State of IT

Let’s face it: Our highly connected world couldn’t function without IT professionals.

If you work in the IT field, you not only help people harness the power of technology to propel businesses forward today—enabling seamless global communications and supporting vital services everyone relies on daily—you also shape the course of future innovations.

In 2025, amid uncertain economic conditions and potentially disruptive shifts (e.g., growing security concerns, IT skills shortages, and AI rapidly making its way into everything), organizations plan to adopt new technologies to drive efficiencies and positive outcomes. However, the need to “do more with less” is persistent in IT, and businesses must balance funding important initiatives with cutting non-essential spending.

The 2025 State of IT report offers valuable insights you can use to benchmark technology adoption, budgeting, and IT hiring plans against those of your peers across multiple industries and organization sizes.

Good news: Far more often than not, businesses expect to increase IT budgets in 2025. Additionally, even as layoffs make headlines, demand for IT labor and tech solutions is expected to remain strong.

More insights await in the full version of the 2025 State of IT report. Log in or create a free Spiceworks account to read the entire report, including:

IT Spending in 2025

• Tech budget changes in 2025 
• Where businesses plan to increase and cut investments 
• Factors driving business technology spending
• How companies plan to switch tech vendors in 2025

Emerging Tech in 2025

• Emerging technologies worth investing in today
• Practical AI business use cases 
• IT security trends and best practices 

IT Jobs in 2025

• Outlook for IT jobs in 2025
• The most important IT skills employers need
• Generational differences in career paths 

Key Takeaways

• Guidance for IT professionals, business leaders, and tech vendors

The State of IT report — brought to you by Aberdeen Strategy & Research, a division of Spiceworks —  is an annual study that previews organizations’ forward-looking IT spending and tech adoption plans. 

Our relationships with millions of IT professionals and proven analytical capabilities allow us to share unique insights to help everyone in IT stay ahead of the curve.

Is the economy slowing down, or is it about to heat up again? While opinions are mixed and the future is unclear, businesses will remain cautiously optimistic about their IT spending plans in 2025.

Importantly, our research reveals that organizations collectively plan to increase tech investments, often to respond to business challenges or to fund new initiatives.

However, as many businesses invest in technology to solve problems, these same organizations will simultaneously optimize budgets and balance spending through strategic tech cost-cutting measures.

Where companies plan to streamline costs in 2025

Despite overall IT budget plans rising in 2025, the vast majority (92%) of companies intend to implement some form of cost savings relating to people, processes, or technology, with an average of four measures planned per organization.

In many cases, organizations will clear out the old to make way for the new. Among tech-centric cost-saving measures, decommissioning unnecessary infrastructure (38%), re-evaluating current vendors or contracts (37%), adopting solutions that automate tasks or improve efficiency (34%), and consolidating redundant technologies (29%) were most likely to be implemented. 

However, 28% of businesses plan to put future IT projects on hold.

On the process side, 30% of businesses plan to shift capital expenses to operating expenses (i.e., moving from purchases to services), 27% expect to outsource tasks or services, and 25% intend to renegotiate payment terms.

While far more organizations plan to increase overall IT staff size than decrease, many companies also plan to seek cost savings on labor: 30% of surveyed organizations plan to enact a hiring freeze or slowdown, 25% plan to deprioritize IT training, and unfortunately, 23% expect to lay off workers in 2025.

Tech budget growth expected to accelerate in 2025

Even with widespread cost-cutting measures planned, the overall outlook for the IT industry is positive. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of companies plan to increase their IT budgets in 2025. Only 4% plan to decrease, and the remainder (33%) intend to keep budgets level year-over-year (YoY).

In comparison, 2025 budget change plans are more optimistic than those going into 2023 and roughly in line with plans going into 2024, with one key difference.

On a positive note, overall IT spending among all State of IT respondents is expected to grow at a healthy 9% between 2024 and 2025, which represents a more optimistic outlook compared to the more moderate 6% overall expected growth reported going into 2024.

