security.

Tech Leaders Outlook Survey 2025
6

Chapter 6

Sustainability tech tops emerging tech, but is position slipping?

Sustainability has diminished in significance for organisations in the context of transformation programmes.

The survey findings suggest that considerable progress has been made in adapting IT systems to support sustainability objectives. Almost half of the respondents (49%) said that all sustainability initiatives are supported using existing systems not specifically designed for such purposes. This is broadly in line with last year’s findings where 52% said this was the case.

There is clearly some distance to travel yet in terms of such systems, however. The emerging technology that drew most interest from technology leaders was sustainability management and reporting tools. 

Sustainability management and reporting tools a top emerging technology that would deliver the most value to the organisation and therefore likely to attract the largest share of investment over the next two years.

While this is down from 43% last year, it is still ahead of GenAI and general AI. This suggests that organisations would invest in such systems if they were on the market. An increasing number of organisations are integrating sustainability features into their ERP systems, with 26% adopting these capabilities this year, up from 21% in 2024.

 

Notwithstanding that, it is clear that a substantial majority of the respondents believe their organisations are well prepared for the implementation of sustainability initiatives in the coming years from a technology perspective at least. 

 

However, it should be noted that sustainability has receded in importance for organisations when it comes to transformation programmes.


This decline may be attributed to growing economic pressures, shifting stakeholder demands, and a perceived softening of regulatory momentum, particularly following the EU Omnibus Package. However, the continued investment in sustainability-specific tools suggests that many organisations are embedding sustainability into core business processes - not just to meet compliance requirements, but to unlock operational efficiencies, manage risk, and build competitive advantage.

The findings on transformation programmes are concerning and may point to a broader recalibration of priorities in the face of economic pressures. But while reporting may no longer be the driving force, the sustained focus on sustainability management tools tells a more encouraging story. It signals a maturing approach. One that prioritises performance, resilience, and long-term value creation over compliance alone.

Summary

This year’s survey reveals a strong commitment to investing in cybersecurity, cloud solutions, and AI. Financial constraints are reshaping priorities and leading to an increased emphasis on immediate cost management rather than long-term transformation initiatives. Overall, there is a prevailing sense of optimism. While organisations maintain a positive outlook on existing systems, the urgency for sustainability has lessened, reflecting a shift in focus as they navigate the complexities of the current landscape.

About the survey

Research for the EY Ireland Tech Leaders Outlook Survey 2025 was carried out on behalf of EY by Empathy Research during March – April 2025. 150 people working in senior technology roles across a broad spectrum of organisations responded to the survey. The sectors covered for the survey were broadly consumer products, retail and agriculture; health advanced manufacturing; technology; government and public sector; infrastructure and real estate; power and utilities; telecommunications; media and entertainment; and life sciences.

Contact us
Get in touch to learn more about how our technology consulting services can help you.


Technology Consulting

Our Technology Consulting teams provide strategic advisory, full stack implementation and managed services across emerging and established technologies.


About this article

Authors

Turn Insight to Action

|

See how EY can support your digital roadmap.

You are visiting EY ie (en)
ie en