TMT Investor Playbook: Growth Strategies: PwC

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Tech players can break their growth ceilings...

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Tech players can break their growth ceilings with this inves

Tech players can break their growth ceilings with this investor playbook

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As an executive in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sector, you’re under pressure — from shifting customer expectations to tighter regulations and overall disruption. AI is accelerating change, reshaping competition and forcing a rethink of pricing, delivery and data practices. At the same time, internal challenges like growing cloud costs, limited AI skills and legacy systems are making transformation harder to execute at pace.

In our recent survey of TMT executives, 80% of CEOs cite macroeconomic volatility, cyber threats or inflation as key risks shaping near-term strategy.

Addressing these challenges calls for enterprise-defining decisions like replacing core systems, pursuing transformative M&A, overhauling operating models and making bold investments in AI and automation. But our data indicates that many TMT organizations are slow to respond, with a lot of them inhibiting their ability to change the way they create, deliver and capture value. What are those blockers?

36% say bureaucratic processes
40% say organizational bottlenecks
54% say fear of being wrong or criticized for bold decisions

And the biggest blockers for navigating challenges while capturing value in a dynamic business environment?

48% say misaligned goals or organizational silos
43% say inability to act with speed and agility, making it harder to pivot or respond to market shifts

Together these factors suggest an industry-wide pattern of risk aversion and decision paralysis.

And when TMT leaders do act, many struggle to follow through. In our survey, 68% of TMT leaders say underperforming initiatives lead to consequences, yet on average respondents say their companies make the criteria for determining strategic decisions transparent only about four times out of 10. This accountability–transparency gap helps explain why TMT executives often move slowly — they know what they want to achieve, but inconsistent visibility into decision guardrails makes it harder to align capital and teams to get there. They may also have trouble pivoting when new data or conditions emerge. Decisions often lack ownership and follow-through, leaving organizations slow to respond.

Only 53%

of survey respondents are confident that their tech investments are meeting ROI targets.

Execution gaps are showing up in results. Most survey respondents cite misaligned stakeholders and unclear post-deal ownership as barriers to effective M&A evaluation. Only 53% are confident that their tech investments are meeting ROI targets. And half say even measuring the ROI of technology investments is a significant challenge for their organization.

AI is raising the stakes. As competitors move fast to embed AI across the business, 70% of respondents say they risk losing market share due to competitors using AI. Yet only 23% have a detailed, numbers-based AI outlook on how they think AI will impact margins, growth or efficiency.

The takeaway: Ambition isn’t the problem. But without sharper decision-making, clearer ownership and faster follow-through, many companies will likely find it hard to keep pace.

Is your TMT organization on the right track to enhance value and prioritize strategic investments?

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What’s getting in the way of bold execution?

TMT leaders face familiar barriers when it comes to acting decisively — and seeing it through.

1. Short-term pressure is stalling long-term growth

Public companies often focus on meeting quarterly targets, even if that means delaying larger moves like AI deployment or platform modernization. The leaders of these companies also have to deal with constant operational noise — cyber threats, economic volatility, regulatory demands. Being reactive puts them in a kind of permanent response mode that stalls reinvention and future value creation. Recent headlines highlight this tension. Several large tech firms have announced significant stock buybacks to reward shareholders even as market leaders call for prioritizing long-term investments.

75% of executives cite pressure to deliver short-term results as a barrier (moderate to a very large extent) to changing how their companies create, deliver and capture value.
51% would cut talent and 28% would cut R&D to protect earnings.

But these trade-offs can stall progress. Holding off on bold moves today may limit your organization’s ability to lead tomorrow.

“If you’re in a tough quarter, everything — even long-term strategic bets — starts to get filtered through the lens of immediate cost pressure. It’s a massive bias, and it halts real transformation.”

CMO, large technology company

2. Pace of change causes decision paralysis

As technology and regulations evolve fast, many leaders are holding back — not from lack of ambition but from a lack of alignment and clarity.

Only 33% say they intentionally deprioritize or cut ‘good but not great initiatives.’
About half (48%) rank incomplete or delayed integration planning a top-3 challenge in realizing expected value from M&A.
More than half (55%) say leadership misalignment slows down their ability to make strategic decisions quickly.
And over a third (38%) lack a consistent decision-making framework to guide decisions.

The impact? Slower choices, extended debates and missed opportunities to act with confidence in uncertain conditions.

“Most strategy failures I’ve seen were emotionally driven decisions dressed up in data. Once someone falls in love with an idea, it’s almost impossible to change course."

