business
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TALKING
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THE BEST THING AN
ORGANISATION CAN DO TO SUPPORT
ITS IT PROS IS TO INVEST IN THE
RIGHT TOOLS TO HELP THEM COMBAT
DOWNTIME AND ENABLE RESILIENCE.
“That's why IT professionals must leverage
tools such as data infrastructure automation
to ensure the solutions they design, develop,
deploy and operate will offer the fastest
time to value possible. By eliminating the
unnecessary hand-coding traditionally
associated with data infrastructure projects
for example, IT professionals can save time,
lower costs and limit project risk – and in the
process, increase their own bandwidth and
contributions to the business."
to transform workforce productivity and
customer experiences by leveraging virtual
and augmented reality, remote-controlled
robotics, telemedicine and Artificial
Intelligence (AI) technologies.”
Krautkremer concluded: “IT Pros have always
been unsung heroes, but with such significant
technology developments on the horizon, it’s
time we start singing their praises."
New threats and challenges
And new technology is not limited to the
infrastructure used to store and manage
data, but also to how it is moved around.
Todd Krautkremer, CMO at Cradlepoint,
explained: “The IT Pro’s role is ever-
changing, but over the last few years, they
have been responsible for enabling huge
transformation in the technology domains
that comprise modern IT organisations.
In today’s hyper-connected enterprise, IT
Pros are often responsible for managing
a network which extends well beyond the
traditional fixed location boundaries and
across the public Internet – connecting
everything from vehicles, kiosks, sensors,
cameras and digital signage.
“This expanded scope of connecting people,
places and things everywhere means that 4G
LTE and soon 5G, has become an essential
wide-area network (WAN) infrastructure. To
enable more agility, especially for lean IT
shops, they are also harnessing the power
of software-defined networking (SDN) to
accelerate provisioning times, increase
availability and create a more intelligent and
self-optimising network edge that seamlessly
blends wired and wireless connections.
“Just around the corner, IT Pros will have
another tool in their toolbox – 5G, which
promises to deliver gigabit speeds, low
latencies and low-cost Internet of Things
(IoT) connectivity. 5G will enable a new
generation of business applications poised
44
INTELLIGENTCIO
However, against this backdrop of new
technology and the stress that this can
cause, another factor that became apparent
is the rise in threats involving IT. Gijsbert
Janssen van Doorn, Technology Evangelist,
Zerto, explained how these threats can be a
cause of stress for IT teams: “IT professionals
are under tremendous pressure to ensure
that business technology services are
protected and available 24/7, regardless
of the level of risk. They are charged with
maintaining IT resilience in the wake of
any disruption. This can be a daunting task,
which was reinforced in a recent survey
where 93% of IT professionals said their
businesses have experienced a tech-related
disruption in the last two years. Following
these disruptions, organisations reported
that in around half of the cases, employees
had to work overtime (53% of occasions)
and there was a loss of productivity (50% of
such instances).”
A need for support and recognition
The clear theme between all of the leaders
opinions was the need for more recognition
for IT team members. Zerto’s Gijsbert
Janssen van Doorn, commented: “The best
thing an organisation can do to support
its IT pros is to invest in the right tools to
help them combat downtime and enable
resilience. This means tools that are multi-
purpose, easy to use, integrate simply, work
across clouds and on-premises, and are
constantly fuelled by innovation to meet
ever-evolving needs. Tools like this are critical
to ensure IT professionals can focus on IT
transformation and not have to burn the
midnight oil recovering from downtime that
could have been prevented.”
Gary Watson, CTO and Founder of Nexsan,
said: “In today’s technology-driven age,
IT professionals are faced with increasing
pressure and with supporting technology
that can help make their lives easier, such
as secure storage, easier management and
high-performance, they can focus their time
elsewhere. Forward-thinking organisations
that take the time to rethink their
infrastructure and support IT professionals
with their daily role stand in better stead to
deal with new IT challenges.”
These are challenges felt in both the public
and private sector, as Paul Parker, Chief
Technologist of Federal and National
Government at SolarWinds, explained:
“Today’s public sector technology
professionals face a tremendous
amount of responsibility at work, from
strategic technology evaluations and IT
modernisation, to the more onerous tasks,
such as helpdesk tickets and end-user
requests. As a result, they have very little
time to dedicate to being Tech PROactive.
“However, tech pros are taking the initiative
to go above and beyond their responsibilities
to explore how new technology can benefit
their organisations, with automation, cloud
and AI/Machine Learning topping the list
of advancements that could solve problems
within their IT environments. Additionally,
there is a large desire to continue their
education, with 44% saying they would
focus on developing their IT skillset with one
extra hour in the work day.”
The pace of change isn’t going to slow any
time soon, so as IT professionals bear the
strain of making Digital Transformation a
reality for a business – in a secure, compliant,
flexible way – the onus is on the C-suite
and business leaders to provide them with
the support and encouragement they
need. This support extends across budgets
and investments in the right tools and
technologies, through to simply recognising
the hard work IT professionals do to keep a
business always-on. n
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