Discover the top 10 IT and software trends for 2025 – from AI adoption to talent gaps – and what they mean for project planning and resource success.
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Few industries shift as fast as technology. Software and IT services are no exception.
In this article, we unpack ten forces shaping the industry in 2025 and what they mean for firms like yours. Unsurprisingly, AI dominates several of this year’s top trends, from expectations to skills to daily workflows. Let’s dive in.
Trend 1: There's greater demand for managed services
Trend 2: AI expectations move from hype to reality
Trend 3: Firms and workers are aware of risks to quality
Trend 4: The majority of software engineers already use AI in their workflows
Trend 5: AI skills are in demand
Trend 6: Tech employment is stronger than ever
Trend 7: Firms are rethinking workforce strategies
Trend 8: Developers face death by 1,000 tools
Trend 9: Application security no longer sits squarely with the security team
Trend 10: Teams are under pressure to do more with less
Good news: Demand for IT services is on the rise
According to Deloitte, 72% of businesses outsource application and software development, meaning there are plenty of contracts to go around.
Demand for managed and cloud services has hit an all-time high, reaching $15.5 billion ACV in the Q2 2025. The Americas ISG Index™ recorded a 10% increase in awarded managed-services contracts year on year. By segment, IT outsourcing grew 32%, driven by application development and maintenance (ADM), while engineering, research and development (ER&D) grew 35%.
In fact, Gartner forecasts worldwide IT spending to grow 7.9% in 2025 to $5.43 trillion. Software spending is expected to reach $1.23 trillion, up 10.5% on 2024, while IT services will hit $1.28 trillion.
However, experts identified an “uncertainty pause” in the second quarter, reflecting how increased economic uncertainty and geopolitical risks have impacted spending.
For delivery leaders, this growth brings more projects – but also sharper scrutiny. Firms that can allocate resources effectively across software development projects will hold a competitive edge when every contract is being measured against ROI.
Further reading: Effective IT Operations: How to Ace your ITOps ➡️
AI is no longer a buzzword. We’re all feeling the impact of AI, and the pace of change isn't slowing, with IT services companies leading the charge on adopting advanced tech.
The World Economic Forum found 99% of businesses in the sector see AI and information-processing technologies driving business transformation, compared to the 86% industry average.
In the coming years, AI will become a necessary part of workflows to increase efficiency, reduce delivery times, and support cost savings. For business leaders, the challenge isn’t whether to adopt AI, but how to align AI solutions with core business activities in a way that drives measurable business success.
AI offers exciting opportunity for all businesses, but with regulators paying close attention, responsible adoption isn’t just about quality – it’s also about staying ahead of evolving regulatory compliance standards.
Gartner notes that, by 2027, 80% of IT services contracts that don't "call for responsible use of generative AI" will fall short of delivering desired outcomes.
Thankfully, a large percentage of firms are aware of the risk AI introduces, allowing them to mitigate it; while 62% of C-level respondents say using AI in software development is essential to avoid falling behind, 56% admit introducing AI into the software development life cycle carries risk.
Enthusiasm for artificial intelligence is also slipping amongst developers, possibly due to expectations not aligning with real outcomes. In 2024, fewer than three in four (72%) reported feeling favorable or very favorable AI tools for development, down from 77% in 2023.
This shift doesn’t reduce the need for strong technical skills. If anything, it raises the bar: engineers need both AI fluency and the ability to integrate it into existing operating systems and development environments.
By 2028, an estimated 75% of enterprise software engineers will use AI code assistants, up from less than 10% in early 2023.
Research by GitLab saw a similar trend, with 78% of DevSecOps respondents stating they currently use AI in software development or plan to in the next two years – rising to 83% for those working in software, SaaS, and computer hardware.
The benefits for developers are clear. As developers spend less than a quarter of their time writing new code according to GitLab, AI could unlock huge productivity gains. The other 75% goes to meetings and admin, testing, identifying and mitigating security vulnerabilities, and improving, understanding, and maintaining code – all areas where AI can help.
As AI reshapes day-to-day development, firms must find and train the people with the right skills to keep up, leading to our next trend.
AI is reshaping what clients buy, and what skills firms need. It's also shaping who they hire, with firms racing to recruit (and upskill) to meet demand for AI support, even as they run into a talent squeeze.
In the coming years, those in IT services anticipate skills gaps will be the biggest blocker to organization transformation: 64% cite labor-market gaps, followed by organizational culture and resistance to change (40%), inadequate data/technical infrastructure (31%), and difficulty attracting talent (30%).
In regards to which skills firms are hunting for, it's no surprise proficiency with AI and big data come out on top. The following skills will see a huge increase in use (and therefore demand) within IT services, according to World Economic Forum research:
*% represents the share of employers considering skills within the corresponding skill category to be growing in importance for their workforce from 2025 to 2030.
AI and big data may top the list, but firms must prioritize a healthy mix of technical skills and soft skill sets, such as resilience, flexibility, and agility, that allow teams to adapt quickly to new tools and client demands.
Learn more: The 6 Skills Management Best Practices Your Business Needs ➡️
The U.S. tech workforce hit 9.6 million in 2024 and is forecasted to grow 2.5% to 9.9 million in 2025. Within tech, the tech services and custom software services category accounted for 54% of job gains since 2019, while software accounts for 37%.
And the momentum shows no sign of slowing. Over the next decade, tech employment is projected to grow twice as fast as overall employment, with the following roles growing above the national average by:
Demand for software developers in particular is expected to grow in the U.S., with the Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasting 16% growth, representing almost two million people employed in these roles. Software quality assurance analysts and testers are also projected to grow 10% over the same period, to 221,900 roles.
With new employment opportunities opening up, firms that can align workforce development to client delivery (assigning the right people to the right projects and business activities) will build a clear competitive edge.
Skills scarcity is forcing firms to rethink how they attract and keep their best people. To improve availability, World Economic Forum found organizations are focusing on the following employee retention strategies:
As of 2024, the median wage in tech occupations was ~$112,667, though this varies by seniority, level of experience, and role. This median is 127% higher than national averages across sectors.
49% of IT-services organizations project the share of wages and other compensation as a percentage of revenue will grow in the years through 2030; 39% expect compensation to remain stable, while just 11% expect a decrease.
Companies are investing in reskilling and upskilling, with an 8% increase in the share of the workforce completing employer-led learning and development between 2023 and 2025.
Workforce strategies reflect this shift, with IT-services employers committing to big changes in response to AI’s growing influence:
Looking ahead to 2030, IT-services leaders name the following as key components to their workforce strategy:
By 2030, half of IT-services workforces are expected to be upskilled in some capacity: 38% will not require training, while 27% will be upskilled in current roles and 23% will be upskilled and redeployed.
For operations and resourcing teams, this shift makes project management and workforce planning more complex. You’ll need clear visibility of skill sets across people, and the ability to match the right person to the right project as capabilities evolve.
Read next: What is a Workforce Strategy & Why Your Organization Needs One ➡️
Tools are necessary for great work, but having too many disparate systems can be a hidden productivity killer inside IT firms.
Teams are overwhelmed by the number of tools they're expected to use. Okta data shows enterprises run over 100 apps on average – too many to keep track of.
In IT services, workers feel the same strain. GitLab found 64% of developers want to consolidate their toolchain, while more than a quarter (27%) say having too many tools hurts their experience. Frequent context-switching is known to be mentally draining, impacting productivity.
Unsurprisingly, the strain is greatest in software, SaaS, and computer hardware organizations, with one in four reporting using 11 or more tools.
Security remains a top priority for organizations – but the responsibility no longer sits squarely with the security team.
GitLab found over half (58%) of respondents feel a degree of responsibility for application security, including developers and operations professionals.
However, vulnerabilities are still an issue. Over half of security respondents report struggling to get developers to prioritize remediation, with most vulnerabilities still discovered after code is merged into test environments.
Despite IT spend reaching an all-time high, leaders remain cautious about where every dollar goes.
Nearly a third of IT professionals (29%) say pressure to “do more with less” is a top concern – a figure that climbs to 41% among IT staff, compared to just 22% of directors and above.
At the same time, perceptions of investment don’t always align. More than half of IT staff (54%) feel their company underspends on IT, while 35% of managers and 34% of directors believe the opposite: that their organizations already spend more than enough.
The irony? Budgets are actually going up. 64% of organizations plan to increase IT spend in 2025. But even with bigger budgets, 92% still expect to implement cost-saving measures across people, processes, and tech – averaging four per organization. The most common include:
Headcount is part of the equation too. Even with 43% of firms planning to grow staff and only 6% downsizing, leaders are still eyeing workforce cuts, with:
For many delivery firms, success will hinge on effective resource management, ensuring every hour, software project, and tool is aligned to business success rather than wasted effort.
Put learnings into practice: How to Eliminate Resource Guesswork in IT Projects ➡️
All these forces – AI adoption, cloud cost pressure, compliance, consolidation, and ESG – create a new reality where success depends on how well you plan and allocate your people. Skills-first staffing, effective resource management, clear visibility, and confident forecasting separate leaders from the pack.
Need practical guidance? Explore Runn’s library of resources for software and IT teams:
