April 22, 2025
With economic confidence declining among CFOs, they still view technology spending as a key lever to avoid financial damage.
Of the 226 US chief financial officers recently surveyed by Grant Thornton, 63% reported that their companies’ IT and digital transformation spending will increase over the next 12 months. This was the highest percentage among all corporate spending categories, followed by another technology-related area, risk management and cybersecurity, at 48%.
Tech Budget Boom
Which spending categories will increase over the next 12 months?
IT/Digital Transformation
63%
Cyber Risk/Security
48%
Workforce Compensation/Benefits
46%
Training/Learning and Development
42%
Sales and Marketing
40%
Operations
37%
Recruiting
29%
Compliance
27%
Facilities/Real Estate Footprint
27%
ESG
22%
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
17%
Travel
17%
CFOs believe digital transformation helps them manage uncertainty, optimize costs, and enhance operational efficiency, according to Grant Thornton’s latest quarterly CFO Survey.
While the majority of organizations are modernizing their systems, more than a third (35%) of survey respondents said they are undertaking a full digital overhaul.
When making decisions related to digital transformation, nearly three-quarters (71%) of respondents indicated that customer experience was a key consideration, while only 4% gave it little or no consideration. The percentage of survey respondents using AI technologies to improve customer relationship management and experience increased by 19 percentage points over the past six months, to 64%.
In fact, customer data platforms emerged as a key focus for technology development, according to the report. Thornton noted that Disney’s “remarkably successful” ability to provide a personalized digital experience for theme park visitors “has become a model for companies to emulate.”
The backdrop behind the expected increase in technology spending in the coming months is a sharp decline in economic optimism.
“Digital transformation allows you to be more proactive in terms of scenario planning and how to navigate this ongoing shift in the environment,” says Paul Melville, national principal director of consulting at the professional services firm.
As with other recently published research, the results of the Thornton survey show a sudden decline in the increased optimism that CFOs enjoyed last fall. The percentage of CFOs expressing optimistic expectations rose from just 46% in the third quarter of 2024 to 68% in the fourth quarter, then fell back to 47% in the first quarter, according to Thornton’s report.
The recent sharp decline in confidence in the period following the US presidential election in November 2024 was attributed to the president’s tariff regime and persistent inflation.
“The Fed has taken a wait-and-see approach to interest rate cuts, while announcing tariffs on several products and trading partners, which threaten to further increase inflation,” Thornton wrote.
The report noted that the economic climate has eroded confidence in several areas. For example, only 41% of CFOs expressed confidence in meeting their supply chain needs, a 21 percentage point drop from the previous quarter. Similarly, confidence in meeting labor needs and cost-control goals declined by 19 percentage points.
Thornton noted that uncertainty surrounding tariffs can be almost as troubling as the tariffs themselves, because “frequent changes in direction force us to consider a wide range of scenarios.”
