2017 BDO Technology Outlook Survey
06 March 2017
100 CFOs at leading U.S. Technology companies weigh in on what's next for the industry under the new administration.
Trump Talk Casts Cloud Over Optimistic Growth Prospects
Tech is feeling the Trump effect.
The president’s surprising victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and vocal support for “America First” trade and immigration policies are colliding with increasingly stringent data privacy laws to cast a cloud of uncertainty over the sector. Despite these unexpected circumstances—and the surprises 2017 may yet have in store—technology executives are optimistic about growth prospects in 2017, the 2017 BDO Technology Outlook Survey reveals.
The survey, conducted post-election, shows that technology CFOs ranked U.S. economic growth as most important to expansion of the sector, ranked first by a third (33 percent) of executives compared to 18 percent in 2016 and 25 percent in 2015.
Just 15 percent say consumer demand for innovative personal technology is the most important factor to driving growth in the U.S. technology sector—dropping from 32 percent and falling from its No. 1 spot in 2016.
Echoing this sentiment, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) predicts that consumers around the world this year will spend $929 billion on smartphones and other tech products, down from $950 billion in 2016, as reported by AFP News.
In other words, tech CFOs are placing greater importance on economic output in the U.S. than the arrival of the next big thing.
