the transformative and transforming role of it in · section three:do more with hybrid it 19....

THE TRANSFORMING ROLE OF ITIN MEDIUM-SIZED AUSTRALIAN ORGANISATIONSDiscover how IT professionals’ roles in Australian medium-sized organisations are evolving, why this is occurring, and find out what their priorities and immediate challenges are.

SURVEY REPORT

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INTRODUCTIONThe IT department’s role has been evolving for as long as they’ve existed, however the current pace of change is new.

The proliferation of devices, new security threats, increasing specialisation, a growing number of ‘must-have’ platforms and technologies, as well as the need to facilitate new ways of working across organisations means that IT’s role is becoming broader and more central to overall success.

The reason for a lot of this comes down to a single term: ‘digital transformation’.

Digital transformation and the IT department’s rise to prominence.The term ‘digital transformation’ is bandied around readily in many contexts but the reality is that it’s a process, not a one-off project centred around a single new piece of technology.

Digital transformation is achieved through assessing what your organisation needs to improve, innovate, and grow; before crafting a strategy and roadmap to implement and utilise clever interconnected solutions that work with optimised new processes both manual and automated. Only through taking this approach can you improve and recalibrate the way your organisation functions, uses data, and how your people interact with it (as well as with each other).

The IT department’s pivotal role in this process is undeniable. Not only are IT teams subject matter experts on networking, security, and other technical areas, but they also have the best view of how different people within their organisations operate, where they intersect with technology and where those technologies meet, and how data is stored and accessed (as well as by what and whom).

2 | Brennan IT | The Transforming Role of IT in Australian Mid-Market Organisations


Profile of respondents 4

Key findings 5

Section One: IT’s role in Australian medium-sized organisations 8

Section Two: Secure your organisation 14

Section Three: Do more with Hybrid IT 19

Section Four: Support your workforce 25


Introduction continued…

Connecting people, processes, data and technology is the IT department’s daily role and it’s within digital transformation that they have the opportunity to not only lead but make a huge impact on organisational growth long into the future.

This is especially the case within medium-sized organisations in Australia, where strategic technical expertise can be short on the ground and there is often a lack of understanding around just what is possible with new technologies and approaches.

This survey report seeks to get to the bottom of whether this is what’s occurring within Australian medium-sized businesses and whether IT professionals are seizing this chance to take on new challenges, evolve their roles and be leaders within their organisations.

We hope you find the results both insightful and useful.

CONTENTS


10%

41%

43%

6%

Intermediate

Manager

Head of/Director

C-Suite

84%

16%

Australia-owned Foreign-owned

Australian IT professionals in medium-sized organisations

107

PROFILE OF RESPONDENTSThis survey report is based on the responses of 107 Australia-based IT professionals who work within medium-sized organisations (100-1,000 seat). It was undertaken during Dec-18 and Jan-19.

Respondents who did not meet this criteria were excluded from the analysis, but the charitable donation made by Brennan IT on their behalf for completing the survey was honoured.

All responses in the report have been collated and are displayed as a percentage result unless otherwise stated.



KEY FINDINGS• Just 16% of survey respondents saw IT’s role as ‘Strategic’ within their Australian

mid-market organisations• The top priorities for IT professionals during 2019 are ‘Managing security and

business risk’ and ‘Implementing strategic initiatives’• When leveraging external IT services, the primary reason for doing so it to ‘Access

specialist skills & expertise’, an answer provided by 84% of respondents. The next closest answer, to ‘Fill internal resource gaps’, was stated by just 33% of the IT professionals surveyed

• Most medium-sized organisations in Australia have small internal IT teams (1-to-3 people) and only 52% of IT work is done in-house

• The biggest challenges for IT departments are ‘Budget’ and ‘Finding the right partners’

• IT departments expect SaaS and IaaS providers' share of their systems to grow significantly in the next 12 months, with SaaS seeing a 9% growth, and IaaS a whopping 20%

• The adoption of SaaS platforms is what’s driving cloud adoption, with hybrid models forming because of the need to retain older legacy technology on-premise

• Flexible workforce working arrangements are becoming more common, but IT aren’t confident of their ability to deliver on it for all.

Digital transformation is alive! But IT are being marginalised.All too often, the IT departments within Australian mid-market organisations are seen simply as ‘Enablers/Supporters’ of digital transformation (55%), rather than ‘Innovators/ Drivers’ or ‘Leaders’. In fact, the view of them as ‘Handbrakes’ was expressed more commonly than that of ‘Leaders’ (9% vs. 8%).

There is a real opportunity for the IT department to lead these conversations within medium-sized Australian organisations, but in order to do so they need to be able to define and articulate a clear vision, as well as alter their language. According to Raj Khetia, Head of Managed Services at Brennan IT, ‘This is often a trait that IT professionals from enterprises are good at, but that some in the mid-market struggle with.’

