A clunky user interface on a mobile device can cost an employee time and ultimately result in business going to a competitor, said Penberthy, who also served as CTO of Apple mobile app development company AppOrchard.

"Those decisions are impacting how people view your company, how people interact with your business and the cycle time of productivity," he said.

And the image presented by a company's technology and website become important when recruiting and retaining workers, panelists said.

Stefanic is involved with Sensata's college recruiting and finds that candidates are asking about the technology the company is using, raising questions on the impression the company's IT creates, he said.

"Branding becomes extremely important and technology really helps to set the tone for a new entrant and starts to form an opinion of us," Stefanic said.