CMO, large technology company

3. Execution suffers when organizations can’t move as one

Even with clear strategies, many companies face roadblocks when it’s time to act. Structural issues like siloed teams and talent gaps can limit progress and stall impact.

63% of TMT executives say they only require a clearly defined, measurable investment thesis before making strategic decisions less than half the time.
Over three-quarters (76%) point to organizational bottlenecks as a barrier (moderate to very large extent) to value creation.

Once initiatives launch, they often lose momentum — missing clear ownership, accountability and follow-through.

“Everyone’s worried about their turf. Product wants engineers, sales wants headcount, marketing wants budget –– and no one owns the full P&L.”

Former executive, major software company

4. When execution discipline falls short, leaders lose momentum

Even when a decision is made and a strategy is launched, follow-through is often weak. Many organizations suffer from soft accountability (think RACI), vague ownership and real-time performance management.

33% say unclear decision ownership is a barrier to making fast strategic decisions — slowing momentum when speed matters most. Without this operational clarity and speed, leaders can find themselves unable to pivot or double down — even when the data is right in front of them.

Despite having clear goals, they fall short on the execution. Without a step-change in how organizations make, execute and revisit their most important decisions, many will remain stuck as they watch more agile competitors pull ahead.

“Execution is still the weakest link. Most of [our] past acquisitions … have failed not because they weren’t good ideas but because no one followed through on implementation."

Head of strategy, enterprise technology company

How investor thinking accelerates outcomes

Leading private equity investors are known for acting decisively — making bold, organization-shaping decisions at a pace that matches their investment horizon. Operating under typical 3- to 5-year ownership windows, they should drive rapid transformation to align with valuation expectations outlined in their investment theses. That decisiveness is more than a leadership trait. It’s a repeatable performance lever.

A meta-analysis of multiple academic studies showed that investor-led buyouts deliver significant real gains in operational performance even when excluding financial engineering. Further, during the pandemic, companies backed by investors sustained revenue and margin performance more effectively than many publicly traded or family-owned counterparts.

What sets investor-backed firms apart is what we refer to as a “deals mindset.” It’s an approach built on acting with urgency and confidence, even when information is imperfect. And it enables leaders to reshape operations, reposition strategies and pursue value creation at speed.

55%

of TMT leaders say integration efforts stall due to misaligned stakeholders –– 33% say they stall due to unclear ownership of critical decisions.

In contrast, many corporates face friction points that slow progress. Following deals, integration efforts often stall — frequently due to misaligned stakeholders (55%) and unclear ownership of critical decisions (33%). The difference isn’t access to data or capital. It’s how decisions are made, who’s empowered to act and how quickly actions translate into outcomes.

What lessons can TMT leaders learn from investor-backed companies and the deals mindset?

The deals mindset is defined by several key characteristics.

Speed as an affirmative value: Investors treat speed as a strategic weapon. They’d rather be 80% right today than 100% right too late. With limited time to create value, they cut through bureaucracy, mobilize and act on conviction –– not consensus. PE-backed firms are less inhibited by bureaucratic processes (22% versus 42% independent companies) and organizational bottlenecks (27% versus 45% independent companies) in their objective to deliver value and they’re therefore better able to move fast on strategic decisions.

Only 22%

of PE-backed companies cite bureaucracy as a barrier to speed, compared to 42% of independent companies.

Relentless focus on what moves the needle: Initiatives at an investor-led firm should tie to enterprise value. If it doesn’t improve growth, margin or exit potential, it’s cut, making sure time and capital is only spent where impact is measurable and increases returns.
Comfort with ambiguity: Investors don’t wait for perfect clarity. They make bold decisions with incomplete data. They scenario-plan, commit quickly and adapt fast. Ambiguity isn’t an excuse for delay. It’s a constant, and they build for it.
Data-centricity: Investor-led firms run on operational data, not opinion. They track performance in real time with leading indicators, not lagging results. Dashboards, KPIs and cohort data guide every decision –– not politics or PowerPoint. PE-backed companies are up to 10% more likely to establish KPIs to track early signals than independent companies.
Comfort with ‘worse before better’ decisions: Successful investors know that big outcomes require near-term sacrifice. They’ll take earnings pain today to hit enterprise value targets tomorrow. They’ll restructure their workforce, overhaul an IT system or increase investment spend –– even if it means a few quarters of depressed earnings –– because their eye is on a longer term EBITDA target and exit multiple. In our experience, PE-backed companies are approximately 10% less likely to state ‘pressure to deliver short-term results’ as an inhibiting factor in their ability to capture value.

