The industry can expect a short and medium-term impact on enterprise IT investment following today's Brexit vote, but the regulatory impact will be minimal, according to Ovum analysts.
"Senior executives will want to prepare their core systems for any implications of revised trading and legislative agreements, and may postpone investment in non-mandatory IT projects such as digital transformation until the needs of the business-as-usual environment become clearer," said Tim Jennings, Chief Research Officer, Enterprise IT Management.
"Ovum's conversations with enterprise IT leaders suggest that few have planned or prepared for the changes that might be required as a consequence of Brexit.
"This is understandable given the unprecedented situation in which the UK now finds itself, but is likely to increase the level of caution that is applied to ongoing investments in business improvement and more speculative innovation projects, and may also play out against a potential downturn in the macroeconomic environment.
"This IT budget uncertainty will persist for at least the two-year EU withdrawal process, but beyond that time frame the level of uncertainty will be dependent on the clarity of the UK's future trading arrangements with Europe and other global partners."
Brexit will have minimal impact on the UK's regulatory environment, believes Luca Schiavoni, Senior Analyst, Regulation, at Ovum.
"It is highly likely that the UK will continue to be part of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European approach to regulation borrows a great deal from the UK's experience of privatisation and market liberalisation.
"It is unlikely that the UK will adopt a radically different regulatory approach, which will still be characterised by regular market reviews."