According to the latest emerging technology report from ICT professional association ISACA, complexities in adoption of emerging technologies have been revealed, with 72% of Austraian and New Zealand IT professionals citing cost of implementation as a top reason for resistance, followed by 49% who indicate unclear business objectives as holding them back from implementation - and 46% who cited cybersecurity risk.

“When business objectives are clear and risk is appropriately assessed and managed, emerging technologies can bring transformative benefits to an organisation,” says Dustin Brewer, ISACA senior director, emerging technology and innovation.

The inaugural emerging technologies survey - which gathered responses from 4,541 professionals around the world - first assessed how respondents define emerging technology.

The top three characteristics classifying a technology as emerging, per global respondents, are technologies with significant disruptive capabilities, technologies with significant problem-solving capacity, and technologies that are recent discoveries.

In Australia and New Zealand, the top emerging technologies in use at enterprises are cloud 55%, AI 21% and the Internet of Things (IoT) 18%.

And the main motivation for ANZ professionals adopting these and other emerging technologies include:

1. Anticipated cost savings 78%

2. New revenue stream 54%

3. Improved cybersecurity 53%

4. The ability to reach new customers 51%

5. To meet regulatory requirements 47%

6. Increased agility 46%

The survey findings also revealed that senior leadership generally supports emerging technology adoption, with 78% of respondents in ANZ indicating that their leadership provides moderate to very receptive support.

“As the survey findings show, there are varying levels of adoption depending on the technology, but signs are that leadership is keeping a close eye on technologies, including IoT and blockchain, to consider for future use if not already implemented,” said Brewer.

Globally, 91% of respondents agree that training and continuous education are essential for technology professionals, with 81% indicating they would like to specifically pursue more training on cloud technologies, and 69% expressing moderate-to-high interest in training for AI.

While 60% of respondents in ANZ are optimistic about the impact of technological advancements on their career, half report their organisation is not investing in people skills to successfully navigate the changing tech landscape. The global findings indicate that leadership is aware of this issue, as 48% of the respondents identifying as executive leadership agree that investment in training is insufficient.

“Prioritising people and investing in emerging technology training is key to not only achieving success with technology implementation but also ensuring the workforce has the cutting-edge skills needed in today’s evolving tech landscape,” says David Samuelson, ISACA CEO.

The new ISACA report offers further insights into how global IT and business professionals view the benefits, risks, adoption barriers, knowledge gaps, and leadership’s willingness to adopt new tech.

To read more, access a complimentary copy of The Pulse: Emerging Technology 2021, get insights from industry leaders and related resources go to www.isaca.org/emerging-tech-2021.