2025 IT spending by industry

While we foresee IT spending increasing across all industries represented in our survey,  IT budgets in some industries will fare better while others will lag behind.

For example, 72% of organizations in the IT services and software industries intend to increase IT budgets in 2025, but only 48% of organizations in the public sector (education, government, and healthcare) plan to do the same. Additionally, IT professionals working in the public sector were 3x as likely to expect YoY IT spending in their company to decrease than average (13% vs. 4%, respectively).

Looking at median spending data by industry offers additional insights into 2025 budget plans: The typical expected spending change at a company level is a 5% increase. 

At the extremes on an industry level, median budget growth expectations are elevated in the IT services (10%) and software (8%) industries but lower than the median in the public sector (no change).

While median spending changes in financial services and construction align with the overall median (5%), some expect to increase budgets by much more: Overall spending among respondents in these industries is expected to grow 14% YoY.

Why companies plan to increase IT budgets in 2025

Yes, many planned budget increases will help compensate for rising IT costs. Still, companies are more likely to increase spending to fund strategic initiatives. 

The top driver of technology budget growth is increased security concerns, influencing 53% of organizations planning to raise spending in 2025 (up from 41% in 2023 and 48% in 2024).

Additional factors contributing to rising IT spending include increased priority on IT projects (47%), the need to update infrastructure (45%), employee growth (45%), and inflation (45%).

On an encouraging note, nearly a third of companies increasing budgets in 2025 also cited business revenue increases (31%) and senior leadership supporting technology initiatives (30%) contributing to spending growth.

Are companies spending enough on IT?

It depends on who you ask. At first glance, our data indicates that 80% of IT professionals believe their organization invests enough to support its technology needs (48% enough + 32% more than enough). By comparison, only 19% believe their organization doesn’t invest enough.

But when you take a closer look at the data, it’s clear that IT leaders might be seeing things through rose-colored glasses, while IT staff / individual contributors (who are more hands-on with the technology) are more pessimistic. 

In stark contrast with their bosses, slightly more than half (54%) of IT staff believe their organization spends less than enough on technology, while only 2% believe their organization spends more than enough.

Similarly, respondents in small businesses are more likely to report having less than enough IT budget, compared to respondents in larger organizations.

Why are individual contributors and respondents working in small businesses more likely to be dissatisfied with their IT budgets? Data on the pressures faced by IT departments can provide potential clues.

“As an MSP, most of our spend is on tech. The trick is getting our clients to do the spend they need, whether it relates to our services or other tech-related needs. Many of our clients want Aston Martin tech and services for a Ford Focus price. The reality is that in today’s threat environment, more need to have at least Cadillac-level security as their entry-level, ESPECIALLY if they are subject to any regulatory frameworks.”

– robbjeff, Managed Services Provider

“We have a budget that allows us to spend what is needed to accomplish our tasks. Of course, the one area where I would like to see more flexibility is salaries. One thing that has assisted us in getting better services and tools as needed has been our ability to reduce costs by replacing legacy functions with new services that are considerably cheaper”

– jleroi, IT Manager

Top tech challenges businesses expect to encounter in 2025

When asked what IT challenges they’re concerned about over the next 12 months, IT professionals said they’re expecting many common IT struggles:

• 46% – Increases in product costs
• 38% – IT skills or labor shortages
• 36% – Employee wages not keeping up with the cost of living
• 29% – Teams being asked to do more with less

The headline figures on IT challenges only tell half of the story. Organizations with fewer employees expect to feel the pain of inflation more than larger organizations: More than half (56%) of respondents in small businesses are concerned about increases in product costs in 2025, compared to 38% in Enterprises.

Additionally, our research uncovered a disconnect between individual contributors and management: IT staff are twice as likely to be concerned about wages not keeping up with the cost of living (55%) compared to respondents holding director titles and above (27%).

