SolarWinds exposes pressure of digital transformation on customers

Before coronavirus became the dominant talking point in the industry, it was difficult to get through any conversation without hearing the words “digital transformation”.

The channel was told at conferences, in webinars and from customers directly that organisations were changing and information was breaking out of the internal siloes and flowing digitally across a business.

SolarWinds has issued its latest IT trends report 2020: The universal language of IT, which confirms that many of the proclamations made in presentations at industry events are on the money.

“For years we’ve been talking about hybrid IT and what it means for tech pro. In our seventh year of the IT trends report, we see the effects of hybrid IT in breaking down traditional siloes and bringing core competencies across on-premise and cloud environments together,” said Joe Kim, executive vice-president and global chief technology officer at SolarWinds.

The takeaway for the channel is that not only are traditional siloes breaking down, but that trend is having a significant impact across hybrid, on-premise and public cloud environments.

Tech professionals are facing increased pressure and likely to reach out to a reseller for help in maintaining the infrastructure and hybrid environment while they try to carve out some budget to introduce emerging technologies.

The report found that most of the energy and money is currently going into three areas: cloud, security and hybrid IT. Only 16% of those surveyed said that the likes of artificial intelligence (AI), edge and containers were the biggest influences on their staffing needs.

Life has also got harder for IT pros with many reporting that, over the past five years, their working hours have extended, they are having to look after more outside the firewall, and there is a pressure to retrain existing staff.

All of that is happening at a time when many are coping with reduced budgets, operating in an organisation that has unclear or shifting IT priorities and has current IT that fails to meet the needs of the business.

The reference to the “universal language of IT” is around the idea that those working with technology are now not just expected to keep the lights flashing on the servers, but to help drive business success.

“Especially now, when organisations worldwide are facing new challenges and uncertainty, we must take this reality seriously, focusing on skills development and readiness in key areas like security, cloud infrastructure, and application monitoring,” said Kim.

“While IT continues to be a main driver of business importance, tech pros have an opportunity to help reassure the business and focus on effectively communicating performance now and into the future.

“More than ever before, technology professionals must work alongside business leaders to meet organisational goals, while also investing time and energy into cultivating the necessary skills to drive business success,” he added.

SolarWinds is pointing managed service providers (MSPs) in the direction of the training tools it offers, which include the MSP Institute and SolarWinds Academy, to ensure that those trying to help customers with their transformation needs have the right skills.