Assuming that IT has a seat at the table, ‘business as usual-like’ activity is not going to help them to define their organisation’s vision for digital transformation. It’s critical for IT Managers to get an understanding of where their organisation currently stands and form a view as to what could be achieved in the long-term, as well as what the ‘quick-wins’ are to get people onboard. For example, Microsoft’s productivity tools (such as SharePoint and Teams), and Nintex’s Workflow Automation can reduce the time spent on internal processes and cut administrative overheads very quickly.

When formulating this view, remember that this is a strategic plan and roadmap that must consider strategic outcomes, demonstrating efficiency and effects via the lexicon of the bottom-line, market share, SSAT and CSAT results.


.



Security is still front-of-mind, but the Australian mid-market isn’t doing enough.Given the evolution of threats, that the mid-market are increasingly being targeted, and the growing number of attacks; it’s perhaps unsurprising that ‘Managing security and business risk’ came out on-top in terms of our respondents’ focus.

The risks of getting it wrong are huge, especially when the fines associated with data breaches from regulators are added to the losses a business could experience should trust in them evaporate. However…

The Australian mid-market seems very unprepared and the results contained within section 2 of this report make for some sobering reading, with even some of the basics not being employed by many. Harshang Shah, Principal Security Consultant at Brennan IT, notes ‘We regularly conduct security maturity assessments for mid-market organisations and see that their provisions often fall well below the level required to defend themselves from the current security threats that exist.’

The difficulty associated with having to constantly look over your shoulder without losing sight on what else is important - delivering on your strategic plan and helping your organisation to achieve its goals - is clearly dragging on security and the small IT teams charged with protecting an organisation from them. Given the pace of change and the increasing sophistication of attacks, not to mention the ever-increasing stakes associated with getting it wrong, keeping ahead on your own is much more difficult.

Lyncoln De Mello, Head of Cloud at Brennan IT, noted of the results ‘Many people may be unaware that they’re able to get highly-effective perimeter security and identity access credential security solutions from their network and IT service providers without having to invest significant CAPEX in finding completely new partners and solutions.’

What’s required in the modern pantheon of security is an integrated approach with one or more experts who can conduct a security assessment to establish where your organisation currently sits, that understands the needs of medium-sized organisations in Australia, and who can advise and help you to build-in and update your protections as you go. The key difference in this approach is that you get to spend your time looking dead-ahead, whilst others are tail-gunning and providing you with the cover to enable and improve your organisation through its technology.

Most medium-sized Australian organisations have small internal IT teams and external support has a pivotal, evolving role.The most common size of an Australian medium-sized organisation’s IT team is 1-to-3 people. As a result, it’s unsurprising that 48% of IT work is done externally via providers and suppliers given the sheer scale of the role with which they’re now entrusted.

In a world of increasing complexity, growing technological specialisations, and a massive proliferation of platforms; being able to deliver on key organisational goals is becoming increasingly difficult for IT teams - especially if organisations are not resourcing their internal function enough or seeking the support of a Managed Services Provider (MSP).

The main reason for seeking external input identified in the survey was to ‘Access skills & expertise’ which, given the above, is understandable and, perhaps, indicative of the ongoing market changes. Managed Services Providers - Brennan IT-included - now play a bigger role for a lot of their customers and are tasked with anything from small individual strategic projects, right through to forming and then delivering-on a complete long-term vision for an organisation’s IT structure and function.

Fifty percent of organisations use their external providers in an ‘Ongoing integrated’ manner and this trend is only likely to accelerate as the need to move away from inefficient legacy systems becomes more urgent, internal budgets are squeezed, and the very real Australian IT skills shortage starts to bite.

The question is: why aren’t more IT departments already doing more externally? Investing in technologies and people whose ability could be sub-optimal and may be deemed out-of-date quickly, or simply leave an organisation at any moment (although your hardware would probably struggle to!), could be seen as fool-hardy - especially when you can access best-in-class expertise that’s constantly evolving and at a fixed, agreed cost externally.

The answer to that question could be that people are struggling to find the right people to do that with, as ‘Finding the right partners’ was cited as respondent’s third highest answer (marginally behind ‘Budget’) when listing their challenges to improving overall function - there’s clearly work for both IT teams and their suppliers to be doing.


New technologies aren’t being fully utilised and onboarding is often to blame.There seem to often be problems with technology investments as just 9% of organisations are making the most of them.

The reasons for this could be numerous: insufficient due-diligence into capabilities and integrations being done in advance of purchase, incorrect set-up, bad onboarding, the loss of key stakeholders and/or expertise, no thought put into long-term development, poor fit into wider organisational technology model, etc.

Regardless of the problem, the answer is simple: IT professionals need to do more to get their voices heard and ensure that checks are done before technology is introduced and that people (as well as the technology) are properly onboarded.

