The challenges of technical debt and how it impacts organizations

69% of IT leaders identify technical debt as a major threat to their companies’ ability to innovate, according to an OutSystems report.

With COVID-19 exposing vulnerabilities in organizations around the world, this latest industry survey from OutSystems examines the cost of technical debt facing businesses across industries and geographies.

“The combination of old code along with the new generation of mobile apps, stack applications, and SaaS sprawl are robbing organizations of resources, time, and the ability to innovate,” said Paulo Rosado, CEO of OutSystems.

“This report proves that technical debt will continue to compound, and requires a new approach to move past it and innovate at a pace and scale for true competitive advantage.”

A major roadblock to innovation and recovery

As businesses strive to rebuild following the challenges of the past year, technical debt has emerged as a major roadblock to innovation and recovery, especially for enterprises focused on growth.

Technical debt is a technical design or development choice made for short-term benefit with long-term consequences. Across industries, this results from the development of solutions implemented quickly to maximize speed, rather than optimizing for the future.

Based on a global survey of 500 IT leaders, the report highlights the challenges companies face as they confront the many causes of technical debt, including pressure to meet deadlines, constant change in the marketplace, and outdated technology.

The many hurdles of technical debt

• 69% of IT leaders say technical debt poses a fundamental limit on their ability to innovate, along with 61% saying it drags on their company’s performance and 64% agreeing it will continue to have a major impact in the future.
• There is a massive opportunity cost for businesses of all sizes across all industries as they dedicate time, money, and other resources into technical debt instead of innovation. On average, businesses spend approximately one-third of their IT budget addressing technical debt – this jumps to 41% for enterprises.
• There isn’t a sole cause of technical debt, though IT leaders cite too many development languages/frameworks (52%), turnover within the development team (49%), and accepting known defects to meet release deadlines (43%).
• Businesses continue to delay addressing technical debt, further exacerbating the issue. Only 20% say tech debt is something they’re currently managing well, though 36% report they’ll be able to manage tech debt in the future.
• Technical debt compounds as companies grow. Enterprises spend 41% of their IT budget on technical debt, while small businesses spend 27%.