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Technology leaders rarely have the luxury of focusing on one challenge at a time. AI, delivery speed, cloud, data and team capability are all competing for attention.
We asked technology leaders: Which of these areas are most important for you right now?
The results give us a snapshot of where that attention is going, with two areas standing out clearly alongside a much broader mix of priorities.
AI & Automation stood out clearly, selected by 65% of respondents. Delivery Speed was second at 47%.
After those two, responses were more evenly spread. Cloud was selected by 33%, Team Capability by 29%, and Data Platforms and Metrics & Visibility by 27% each.
The breadth of the responses is also telling. With an average of 3.7 areas selected per person, technology leaders are balancing several priorities at once.
AI & Automation taking the top spot is perhaps unsurprising. The conversation has moved beyond experimentation alone. Organisations are looking at where AI can create practical efficiencies, improve internal productivity and become part of the products and services they offer. At the same time, the technology is developing rapidly, so leaders are still assessing where it adds real value and what its wider implications will be.
Delivery Speed being the second most selected area reflects another familiar pressure: how to get valuable work delivered efficiently without teams becoming bogged down. That isn’t simply about doing more, faster. Architecture, legacy technology, processes, skills, dependencies and visibility can all affect how easily work moves through an organisation.
That makes the wider spread of responses relevant too. Team Capability, Team Capacity, DevOps & DevEx, and Metrics & Visibility all featured alongside Delivery Speed. They are separate priorities, but each can influence an organisation’s ability to deliver effectively and make decisions based on feedback and data.
This is a snapshot rather than a definitive view of technology leadership priorities. But within this group, two areas stood apart: AI & Automation and Delivery Speed.
Beyond those, there was no single dominant concern. Respondents were balancing priorities across technology, delivery, data and teams, with most selecting several areas rather than one alone.
That’s what people told us. And, perhaps most usefully, it shows just how broad the technology leadership agenda remains.
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