Similarly, IT staff (41%) are twice as likely to be concerned about IT teams being asked to do more with less in 2025, compared to employees holding IT director titles and above (22%).

How will companies spend on technology in 2025?

Real-world IT budget allocation data from the State of IT encompasses hardware, software, cloud, managed services, IT labor, facilities, telecommunications, and internal services—which aligns with the Technology Business Management (TBM) framework.

According to our research, the bulk of 2025 IT budgets will go towards hardware (19%), software (19%), cloud (15%), and IT labor (13%), with the top spending areas within each category listed below.

Top IT spending areas by tech category (2025)

Hardware: Laptops, desktops, servers, networking

Software: Operating systems, security, databases, productivity

Cloud and hosted services: Online backup and restore, IaaS, web hosting, productivity

IT labor: Senior employees and mid-level employees

Managed services: Managed security, networking, hosting, backup and recovery

Facilities and power: Utilities, Power and climate, physical security, data centers 

Telecom: ISPs, mobile charges, WAN

IT spending plans within and across tech categories

Because some tech categories are quite broad and other technology areas span categories (e.g., security spans hardware, software, cloud, and managed services), reporting spending in different ways can provide additional insights for IT departments looking to benchmark 2025 budgets and tech vendors developing marketing plans.

Expected tech spending, by % of overall 2025 IT budgets

Within tech categories

• 10% Internal employees (IT labor)
  • Junior, mid-level, and senior employees
• 9% Client devices (Hardware)
  • Laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones

Across tech categories (e.g., hardware, software, cloud, and services)

• 9% Infrastructure (compute, storage, networking)
• 6% Security solutions 
• 5% Backup and restore solutions
• 3% Communications solutions
• 3% Productivity solutions
• 3% IT management solutions
• 3% Business support solutions

Where will IT spending increase or decrease in 2025?

Our study asked respondents to share their plans to increase or decrease spending across dozens of technology areas—often across categories—including security solutions, backup and recovery solutions, generative AI software, and more.

More than half of organizations will increase AI spending

Interestingly, 54% of businesses plan to increase spending on generative AI software, making it the technology area most likely to see spending growth. Additionally, with the rapid proliferation of AI into many products and services, overall AI adoption has already expanded to 40% of businesses.

Given that security concerns are the top factor influencing budget growth, it should come as no surprise that roughly half of organizations plan to increase spending on security solutions (52%). Also, with Windows 10 end-of-service in October 2025 and laptops purchased during the pandemic-driven rush to support remote workers now more than four years old, 47% of organizations plan to increase laptop spending in 2025.

By contrast, the bottom three areas in our study, where fewer IT departments plan to increase spending, include web hosting (27%), legacy telephone (26%), and printers (21%). In fact, organizations are nearly as likely (20%) to decrease spending on printers as they are to increase.

Companies open to switching vendors for most tech

As they consider new products, organizations continually evaluate various tech providers as they seek the best options for their company at the right price. According to the Aberdeen Tech Buyer Consideration survey, IT professionals are most likely to switch vendors for two primary reasons: Significant cost savings and superior product/service quality.

The 2025 State of IT reveals that organizations are currently amenable to changing vendors in most technology areas (59%) included in our survey.

Perhaps because it’s an evolving emerging technology with many vendors rapidly improving their offerings, two-thirds of organizations using generative AI are open to switching to a different vendor (19% actively switching and 47% open to switching).

Other technology areas where many current users are actively or considering switching vendors include Infrastructure-as-a-service, desktop-as-a-service, industry-specific applications, networking hardware, communications software, and email solutions.

Summary: The State of IT Spending in 2025

While businesses will implement many cost-cutting measures in 2025, IT professionals tell us the overall state of IT spending will be strong. 

