Le Lézard
Classified in: Science and technology
Subject: ANALYSTS' COMMENTS

SolarWinds Study of IT Professionals Finds Cloud Computing is Top Transformative Technology and Main Cause of Mounting Performance Challenges


AUSTIN, Texas, April 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SolarWinds, a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, today released the findings of its annual state-of-the-industry study. The new study reveals the state of today's IT landscape: IT professionals are continuing to prioritize investments in cloud computing as they grapple with how to leverage the benefits of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. A juxtaposition of the findings with other independent research also suggests a misalignment between the IT investment priorities of the practitioners surveyed and their leaders.

The IT Trends Report 2018: The Intersection of Hype and Performance, the company's annual report on IT trends, explores the spectrum of today's existing and emerging technologies, and the extent to which they are disrupting IT and optimizing the performance of environments as organizations progress in their digital transformation journeys.

Overall, North American IT professionals are prioritizing investments in cloud computing and hybrid IT more than any other technology; 94 percent of respondents indicate that cloud/hybrid IT are one of the top five most important technologies to their organization's IT strategy today. By contrast, just two years ago, over one-third of IT professionals indicated, as part of the SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2016: The Hybrid IT Evolution, that cloud computing was somewhat important or not important at all. While AI and machine learning (ML) are not currently the highest priorities for IT professionals, optimizing cloud/hybrid IT environments creates a critical pathway to eventually deploy and capture the compelling benefits of these emerging technologies.

However, the rapid adoption of new technologies has created environments that are not optimized for peak performance. Nearly half (47 percent) of the survey respondents indicate their environments are not optimized and reported spending 50 percent or more of their time reactively maintaining and troubleshooting. In increasing numbers, IT professionals appear to be addressing the challenges introduced by the cloud and hybrid IT through investment in containers: 44 percent of respondents ranked containers as one of the most important technology priorities today, a significant jump in adoption when compared to the SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2017: Portrait of a Hybrid IT Organization, in which just 15 percent of IT professionals planned to develop containerization skills in the year ahead.

At the same time, IT professional respondents also cite inadequate organizational strategy (43 percent) and training (42 percent) as common barriers to system optimization. Ultimately, to keep pace with changing environments and achieve successful digital transformation, today's IT professionals require new skill sets and deeper strategic collaboration with business leaders.

"The narrative in today's IT industry revolves around transformative technologies like AI, machine learning, blockchain, and more. These technologies are unquestionably important, but the results of this year's study reveal that IT professionals are still prioritizing investments in technologies that help run day-to-day operations, and choosing initiatives that deliver more immediate value," said Joe Kim, executive vice president and global chief technology officer, SolarWinds. "The SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2018 shows IT professionals are focusing in on proven technologies that deliver value today, like cloud and containers, with an eye toward AI for tomorrow."

"This is how most IT professionals currently are optimizing their environments to help unlock additional performance for their organizations," he added.

2018 Key Findings

The SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2018: The Intersection of Hype and Performance explores IT professionals' view about what is happening in their technology worlds, and how their organizations are prioritizing existing and emerging technologies. Key findings show that:

Cloud computing and hybrid IT will remain IT professionals' top priority for the next five years, as these elements meet today's business needs while serving as the backbone to trends like ML and AI.

?  94 percent of IT professionals surveyed indicate that cloud and/or hybrid IT is one of the top five most important technologies in their IT organization's technology strategy today, with 51 percent listing cloud/hybrid IT as their number one most important technology.

?  When ranking the most important technologies today and for digital transformation over the next three to five years, as well as technologies with the greatest potential to provide productivity/efficiency benefits and ROI, IT professionals ranked cloud and/or hybrid IT as number one across the board (by weighted rank).

At the same time, IT professionals are prioritizing internal investments in containers as a proven solution to the challenges of cloud computing and hybrid IT and a key enabler of innovation.

?  44 percent of respondents ranked containers as the most important technology priority today, and 38 percent of respondents ranked containers as the most important technology priority three to five years from now.

?  Concurrently, AI and ML investments are expected to gain importance over the next three to five years.

The results of the IT Trends Survey suggest a dissonance between the views of IT professionals and their senior managers on priorities for IT investment over the next three to five years.

?  On the weighted list of technologies IT professionals believe are needed for an IT organization's digital transformation over the next three to five years, AI did not even make the top five.

While IT professionals continue prioritizing cloud computing and hybrid IT, adoption of these technologies has made it challenging to optimize performance of their systems and applications.

