TMT leaders know what to do. Why aren’t they doing it?
Despite bold ambitions, tech, media and telecommunications companies are stuck in slow decision cycles, vague accountability and weak execution. Our latest findings reveal what’s holding your CEOs and CFOs back –– and how investor-backed firms can break through.
As an executive in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sector, you’re under pressure — from shifting customer expectations to tighter regulations and overall disruption. AI is accelerating change, reshaping competition and forcing a rethink of pricing, delivery and data practices. At the same time, internal challenges like growing cloud costs, limited AI skills and legacy systems are making transformation harder to execute at pace.
In our recent survey of TMT executives, 80% of CEOs cite macroeconomic volatility, cyber threats or inflation as key risks shaping near-term strategy.
Addressing these challenges calls for enterprise-defining decisions like replacing core systems, pursuing transformative M&A, overhauling operating models and making bold investments in AI and automation. But our data indicates that many TMT organizations are slow to respond, with a lot of them inhibiting their ability to change the way they create, deliver and capture value. What are those blockers?
36% say bureaucratic processes
40% say organizational bottlenecks
54% say fear of being wrong or criticized for bold decisions
And the biggest blockers for navigating challenges while capturing value in a dynamic business environment?
48% say misaligned goals or organizational silos
43% say inability to act with speed and agility, making it harder to pivot or respond to market shifts
Together these factors suggest an industry-wide pattern of risk aversion and decision paralysis.
And when TMT leaders do act, many struggle to follow through. In our survey, 68% of TMT leaders say underperforming initiatives lead to consequences, yet on average respondents say their companies make the criteria for determining strategic decisions transparent only about four times out of 10. This accountability–transparency gap helps explain why TMT executives often move slowly — they know what they want to achieve, but inconsistent visibility into decision guardrails makes it harder to align capital and teams to get there. They may also have trouble pivoting when new data or conditions emerge. Decisions often lack ownership and follow-through, leaving organizations slow to respond.
Execution gaps are showing up in results. Most survey respondents cite misaligned stakeholders and unclear post-deal ownership as barriers to effective M&A evaluation. Only 53% are confident that their tech investments are meeting ROI targets. And half say even measuring the ROI of technology investments is a significant challenge for their organization.
AI is raising the stakes. As competitors move fast to embed AI across the business, 70% of respondents say they risk losing market share due to competitors using AI. Yet only 23% have a detailed, numbers-based AI outlook on how they think AI will impact margins, growth or efficiency.
The takeaway: Ambition isn’t the problem. But without sharper decision-making, clearer ownership and faster follow-through, many companies will likely find it hard to keep pace.
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