• Most companies will increase their IT budgets, with overall spending expected to rise by a healthy 9% YoY. However, many IT professionals believe more investment is needed and many organizations feel pressure to do more with less.
• In 2025, the top factors leading to budget increases include the desire to improve security, modernize business processes, and support new employees.
• As always, organizations will look to maximize value. As businesses spend on technology, they will consider their options carefully, staying open to switching vendors with an eye on adopting new solutions that might bring future benefits—the focus of the next chapter.

In 2025, businesses have plans to increase their adoption of many emerging technologies, often to help address security concerns.

This trend, which signals a strong commitment to IT spending, is a noteworthy indicator of optimism, as emerging solutions aren’t guaranteed to deliver an immediate return on investment: Companies adopting them often take on risk in hopes of a future payoff.

Key areas of investment:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI), whether as a standalone product or integrated into an existing technology, is used by 40% of organizations today, with an additional 22% planning to adopt it within two years. 
• On the security front, most organizations are using technologies such as multi-factor authentication, cloud-based backup and restore, patch management, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) to help secure their environments.
• Among technologies we’re tracking, zero-trust network access and Gigabit Wi-Fi are most likely to be adopted within the next two years.

Which emerging technologies will businesses use in 2025?

With so many new products and technologies coming to market, IT buzzwords abound. IT professionals are constantly told that the latest and greatest solutions are “must-haves.” 

However, with limited time and budget, organizations simply don’t have the resources to evaluate, much less purchase everything. And despite the hype, some technologies and standards don’t gain traction as promised (remember Betamax or HD DVDs?). 

One major role IT professionals play is deciding which computing products are truly worth investing in and which ones to pass on for now. The 2025 State of IT report reveals what technologies businesses use today and which ones IT pros will consider in the future.

For each technology category included in our survey, we asked about two things:

• Usage (current, previous, and planned within the next two years)
• Perceived benefit (whether current and previous users felt the technology was worth the investment in associated time, effort, and cost)

Which emerging technologies are companies using today?

Roughly half of organizations today use 5G (54%), open-source software (51%), and IT automation technologies (50%). Also popular are Internet of Things devices (47%), Gigabit Wi-Fi (44%), and artificial intelligence (40%). 

Notably, at the same time last year, only 25% of survey respondents had adopted AI. 

However, while heavily hyped in recent years, 3D printing (29%), blockchain (25%), and virtual reality (26%) are at the bottom of our list, suggesting these technologies are either niche (i.e., businesses in the manufacturing industry are 1.5x as likely to use 3D printing) or not yet ready for widespread business use in their current iterations. 

Looking towards the future, emerging technologies poised to see the most additional business adoption within the next two years include already popular Gigabit Wi-Fi and artificial intelligence, as well as Kubernetes and hyperconverged infrastructure.

While organizations in some industries are more likely to use emerging technologies relevant to specific needs—construction and manufacturing are 1.4x and 1.5x as likely to use 3D printing than average—two industries stand out for being on the cutting edge of tech: Software and IT services.

Emerging technology adoption by industry
(Times as likely to use than average)

Software

• 1.9x Kubernetes
• 1.7x Container technology
• 1.6x Serverless computing
• 1.5x Blockchain
• 1.4x Open-source software

IT Services 

• 1.7x Blockchain
• 1.5x Edge computing
• 1.4x Serverless computing
• 1.3x Open-source software

Which emerging technologies are most worth investing in? 

While current and planned adoption data is useful for benchmarking purposes, IT professionals in Spiceworks told us they ultimately want to know if a given technology can bring value to their organization. Starting with the 2025 edition of the State of IT report, we asked respondents if they believe various technologies are worth investment in terms of time, effort, and cost. 

The following relatively popular technologies were deemed most worth investing in by IT professionals who have used them: IT automation, Gigabit Wi-Fi, artificial intelligence (more on this later), and edge computing.

Even with the lowest current adoption among technologies we’re tracking, nearly two-thirds (64%) of current blockchain users believe this niche technology is worth investment, showing that a solution doesn’t need to be popular to add value.

