If you want to understand where the market is going, you don’t listen to the hype—you follow the money. And right now, the people holding the purse strings are sending a message that is impossible to ignore.
For years, technology budgets often sat in the “discretionary” pile—funds that were released when times were good and tightened when the economy got shaky. That era is officially over.
According to the latest data coming out of the UK corporate landscape, we are witnessing a massive behavioral shift in how finance leaders view digital investment. Despite a backdrop of geopolitical tension and economic uncertainty, the wallet is not closing. It’s opening wider, but with a very specific set of new rules.
Tech is No Longer Optional—It’s Structural
The numbers from the latest Deloitte survey are stark. An overwhelming 96% of CFOs expect to increase investment in technology over the next five years. This isn’t just a majority; it’s a consensus.
What’s fascinating here isn’t just the spending, but the mindset behind it. Finance chiefs no longer view digital spend as a cyclical cost. Instead, they are treating it like capital investment—essential infrastructure required to keep the industrial engine running. They have realized that digital ability isn’t just about efficiency; it is the primary route to medium-term growth.
The AI “Confidence Flip”
The most significant change in sentiment revolves around Artificial Intelligence. In a surprisingly short window, skepticism has given way to pragmatic optimism.
Just a few months ago, many leaders were in the “wait and see” camp. Now, the proportion of CFOs who are optimistic about AI’s ability to improve business performance has surged to 59%. This isn’t an incremental drift; it’s a leap that suggests AI has graduated from an experimental curiosity to a mainstream financial lever.
The Paradox: Spending Big While Playing It Safe
Here is where things get interesting for business owners and founders. You might assume that this wave of investment means companies are ready to take big risks. They are not.
Risk appetite among finance leaders remains incredibly low—sitting at just 15%, well below the long-term average. This creates a unique tension: CFOs are willing to spend heavily on AI, but they are terrified of waste.
What does this mean for your strategy?
- The end of “Open-Ended” R&D: Finance leaders are not funding science experiments. They are funding solutions.
- Tight Scope is King: Projects that get approved will be those with tightly defined boundaries and clear deliverables.
- Measurable Returns: If you can’t translate technical ability into a spreadsheet showing productivity gains, the budget won’t be there.
The Human Element
There is a subtext to this data that smart leaders will spot immediately. While the checkbook is open for software, there is a growing recognition that technology alone solves nothing.
Productivity doesn’t magically improve because you installed a new system. It improves when your team knows how to wield that system effectively. The “smart money” is moving toward change management and upskilling just as fast as it moves toward software licenses.
The Takeaway for Founders
The signal from the market is clear: Don’t stop investing in tech, but stop guessing about the ROI.
If you are pitching a digital transformation project—whether to a board, an investor, or your own finance department—focus on “stewardship” rather than innovation. The goal isn’t just to be modern; it’s to be auditable, efficient, and relentlessly productive.
The capital is there. You just need to prove you’re building a machine that prints efficiency, not just a toy that looks futuristic.
