2024 has been a period of major change across all industries. As we look ahead to 2025, here are four projects that top tech and media leaders are already putting in motion, in their own words.
Heightened global challenges and decelerating revenue growth have made for a gloomy outlook in technology and media over the past two years. But as industry speakers, leaders, and attendees shared at Workday Rising, there are also glimmers of hope.
AI-related investments could reach $200 billion globally by the end of 2025, potentially fueling a rebound across the technology sector. Meanwhile, sizable new revenue pools in advertising, streaming, and emerging markets are expected to help grow the media and entertainment field $3.4 trillion by 2028.
Behind the numbers, there’s an even more heartening tale taking shape, one of business leaders eager to experiment with new business models and revenue streams, and of reassessing the status quo and making moves toward the future, even as that future takes shape.
Here are four urgent trends that technology and media leaders couldn’t stop discussing, debating, and brainstorming at Workday Rising.
Easy access to capital and a relentless focus on growth has spurred a flurry of spending at many tech and media organizations in recent years, in ways both big (think: acquisitions) and small (individual departments investing in niche applications). Today’s cooler economic climate means industry leaders are shifting their focus to profitable growth—and a big part of that will be dealing with the technology debt accumulated over the past few years, according to Accenture’s Managing Director Tom Wallace.
AI-related investments could reach $200 billion globally by the end of 2025.
“What’s happening now is tech and media companies are looking at their own operations and questioning: Did different functions get too much freedom to spend on different types of technology?” Wallace said at Workday Rising. “Does it make sense to have all these different systems and different ways of doing things? When we made an acquisition—maybe years ago—did it get integrated or did we not drive any efficiency there?”
A tangled, fragmented application stack impedes data-driven insights and presents real security risks. Tech debt also comes at a significant financial cost: $2.4 trillion a year in the U.S. alone, according to Accenture’s analysis.
The Pokémon Company International recently took aim at duplicative spend, integrating employees from a newly acquired subsidiary into its Workday tenant and building out previously unused functionality. “We were able to realize real cost reductions and improve our visibility into both organizations,” said Nefi Mujica, senior HRIS manager, The Pokémon Company International, at Workday Rising.
New markets. New partnerships. New subscription models. Across media and technology, companies are experimenting with ways to tap new revenue streams and buoy the bottom line.
Accenture’s Wallace pointed to two standout examples: automotive manufacturer Tesla, which “pretty much bills itself as an AI company and has different subscription revenue models they’ve added on,” and chip manufacturer NVIDIA, which has started building data centers and is now selling subscriptions to its own large language model software. In media, 80% of organizations surveyed by the Reuters Institute expect subscriptions to be a vital revenue stream moving forward, leading both display and native advertising.
80% of media organizations expect subscriptions to be a vital revenue stream moving forward.
Diversified revenue streams can be a boon to a business, of course. But at Workday Rising, industry leaders stressed the heightened complexity such endeavors can create. As organizations continue to evolve at pace, finance teams must be ready to arm decision-makers with instant, data-driven insights.
“We need to be able to know rapidly what amount of money we are supposed to get in the next month and the next quarter, as well as what amount of money is up for renewal,” said Stephanie Maxwell, a senior manager of financial systems at the subscription-based AI search platform Coveo. “So we need to have really good, real-time revenue data.”
Major layoffs rocked the tech and media industries last year. And although labor trends look more encouraging, recent headcount contractions combined with anxieties about AI workforce effects have deeply strained both sectors. To seize or expand competitive advantage, industry leaders must grapple with the “great reshuffling,” in which they both enhance retention strategies while also doubling down on upskilling and skills development.
A recent PwC survey of technology, media, and telecom leaders found that 64% are actively training employees on new technologies. Accenture’s Wallace noted, “We see a lot of companies trying to figure out how to redeploy talent within their organization.”
iHeartMedia is one such example. “We were hearing a lot of comments from employees that didn’t know where to go—like, ‘This is my job profile, but where do I promote to? Where can I focus to grow?’” said Stacy Lam, a product manager at iHeartMedia. “Our goal is to keep our employees engaged, retained, and ready for future performance, so we needed to create not only job profiles that show growth, but also tools for leaders to actually grow their teams.”
“The fundamental requirement for AI to be successful and effective is data.”
Tom Wallace
Managing Director
Accenture
There’s no doubt AI will impact—if not transform—almost every sector, and technology and media organizations may well lead the pack. Industry leaders rate their internal expertise and ability to realize value from AI investments more highly than other industries. Yet it’s worth noting that more than half (56%) of tech and media leaders say data-related challenges have impeded certain use cases. And dealing with those data challenges can be delayed for only so long.
“The fundamental requirement for AI to be successful and effective is data. Namely: Do you have enough data? Is it accessible? Is it trustworthy?” Wallace said. “A lot of our customers want to leverage AI and explore generative AI, but they’re having a lot of data issues.”
Coveo has avoided that common pain point by using one cloud-based enterprise platform, which also serves as a data hub to securely ingest, manage, and enrich data from external sources and other systems. A consistent security model and data structure means “we’re able to take that data, which is the same, and use it everywhere,” Coveo’s Maxwell said. With AI use increasing across industries, organizations, and roles, the tech and media companies that ensure their data is secure and trustworthy will be those that are best prepared for the future.
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