Other technologies are more controversial: Only half of all businesses (49%) currently using the technology believe VR is worth investing in, but sentiment is higher (68%) in the software industry. It’s also important to note perceptions of value can shift as technologies mature. For example, with recent demos suggesting VR/AR and hardware is evolving rapidly, it will be important to track the same metric in future reports.

“The State of IT identified that 75% of businesses are gaining high value out of their investments in IT automation. This matches with Aberdeen research showing that IT departments are increasing investments into practical applications of AI to increase efficiencies, reduce resource demands on IT staff and improve IT capabilities.”

Jim Rapoza – VP and Principal Analyst at Aberdeen Strategy & Research

Despite popularity, IT pro opinions are divided on AI

Artificial intelligence can be a divisive topic with its game-changing yet controversial potential to upend the way everyone works. Among current adopters, enthusiasm for AI differs depending on respondents’ seniority, company size, and age.

For example, among respondents using artificial intelligence, those working in enterprises are 1.5x as likely to believe AI is worth investing in compared to those working in small businesses.

Similarly, leaders holding a director level or higher are 1.4x as likely to believe AI is worth investing in compared to staff, and Gen Z respondents are 1.4x as likely to believe AI is worth investing in than Boomers.

“I have used ChatGPT quite a fair bit and I consider it very effective as a talking encyclopedia, but it doesn’t understand context and nuance like a human being can. Perhaps one day AI might be able to do the work of human beings, but not in my lifetime I think.” – RMDTECH, IT pro working in small business, UK

“I think it’s pretty obvious (AI is) here to stay, the way so many people are embracing it. (However) I feel it is being overused in general, already. I also feel it’s being used in too many areas that it shouldn’t be.” – KomaShok, Field Systems Engineer, USA

Which AI use cases are worth investing in? The jury is still out.

Even though they’re optimistic about the technology as a whole, at this relatively early stage in the technology’s evolution, IT professionals are still forming opinions on the value of specific use cases for AI. Even among current adopters, roughly one-third of respondents have no opinion on whether the particular use cases they have implemented are worth investing in.

However, the opinions of IT professionals who have made up their minds offer some guidance for organizations looking to focus AI investments. The table below ranks IT professionals’ sentiments toward various AI use cases when asked if worth the investment in time, effort, and cost.

How IT professionals ranked select AI use cases
(most worth investment to least)

1. Information retrieval/decision (i.e., asking ChatGPT to answer questions)
2. Automation
3. Detecting and deterring security intrusions and fraud
4. Writing computer code or scripts
5. Data analytics
6. Internal documentation
7. Transferring and cross-referencing data
8. Machine learning
9. Powering customer-facing chatbots
10. Powering internal-facing chatbots

Which advanced cybersecurity technologies are organizations using today?

We also asked respondents about 15 selected cybersecurity solutions in six high-level areas: Endpoint Security, Data Security, Application Security, Identities, Access, and Security Operations.

For each of the security solutions, we asked about usage and perceived benefits. Across all categories, organizations projected continued expansion of use over the next two years and an extremely high perception of value for the time and resources invested.

Net “Worth the Investment” Index of +100% means all were positive; -100% means all were negative

• Endpoint Security: About half of organizations are currently using Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), Patch Management, and Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) solutions, all of which are relevant for helping IT pros manage and secure a predominantly remote/hybrid workforce.
• Security Operations: Protection alone is not enough. In recent years, organizations have been investing in technologies such as Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Managed Detection and Response (MDR) to help them detect, respond, and recover more quickly from cybersecurity- and compliance-related events.
• Identity: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) has finally gone mainstream, and even so the quest to eliminate traditional passwords continues with the adoption of various forms of Passwordless Authentication technologies. Meanwhile, increased use of Identity Governance solutions underscores an ongoing maturity among IT pros, as they embrace both the business and technical aspects of cybersecurity.
• Access: As noted in the Endpoint Security area, the need to secure and manage a predominantly remote/hybrid workforce – while at the same time providing a flexible, friction-free user experience – has led to increasing adoption of network access technologies such as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA).
• Data Security: More than half of organizations have adopted cloud-based Disaster Recovery as-a-Service, as IT pros get more comfortable with relying on trusted service providers – the same dynamic behind increased adoption of MDR, as noted above. Cyber Insurance policies have become more rigorous to obtain as the market matures, but still play an important role in managing the risk of data breaches.
  
