Efficiency and Productivity Improvements Drive Enterprise Software Investment

Austin, Texas, USA, June 2, 2025

An Analysis of Futurum’s Survey of 895 IT Decision Makers Finds That Vendors Should Highlight Their Capabilities Around Machine Learning, Automation, and AI Agents

More than 25% of IT decision-makers surveyed by Futurum in November 2024 said their organization will spend between $1 million and $5 million on enterprise software during 2025, with an additional 22.2% indicating that their organization has budgeted between $500,000 and $1 million for enterprise applications this year.

The findings are highlighted in Futurum’s 2H 2024 Enterprise Applications Decision Maker Survey of 895 IT decision makers, which tracks the investment priorities, decision criteria, and past purchasing activity in the enterprise software market. The strong level of budget allocation for enterprise software reflects the desire for organizations to utilize digital tools as a key transformation lever.

Figure 1: Planned Enterprise Software Spending in 2025, in USD

“Even amid market turmoil and industry headwinds, we are seeing organizations continue to evaluate and make software purchases across a wide range of application types,” Keith Kirkpatrick, Research Director, The Futurum Group, said. “Enterprises are realizing that selecting modern software not only can drive better operational performance, but can also ensure that their organization’s application stack will be capable of integrating with other data sources, applications, and agentic tools, which are viewed as the key to unlocking additional enterprise value.”

Despite the healthy budget allocations, IT decision makers are not simply forking over cash; there are clear priorities around return on investment (ROI) that enterprise software vendors must address. Not surprisingly, efficiency gains, productivity improvements, and reduced costs are at the top of the priority list for decision makers, according to Futurum’s research.

Figure 2: Measuring ROI for SaaS Purchases

The survey reveals an interesting mix of top priorities in terms of how ROI is measured. It’s clear that efficiency and productivity go hand-in-hand and reflect the desire for organizations to improve processes and procedures to streamline operations and drive more activity. This marks a real opportunity for vendors to highlight their capabilities around machine learning, automation, and, of course, AI agents, which, if deployed properly, can drastically impact these two metrics, as well as address cost, employee experience (EX), and customer experience (CX) challenges.

Read more in the “2H 2024 Enterprise Applications Decision Maker Survey Report” on the Futurum Intelligence Platform.

About Futurum Intelligence for Market Leaders

Futurum Intelligence’s Enterprise Applications IQ service provides actionable insight from analysts, reports, and interactive visualization datasets, helping leaders drive their organizations through transformation and business growth. Subscribers can log into the platform at https://app.futurumgroup.com/, and non-subscribers can find additional information at Futurum Intelligence.

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