JPMorgan Chase, the big bank, has a tech workforce of 55,000, up from 50,000 before the pandemic. It has hired people with skills in cloud computing, data science, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and the bank will continue to selectively add people, said Lori Beer, the bank’s global chief information officer.
Global technology surveys point to weakness in hardware spending. After a surge from the pandemic, sales of personal computers and smartphones for remote work and for consumers have fallen sharply. Two major technology research firms, Gartner and IDC, have lowered their growth forecasts in recent months, citing a continued decline in personal computers, a turbulent economy and a strong dollar.
But business investment, especially in software, is still quite strong. John-David Lovelock, chief forecaster at Gartner, said spending was growing in all the industries it monitors and he called that trend “recession-proof.” His IDC counterpart, Stephen Minton, said business investment in technology was not immune to a downturn, but it was “more resilient than ever.”
Sales of remote cloud computing and software may be slowing, but only since the stratospheric heights of the pandemic. Amazon reported this month that its highly profitable cloud business, Amazon Web Services, the industry leader, was generating revenue at an annual rate of more than $80 billion and had grown 20 percent in the fourth quarter. Microsoft, the second largest cloud company, reported that sales of Azureits flagship cloud product, had grown 31 percent.
Recent results from enterprise technology providers show a similar pattern. Vendors focused on helping companies convert to digital operations and cloud computing are doing well, including Accent, Oracle and service now. IBM announced job cuts, but for business it’s coming off; its cloud and AI sales are strong.
Salesforce, a maker of customer management software, is cutting jobs and is a target of activist shareholders. But his argument is that Salesforce should cut expenses to increase profits. The company’s revenue grew 14 percent in the most recent quarter.
The relentless advancement of software in almost every industry makes technology spending less cyclical.
Take the car business. A modern car is becoming “a vehicle that is really defined by software,” said Alan Wexler, General Motors’ senior vice president of innovation and growth.