• Application Security: For organizations that develop and deploy their own software applications, attacker exploits of APIs has naturally led to an uptick in the adoption of API Security solutions. Separately, as developers have increasingly taken advantage of open-source code – and more recently, AI-generated code – the adoption of Software Composition Analysis (SCA) and Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) solutions are helping to address these risks.

“Today’s IT and Cybersecurity professionals are feeling the pressure of managing and supporting dynamic, complex computing infrastructures, relentless cybersecurity- and compliance-related risks, higher end-user expectations, and the pinch of limited resources. The findings from the SWZD State of IT 2025 report make it clear that cybersecurity technology categories that truly deliver business value – in terms of risk reduction, operational efficiencies, and strategic enablement – are the ones seeing increased adoption and growth.

Derek E. Brink, CISSP
Vice President and Research Fellow, Cybersecurity and IT GRC,
Aberdeen Strategy & Research”

Use of advanced security technologies by industry

Like with emerging tech, organizations in the software and IT services industries are more likely to adopt advanced security technologies than average.

Security adoption by industry
(Times as likely to use than average)

Software

• 1.5x Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)
• 1.5x Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
• 1.4x Identity Governance
• 1.4x Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)
• 1.2x Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

IT Services  

• 1.6x Software Bill of Materials
• 1.5x Software composition analysis
• 1.3x API security
• 1.2x Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

Also of note: Organizations in retail and finance are 1.3x and 1.4x more likely to use passwordless authentication than average. 

Summary: The State of Emerging Technology in 2025

In 2025, businesses will adopt emerging and advanced security technologies to help protect and propel their businesses forward. While many solutions can offer real business benefits today, other emerging solutions might need to mature further before organizations feel that investment in them is worthwhile.

• Within the next two years, technologies IT departments are most likely to adopt likely to deploy include Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Gigabit Wi-Fi, Passwordless authentication, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Identity Governance, and Artificial Intelligence.
• According to current IT adopters, business technologies most worth investing in today include Multi-Factor Authentication, Cloud-based data backup and disaster recovery, IT automation technology, Patch Management, Gigabit Wi-Fi networking, and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR).

• Many organiazations plan to adopt AI in the coming years, but opinions about the buzzworthy technology are divided. While most IT professionals are optimistic about this potentially game-changing technology, IT staff and older IT professionals are more skeptical, and the jury is still out on which AI use cases are currently most worth investing in.

The modern world depends on IT professionals to manage the computing infrastructure that powers applications, websites, and services every industry relies on daily. Without these crucial workers, the digital fabric that connects us all could not function.

Businesses employ millions of IT professionals in support, network access, programming, and management roles—and the field is expected to grow at a healthy rate over the long term. Over the next decade, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that computer and information technology employment will “grow much faster than the average for all occupations,” which bodes well for IT workers seeking jobs. 

However, while the number of open roles in specialized IT disciplines is expected to grow rapidly over the long term, there will be less demand for some general roles. The BLS projects large increases in the number of information security analyst (33%), software development (18%), and IT management (17%) roles in the United States between 2023 and 2033, but the agency expects the number of user support specialist roles to grow at a slower rate (5%) and the number of network and computer administrator roles to contract (-3%) over the same period.

Along with these projected shifts, 2025 State of IT data reveals that most hiring managers (57%) believe it’s currently difficult to find skilled IT talent. Additionally, 38% of organizations in our study expressed concern about IT labor or skills shortages, which could present challenges for many organizations, given IT professionals’ critical role in the tech-dependent workplace.

Which companies plan to hire IT professionals?

In 2025, 43% of companies plan to increase the size of their IT staff –– a significant increase compared to two years ago.

Larger companies are more likely to hire IT professionals in 2025 than smaller ones, which is essential information for applicants who want to optimize their job search.

Plans to increase size of IT staff in 2025 by company size

• 53% Enterprises
• 44% Mid-size
• 28%  Small

Additionally, businesses in the tech industry (e.g., software and IT services) are significantly more likely to hire IT professionals than average, while organizations in the education sector will lag behind.

Plans to increase size of IT staff in 2025 by industry

• 70% Software
• 59% IT services
• 53% Financial services
• 20% Education 

If you’re an IT professional with aspirations of landing a more specialized position, you’re significantly more likely to find opportunities in larger companies. For example, enterprises (1000+ employees) represented in our study were 5x as likely as small businesses (1-99 employees) to employ workers whose roles focus on AI and 3x as likely to employ IT security-focused workers.

Which IT professionals plan to seek new jobs in 2025?

Among all survey respondents, 36% expressed plans to seek a new employer in 2025. However, younger IT professionals are much more likely to try to switch roles within the next year.

More than half (53%) of IT professionals born in 1997 or later (Gen Z) plan to look for a new job in 2025, compared to 42% of Millennials, 32% of Gen X, and 15% of Boomers. In other words, Gen Z respondents are 3.5x as likely as Boomers and 1.7x as likely as Gen X to look for a new IT job in 2025.

This insight into the relationship between age and job-seeking status could partially explain why employers are having problems hiring more experienced workers—who our data reveals are less likely to be actively looking for work.

As to the motivations behind younger IT professionals job hopping at a greater rate, a recent Spiceworks / Aberdeen study on job satisfaction revealed that pursuing a salary increase or opportunities for career growth are the top reasons IT professionals seek a new job, with 63% of job switchers earning a higher wage after landing a new role. 

“I work in state government. Consequently, there is no such thing as promotion. The only way to get ‘promoted’ is by accepting a new job.” – Rod-F

Which IT skills are most in demand?

As IT professionals seek new jobs, which qualifications will employers look for in candidates, and do job seekers have the necessary expertise? We asked respondents to rank the importance of various skills for a career in IT. We then inquired about their personal confidence levels in each of these skills.

According to State of IT respondents, the most important IT career skills include core technical knowledge, problem-solving, cybersecurity, written and verbal communication, and team collaboration.

However, despite being one of the most important technical IT skills (90% said it’s “important” or “very important”), only 63% of IT professionals said they’re very or extremely confident in their own security knowledge—revealing a skills gap.

Our study revealed similar disparities—where a large majority of respondents deemed skills important but had relatively low confidence in these skills —in technical areas including data analysis and scripting/coding, and conflict resolution, a soft skill.

Importance of IT career skills vs. IT pros’ confidence in these skills

Differing generational views on the importance of job skills

Just as IT job search plans vary by age, opinions on how important specific skills are for a successful IT career differ among generations. For example, members of Gen Z and Millennial generations are roughly twice as likely to believe AI prompting is an important skill to have than Boomers.

Younger IT professionals are also slightly more likely to believe in the importance of scripting/coding and public speaking/presentation skills than their older peers.

Which IT certifications are worth getting?

According to 2025 State of IT data, the top three benefits of earning an IT certification are increasing knowledge, improving job prospects, and increasing salary. With these motivations in mind, 28% of IT professionals represented in our study plan to earn a tech certification in 2025.

But with so many options available on the market, which types of certifications are actually worth obtaining to help achieve these goals?

According to IT professionals, the most valuable types of IT certifications are those focusing on security, followed by those focusing on cloud computing, networking, databases, AI/Machine Learning, and software development.

While general IT support certifications are considered less valuable than others among all respondents, 78% of Gen Z IT professionals—who might view these credentials as a way to break into the industry or secure higher pay early in their careers—find value in them, compared to roughly half of older IT professionals.

Summary: The State of IT Jobs in 2025

According to our research, the job market looks promising for IT job seekers in the near and long term. 

• State of IT data indicates that 4 out of 10 IT departments plan to increase the size of their IT staff in 2025, while U.S. government data predicts sustained growth in IT jobs over the next decade.

• However, there is friction in the IT job market. Many employers report having trouble finding employees with needed expertise and potential candidates aren’t very confident in some in-demand IT skills. 

• We identified IT talent gaps in cybersecurity, data analysis, scripting/coding, and conflict resolution. Looking towards the future, confidence in AI skills is also low.

• Certifications can help address IT skills gaps. As the BLS projects 33% job growth in security analyst roles between 2023 and 2033, two-thirds of IT professionals also believe security certifications are valuable for advancing their careers.

Since 2006, Spiceworks has been on a mission to help everyone in IT, whether you’re a SysAdmin in the trenches, a leader in the C-suite, an aspiring student of technology, or an IT marketer spreading the word about innovative solutions. In this conclusion of our report, we’re recapping key insights and offering personalized advice for you, whoever you are!

Business leaders 

• As the business world modernizes, our reliance on computing infrastructure and devices grows, making the already important role of IT even more crucial. Spiceworks and Aberdeen research consistently shows that adequately investing in business technology today can help address many of the top challenges organizations face, and adopting emerging solutions can give businesses a competitive edge. However, while most businesses plan to increase IT budgets in 2025, organizations might be able to realize greater efficiencies: More than half of IT staff believe they need more funding to accomplish their organization’s technology goals.
• In an environment where most senior leaders (57%) believe hiring skilled IT talent is difficult, cultivating tech expertise is crucial to business success. However, many workers report having trouble keeping up with cost-of-living increases. With 36% of the IT workforce planning to look for a new job in 2025 and seeking salary and career growth opportunities being the top reasons to leave their current jobs, organizations should strive to create appealing working conditions to help retain existing workers while attracting new talent.

IT job seekers 

• The outlook for IT jobs is promising in the short and long term, especially if you have the right skills. In 2025, 43% of organizations plan to increase the size of their IT department, with larger businesses and organizations in the software and IT services industries being more likely to hire. Ten-year U.S. employment projections suggest the number of jobs in specialized roles focusing on cybersecurity, software development, and IT management will increase the most. However, demand for general support and IT administration roles will remain relatively flat.
• Our research identified skills gaps in important areas—many of them necessary to obtain some of the most in-demand IT jobs—including cybersecurity, data analysis, coding, and conflict resolution. Most IT professionals view earning certifications as a valuable way to close these gaps, with credentials focusing on cybersecurity, cloud, networking, and databases viewed as most valuable for a successful career in IT. Considering that half of Gen Z IT professionals plan to seek new employment in 2025, upskilling and earning credentials might be an effective way for young job applicants to differentiate themselves.

Tech vendors

• Most organizations (64%) plan to increase IT budgets in 2025. Overall tech spending is expected to grow by 9% YoY as organizations modernize their environments, improve security, and support new workers. However, many organizations, especially smaller businesses, expect to struggle with rising product costs. Even with larger budgets compared to last year, many companies will strive to do more with less by pursuing cost savings and seeking products from providers that offer the best value for their money.
• Organizations have plans to adopt many emerging solutions and cybersecurity technologies in the coming years. The good news is that organizations deploying these technologies often find them worth the investment in time, effort, and cost. However, opinions on artificial intelligence are divided. While most IT professionals are optimistic about the technology as a whole, they aren’t entirely sure which AI use cases are worth pursuing. In an age where seemingly every tech vendor is touting the AI capabilities of their offerings, vendors will need to move beyond buzzwords and clearly demonstrate tangible value to stand out from the crowd.