?  58 percent of IT professionals surveyed indicated that by weighted rank, cloud/hybrid IT is the greatest challenge when it comes to implementation, rollout, and/or day-to-day performance. This is followed closely by automation and software-defined everything technologies.

?  Nearly half (47 percent) of all IT professionals surveyed think that their IT environments are not operating at optimal levels.

?  This echoes findings from the 2017 SolarWinds IT Trends Report: Portrait of a Hybrid IT Organization, in which 35 percent of IT pros surveyed who migrated critical applications and infrastructure to the cloud ultimately brought back/left area(s) on-premises due to security concerns, budget, and performance issues.

Many IT professionals cite a lack of organizational strategy and inadequate investment in areas such as user training as the most common barriers to system optimization.

?  Of IT professionals indicating that their environments are not optimized, 43 percent ranked inadequate organizational strategy as one of the top three barriers to achieving optimization, followed closely by inadequate investment in other areas, such as user and technology training (42 percent).

To explore and interact with all of the 2018 findings, please visit the SolarWinds IT Trends Index, a dynamic web experience that presents the study's findings by region, including charts, graphs, socially shareable elements, and additional insights into the data.

The findings of this year's North American report are based on a survey fielded in December 2017, which yielded responses from 234 IT practitioners, managers, and directors in the United States and Canada from public-and private-sector small, mid-size, and enterprise companies. All regions studied in 2018, as reported on the SolarWinds IT Trends Index, were North America, Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, with 803 respondents across all geographies combined.

Additional Resources

Past SolarWinds IT Trends Reports

Connect with SolarWinds

About SolarWinds
SolarWinds provides powerful and affordable IT management software to customers worldwide, from Fortune 500® enterprises to small businesses, managed service providers (MSPs), government agencies, and educational institutions. We are committed to focusing exclusively on IT, MSP, and DevOps professionals, and strive to eliminate the complexity that our customers have been forced to accept from traditional enterprise software vendors. Regardless of where the IT asset or user sits, SolarWinds delivers products that are easy to find, buy, use, maintain, and scale while providing the power to address key areas of the infrastructure from on-premises to the cloud. This focus and commitment to excellence in end-to-end hybrid IT performance management has established SolarWinds as the worldwide leader in both network management software and MSP solutions, and is driving similar growth across the full spectrum of IT management software. Our solutions are rooted in our deep connection to our user base, which interacts in our THWACK online community to solve problems, share technology and best practices, and directly participate in our product development process. Learn more today at www.solarwinds.com.

The SolarWinds, SolarWinds & Design, Orion, and THWACK trademarks are the exclusive property of SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC or its affiliates, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other SolarWinds trademarks, service marks, and logos may be common law marks or are registered or pending registration. All other trademarks mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and are trademarks of (and may be registered trademarks) of their respective companies.

© 2018 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC.  All rights reserved.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Nicole Fachet
Text100
Phone: 212.871.3950
[email protected]

Mark Stanton
SolarWinds
Phone: 512.682.9692
[email protected]

 


These press releases may also interest you

at 09:42
A news report from China.org.cn on people's life in Xizang:   Songzhuji and her family live in a village in Nyainrong County, Nagqu City, Xizang Autonomous Region. Given the 4700m altitude, the air pressure is much lower...

at 09:32
Genea, a leading provider of cloud-based enterprise building security and utility management technology, is proud to announce the appointment of Karen Roberto as the new Vice President of Marketing. ...

at 09:30
Policybazaar, India's leading online insurance marketplace, is witnessing a significant increase in non-resident Indians (NRIs) choosing term insurance from India via its platform. This surge is driven by the unparalleled ease, benefits and...

at 09:15
Vibrant Wellness, a leader in specialized diagnostics and personalized health tools, announced today that its Tickborne Testing received approval from The Wadsworth Center, part of the New York State Department of Health.This approval enables Vibrant...

at 09:00
Guidewire announced that Guidewire PartnerConnect Consulting and Global Premier partner, Ernst & Young LLP (EY), has achieved the global Migration Acceleration Specialization. Partners who have earned this specialization have demonstrated the...

at 09:00
The Commerce Casino & Hotel, home to the largest poker room in the world, proudly announces an exciting partnership with the richest, most prestigious, and longest-running poker series ? the World Series of Poker® (WSOP®). This collaboration...



News published on and distributed by: