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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Spiceworks gave a sneak peek of its 2026 State of IT report.
- IT jobs and investments show growth.
- Some skills can help make you a more attractive IT pro.
IT professionals play a crucial role in supporting the technological advancements of organizations, as frontier technologies continue to evolve and transform the landscape of many industries. As a result, their roles are growing in demand, even with the rise of AI.
On Wednesday, Spiceworks previewed its 2026 State of IT report during a session at its annual SpiceWorld conference. The 14th annual report, conducted by Aberdeen Research, surveys over 800 IT professionals from small and medium companies as well as enterprises to gather insights into the latest trends in the IT space. The key trends showed it’s a good year for IT professionals.
Also: AI will cause ‘jobs chaos’ within the next few years, says Gartner
“Technology is evolving, so the human side of it has to evolve,” said Peter Tsai, Head of Technology Insights, Spiceworks. “Overall, there’s a positive outlook for IT, but you do need to evolve your skills.”
IT Careers
The emergence of increasingly intelligent AI has raised widespread concern about its potential to replace human jobs. That fear is heightened in the tech industry due to the high competency of AI tools in performing coding-related tasks.
However, as highlighted in the session, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show a 9% projected growth in computer and IT occupations from 2024 to 2034, compared to a 3% growth for all occupations. Furthermore, the same data show that the 2024 median salary for computer and IT occupations is twice that of the median salary for all other occupations.
Yet, most respondents find it difficult to hire skilled IT talent. The findings from the 2026 Spiceworks State of IT report offer insight into the specific skills that matter most to IT professionals. There was overwhelming consensus amongst the professionals surveyed about the importance of cybersecurity skills, with 92% believing that cybersecurity skills are crucial.
“If you want to advance your career, cybersecurity skills can certainly help you there,” added Tsai.
The continuous increase in AI initiatives also impacts which skills professionals find most valuable. Among the respondents, 63% believe AI prompting skills are important, which is a 53% increase from last year. The respondent’s confidence in their abilities is also increasing, with 49% reporting confidence compared to 42% last year.
Some of the top AI use cases include writing, optimizing, and/or troubleshooting software and scripts (46%), generating creative content (42%), and automating repetitive, high-volume, or algorithmic tasks (42%).
IT Spending
It’s not just IT career prospects that are looking bright, but also the overall capital being invested in the space. The IT budget is projected to increase 11% year-over-year (YoY) from 2025, representing a significant boost, and 55% of organizations plan to increase their IT budgets.
The report also had insights into what is driving the YoY increases, with the leading reason being cybersecurity/compliance. This year, cybersecurity accounted for 13% (median) of IT Computing Infrastructure, up from 11.2% last year.
“This is pretty good, security is finally getting the attention it deserves, and people have fought for like 20 years,” said Derek Brink, VP and Research Fellow, Aberdeen Strategy & Research.
Out of the emerging technologies, 52% of businesses have implemented AI, which is twice as much from 2024. Furthermore, approximately four out of five respondents plan to implement at least one AI-related initiative within the next 12 months, with the median number of current AI initiatives ranging from one (5th percentile) to 17 (95th percentile), at a median of 7.
This translates to more investments being funneled into AI, with AI initiatives also being listed among the top investments. The data revealed that AI Software (on-premises and cloud-based) accounted for 2.7% (median) of IT Computing Infrastructure spending.
While this number may seem low, it does not account for the physical infrastructure required for AI-related systems, including servers, storage, and networking. Brink speculates that, including those other factors, that may triple, quadruple, or even quintuple the share, which would place AI spend very close to cybersecurity’s share.
When asked more broadly about spending on AI, 42% of respondents reported an increase in AI spending. This means that 58% of businesses are not going to increase, or may even decrease, their AI spending, and, according to Jim Rapoza, VP & Principal Analyst at Aberdeen Strategy & Research, this suggests concerns about a lack of ROI.
“To say 58% of businesses are not going to increase, or maybe even decrease their AI spend, that brings in the perspective that there are a lot of businesses that started AI, and maybe they’re not. Seeing the returns right now, and they’re not going to keep investing until they start seeing those returns.”
Artificial Intelligence
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