More than half of Irish businesses struggles to integrate new technologies, while just over one in five executives say resistance to change within their organisation is a major barrier to success, according to new research.
Grant Thornton’s Digital Sense research draws on insights from more than 550 senior executives internationally including 125 from Ireland, focusing on tech, investment priorities, return on investment metrics and integration challenges.
The main issue identified in Ireland as the biggest technology challenge facing organisations was a lack of skilled workers, with 69 per cent executives singling it out as their main bugbear.
These challenges were also seen to impact negatively on the organisation, with more than three quarters of Irish participants admitting that IT projects had caused disruption to day-to-day operations.
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Even when implemented, doubts on return on investment hang over the projects with unclear performance gains (39 per cent) and poor user adoption (33 per cent) cited by executives who discussed their experience with Grant Thornton as part of the study.
Irish businesses are planning to increase technology investment in 2026, but persistent concerns about the delivery of IT projects are preventing many from realising the full value of that spend, the report suggests.
The findings reveal that eight in 10 firms in Ireland plan to increase their technology spending by between 6 per cent and 10 per cent this year.
The survey findings, however, also indicated the challenges firms face when undertaking IT projects, revealing the main reasons why technology initiatives have failed at their organisation.
Shane O’Neill, technology and digital consulting partner at Grant Thornton, said: “Businesses are investing more than ever in technology, but our research shows that execution is where many programmes come unstuck.
“Skills shortages, integration issues and resistance to change are combining to undermine delivery, often resulting in disruption rather than transformation. Closing this execution gap is now critical if organisations are to see real returns from their technology spend.
“In many cases, IT projects are launched without a clear line of sight to business outcomes or without sufficient focus on how new systems will operate alongside existing platforms.
“This creates unnecessary complexity for teams and increases the risk of disruption to day-to-day operations.”