The anatomy of a value play: Decide fast, act deliberately

To see disciplined decision-making in action, consider how PE firms manage investments across both the pre-deal and post-deal phases.

Pre-deal (decision phase): Sharpening the investment thesis

When considering an acquisition or major investment, PE firms move quickly but thoughtfully through a few critical steps.

Decisions start with a clear value creation hypothesis. An investor might hypothesize, “This B2B SaaS company can double its ARR in three years via sales headcount expansion and pricing optimization” or “We can increase our win rate by 15% if we invest in a dedicated customer success team.” The thesis dictates everything that follows. Due diligence is then laser-focused on validating the key assumptions behind the thesis. If the core hypothesis holds, they proceed. If not, they quickly alter course. This thesis-driven filter ties decisions to a defined value story, rather than a vague strategic rationale. It’s an antidote to strategy-by-committee. Priorities boil down to “what must be true for our investment thesis to succeed.”

Investors concentrate only on the two to three factors that drive enterprise value for the target. They ask, “What are the primary levers to improve this business — the ones that could move the valuation needle by 20% or more?” Those become the focus of all strategic efforts and anything not materially affecting these value drivers is de-emphasized.

Rather than assuming one “base case” will play out, dealmakers explicitly assess upside versus downside scenarios. They gauge the asymmetry of risk. “If our plan goes wrong, how bad could it get, and can we live with that? If things go great, what’s the magnitude of upside?” If the thesis hinges on raising prices 10%, they’ll examine a downside case of a 5% lift (and make sure the deal still makes sense) and an upside case of 15% (and have a plan to capitalize on it). By thinking in scenarios, investors commit only when the risk/return tradeoff is clearly favorable. And they have plans ready for surprises. The actions are agile and quick.

The most successful investor deal teams start thinking through implementation implications before making a decision. When considering purchasing an asset, for example, investors — often within a tight 4- to 8-week period — sketch out a 100-day plan and longer-term value creation plan covering which initiatives to launch in the first months, which legacy systems to replace, what the go-to-market changes might be and so on. In essence, they conduct a rapid “pre-mortem” and design the playbook for Day 1 and beyond while still evaluating the deal. This preparation means there’s no lag by the time they take ownership. Execution can begin Week One.

After decisions are made

Once the call is made, investors move fast, relentlessly managing execution to deliver on their investment thesis.

Their approach is shaped by a few essential practices.

Investor-backed companies don’t rely on vague business cases or optimistic roadmaps. They build milestone-driven value creation plans with specific initiatives, assigned owners, hard deadlines and measurable KPIs. These plans aren’t just handed to leadership and forgotten — they become the operating system. Leadership reviews progress against the plan frequently and ruthlessly. If month three was supposed to include a pricing uplift or a GTM restructuring, it gets done or explained. PE-backed companies are up to 10% more likely to use formal go or no-go decision criteria when evaluating value creation opportunities. And they get results: nearly half (46%) of PE-backed companies met or outperformed their pre-set value expectations, suggesting that a deals-oriented mindset at the outset of the transaction may have contributed to their success.

Investor-led companies track progress constantly, not quarterly. They install dashboards that monitor leading indicators — not just lagging financials. Metrics like pipeline conversion, customer acquisition cost (CAC) payback, net promoter score (NPS), retention, or usage rates are reviewed weekly. This lets them catch drift early. If a rollout is behind or a metric isn’t moving, they don’t wait for year-end to act — they pivot in real time. In many corporates, underperformance goes unaddressed for quarters. In PE, it gets air cover and action in days.

Investor-led firms don’t let initiatives coast. If something’s not working and isn’t likely to, they cut it. If something’s overdelivering, they double down. Resources follow performance. This is where most corporates fail. They safeguard sunk costs, spread talent too thin, don’t relentlessly prioritize or let “strategic” projects drag on without ROI. Most of the TMT executives we surveyed don’t do this, with 75% telling us they make those “kill decisions” on marginal or stalled initiatives very infrequently — half of the time or less.

In PE, the “kill decision” isn’t seen as failure — it’s seen as discipline. If a go-to-market experiment under-delivers, it’s cut by Q2. If a new sales motion shows traction, headcount follows in Q3.

Execution isn’t layered on top of legacy organization charts. The organization is reshaped to deliver the plan. That might mean centralizing functions, creating a dedicated transformation office or replacing key leaders. PE firms frequently change out CEOs, CFOs or go-to-market heads within the first six months if needed and they tie leadership compensation directly to performance. People get clear mandates, fast feedback and real upside.

Applying the deals mindset in TMT corporate environments

TMT companies can take a page from high-performing investors — especially in how they evaluate, prioritize and act on bold decisions. Adopting a deals mindset means treating internal initiatives like investments in a portfolio, applying the same rigor, speed and accountability seen in private equity. This shift touches every stage: pre-launch, by sharpening how opportunities are vetted; post-launch, by managing execution with discipline; and throughout, by building a culture that enables decisive action.

A true investor mindset also invites new voices to the table — people willing to challenge assumptions, ask tough questions and drive transformation at every level of the organization to rapidly create value.

Here are our top five recommendations for cultivating a focused mindset that prioritizes execution discipline and strategic clarity.

Accelerating decision velocity: Streamline decision-making by eliminating bureaucratic hurdles and implementing clear decision-rights frameworks with outcome and data-driven impacts.

Improving data-driven visibility: Data-driven decisions require good data. Invest in confirming real-time, transparent performance data to enable swift strategic pivots and proactive management.

Strengthening execution discipline: Clarify ownership and enforce accountability through rigorous KPI tracking and clear alignment to strategic goals.

Deploying strategic capital: Rapidly reallocate resources from underperforming initiatives to areas demonstrating clear ROI –– including M&A decisions and tech investments.

Integrating AI proactively: Embed AI-driven insights and automation throughout operations and product strategies.

With these performance factors in place, the next step is sector-specific: identifying the right investments and execution strategies tailored to each business context.

Next moves for your sector: Key recommendations

TMT includes a wide variety of sectors with different business models requiring targeted strategies. So, which next moves should your sector consider? Here are some of our top recommendations that align with the investor’s mindset.

Software and digital platform companies must figure out how to drive growth while responding to new industry changes, including AI-driven business model disruption. These pressures are leading to market valuation resets and major shifts in customer expectations, while raising new concerns about the sustainability of existing Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). With your C-suite under scrutiny, a series of swift strategic moves may help open new avenues to generate revenue and identify opportunities to streamline execution. You should act with clarity, aligning capital to outcomes, activating data-led execution, and using AI to deliver faster and smarter.

We’ve highlighted three areas for you to consider while building a gameplan centered on speed and visible outcomes:

Revamp your Lead-to cash operating model with key enablers. This includes a refreshed and reoriented talent pool, along with new ways of working that embed AI and intelligent automation.
Transform go-to-market strategies through AI and digital growth. Rapidly leverage deep, purpose-driven customer segmentation that enables you to focus high-cost resources on high-value customer relationships, while delivering sustainable outcomes for the long tail, mid-tier and entry-level customers. This can be achieved effectively with a full reimagining of your GTM model with embedded AI, rather than taking a retrofit approach.
Recast product strategies for customer relevance and platform advantage. Review product portfolios and roadmap with refreshed focus on vertical solutions, ‘platformization’ and strategic alliances and teaming in the market — as well as participation in dominant ecosystems.

Your business context will dictate the right mix of these levers. Identify your top priorities, time-box them, and then execute with the discipline of PE investors, delivering on a high-impact agenda that meets specific milestones on the following objectives:

Protect and sustain the core of the company with an end-to end AI-first foundation in business architecture and technology (key applications and infrastructure) — along with the organizational model and talent pool.

Accelerate customer growth by building robust recurring relationships and compelling digital customer engagement with hyper-personalization and customization.

Innovate faster by refreshing your product portfolio ruthlessly and leveraging AI across the software development cycle.

We’ve advised software companies through their transition during private ownership: leadership worked closely with PE investors to deliver targeted outcomes fast. And we’ve been able to successfully apply these learning for Fortune1000 companies at scale. Focus areas included growing and expanding current ARR, enhancing renewal rates and achieving competitive CAC and business as usual (BAU) operations. Our latest experience shows how harnessing the power of AI can enable complex software and platform companies to move with greater clarity and pace.

As AI reshapes demand for compute and scalable data infrastructure, digital infrastructure leaders are shifting from hardware providers to full-stack solution enablers. These next moves can help accelerate capital deployment, embed AI across the stack and scale high-performing ecosystems with greater discipline.

Scale infrastructure strategically for AI and resilience.

Prioritize R&D investments in next-gen AI workloads and silicon technologies, applying rigorous ROI modeling to validate decisions.
Establish diversified, AI-driven supply chains for greater resilience.

Elevate value through solutions, not just components.

Move upstream to provide holistic solutions through strategic acquisitions and service expansions.
Use AI to simplify integration processes and rapidly deliver enhanced customer value.

As telecom providers work to modernize legacy systems and reposition as AI-powered platforms, success hinges on speed, capital discipline and structural clarity. These next moves can help you accelerate decisions, upgrade core infrastructure and deploy capital with the rigor of leading investors.

Modernize foundational systems with AI-driven efficiencies.

Conduct deep audits to find and remove any legacy systems and processes that inhibit agility.
Invest decisively in automation to transform network, customer and internal operations, tracking clear efficiency and productivity KPIs.

Strategically expand connectivity monetization.

Employ rigorous, data-backed ROI modeling for infrastructure investments.
Explore creative financing and strategic partnerships to improve capital allocation and ROI.

Learn more

Media companies face pressure to modernize workflows, unlock data value and stay competitive as AI and short-form content reshape how value is created. These next moves can help sharpen your investment decisions by fast-tracking cloud adoption, embedding AI across operations and directing capital toward high-ROI initiatives.

Accelerate cloud-first and AI-led operations.

Rapidly migrate to cloud-based workflows that offer streamlined data integration, clearer KPIs and faster decision-making.
Leverage AI automation to shift resources toward high-value creative processes supported by transparent performance metrics.

Create revenue through targeted data monetization.

Invest in analytics platforms enabling personalization, dynamic pricing and enhanced licensing capabilities.
Strategically extend reach and enrich data quality through platform partnerships.

As AI reshapes performance expectations and geopolitical risks strain supply chains, semiconductor leaders should balance speed, innovation and resilience. These next moves support an investor mindset — directing capital to AI-focused R&D, making your supply chain more resilient, and strengthening execution through foundry alignment and risk management.

Prioritize AI-optimized semiconductor development.

Commit resources explicitly to AI-focused semiconductor R&D, making sure you have strategic alignment with growth ambitions and clear accountability measures.
Strengthen foundry partnerships through data-backed forecasting and collaborative innovation.

Build robust and secure supply chains.

Deploy AI-driven supply chain assessments. Investigate and forecast environmental changes. Establish agile, responsive crisis and risk strategies, and clear execution ownership.
Analyze geopolitical risks, tariff issues and resource shortages to proactively manage supply chain risks.

As professional and business services companies evolve into tech-forward businesses, they face rising pressure to modernize systems, scale AI and elevate talent impact. These next moves can help you channel capital into digital infrastructure, embed AI across client engagement and align execution through unified platforms and talent strategies.

Modernize core architecture to enhance AI potential.

Design unified, cloud-based architecture supported by clean data models.
Deploy AI virtual agents to increase client engagement consistency, speed and customer satisfaction.

Invest strategically in talent and ecosystems.

Implement immersive, tech-driven learning programs explicitly linked to measurable organizational KPIs.
Incentivize collaboration that directly contributes to business innovation and measurable improvements in performance metrics.

The bottom line

In an environment of rapid technological change and rising stakeholder expectations, TMT companies can no longer rely on incremental tweaks. They should make bold moves to build new capabilities and value streams. Adopting a deals mindset can be the catalyst that shifts a company from indecision and inertia to proactive value creation. By acting as an investor in your own business –– speeding up decisions, focusing on material outcomes, leveraging data and embracing long-term value plays –– you can overcome internal hurdles and unlock your company’s full potential. The success of private equity in driving faster growth and efficiency isn’t magic. It comes from discipline and perspective that any management team can cultivate.

Public TMT executives can blend the strengths of their environment — deep industry knowledge, stability and multi-stakeholder relationships — with proven PE practices — clear value creation plans, urgency and execution rigor. Those who do will be better positioned for the next wave of disruption, creating sustainable value for shareholders and customers.

Between July 28 and August 12, 2025, PwC surveyed 204 executives, including C-level executives (36%), division or business unit presidents (2%), senior vice presidents (28%), vice presidents (24%), directors (8%) and other executives (1%). Respondents were from public and private TMT companies: Technology (58%), media and entertainment (22%), telecommunications (18%) and other (1%). PwC’s 2025 TMT Innovation and Investment Readiness Survey was launched to better understand how TMT leaders are approaching innovation, investment and value creation — and where execution gaps and organizational barriers might be limiting progress.