Lyncoln De Mello, Head of Cloud at Brennan IT, said of this result ‘Commonly, little value is placed on training - particularly at the end-user level. For System Integrators, training end-users is a common service, but it does require people to facilitate it and there is, therefore, a cost associated with it. However, the return on investment (ROI) on end-user training of applications that are rolled-out is often hugely positive considering the productivity gains it can drive in the long-run.’

By investing in proper onboarding, you’re ensuring you’ll get better long-term value from your far more costly technology investments.

Australian medium-sized organisations aren’t hot on Hybrid IT yet, but with increasing SaaS adoption, they soon could be.The results from this survey indicate that the majority of organisations in the Australian mid-market are lukewarm about their need to adopt a Hybrid IT strategy, with only 21% stating that it was definitively important to their organisation’s success.

The reason cited for moving to a hybrid strategy was ‘Legacy apps that are not suitable for the cloud’ (67%), so it would appear that there isn’t a strong preference for cloud or on-premise. This is backed-up by another question; when respondents were asked about why they were moving to the cloud, the largest group stated it was due to ‘Mainly moving to the SaaS product version’ (48%) - something that seems to be occurring apace, as our respondents expect 9% more of their applications to be SaaS in 12 months’ time (41% vs. 50%).

At this point it’s interesting to note that the overarching challenge that IT professionals have is ‘Integrating new technologies’ - a coincidence?

Cloud computing is entering an important new phase, as new technologies and approaches are facilitated by new technologies (such as HP’s GreenLake) by Managed Services Providers. These changes will see organisations able to adopt bespoke set-ups that enable them to retain the control and security of on-premise, the accessibility advantages of cloud, connect the two seamlessly, and then pay only for what they’re using.

Whilst it might not be critical to organisation success right now, with the continuing growth in cloud-based SaaS platforms, the ever-increasing need to connect all platforms to create a complete IT environment, and the difficulty that many are facing in doing so; finding the right hybrid model for your organisation could become mission-critical in the not too distant future.

Allowing flexible working seems important and it’s growing, but IT departments aren’t ready or prioritising it.Forty percent of Australian medium-sized organisations are able to provide their workforce with flexible working now, a figure that’s expected to grow by another 10% in the next 12 months.

However, there are still a large number of IT professionals that stated that they weren’t confident that they could deliver on this right now.

When asked to rate where ‘Providing anywhere, any-device access to business app’ was in their priority list, it only came in at third (38% of respondents stating it), below ‘Increase workforce productivity’ (70%) and ‘Provide consistent performance, access and experience’ (70%); yet respondents also expected that in 12 months they’ll be in a much better position to deliver on flexible working (52% said they’ll be in a ‘Good’ or ‘Strong’ position).

With the trend to facilitating flexible, anywhere any-device workplaces seemingly unstoppable, the adoption of SaaS platforms will only get you so far alone, so it could be time for IT professionals to start prioritising the development of this area of their organisations.



SECTION ONE:

IT’S ROLE IN AUSTRALIAN MEDIUM-SIZED ORGANISATIONS


16%

40%

44%Strategic

Operational

Evolving

IT’s role within most respondent’s organisations was said to be ‘Operational’ or ‘Evolving’, with just 16% stating that it was seen as ‘Strategic’.

Whether this is a legacy of IT’s role as an enabler, rather than as a leader (something question 10 of this section suggests is still the case), is arguable, however what’s interesting about this is that, despite the amount of technology that’s packed within organisations today, leaders haven’t asked IT to take on a more strategic role to-date.

What is good to see, however, is that should they be asked to step-up, then there shouldn’t necessarily be huge confidence gaps with most survey respondents perceiving the IT department in a ‘Positive’ (38%) or ‘Neutral’ (54%) light - although it would be interesting to survey business leader to see if that’s the case on both sides!

How would you describe the role of IT within your organisation?Q1:

How would you describe how the wider organisation perceives the IT department?Q2:

38%

54%

8%

Positive

Neutral

Negative



Most Australian medium-sized organisations have adopted a ‘Centrally-managed IT approach’ (47%), with a further 26% of respondents stating that they were ‘Working towards it’.

This approach to service delivery and strategic initiatives is inevitably more efficient in both time and budgetary-spend, as the need to reinvent the wheel for each situation and time spent fixing outliers in an organisation is inevitably cut. According to Raj Khetia, Head of Managed Services at Brennan IT, ‘If you go further and adopt a ‘Standard Operating Environment’ (SOE), you can achieve even greater efficiencies and free-up the IT team’s time so that they can focus on strategic initiatives, rather than on problem fixing and repetitive, manual tasks.’

This is especially the case given that, for 49% of respondents, the average internal IT team size was between 1-to-3 members. In those sorts of environments, the disjointed use of external support will only get you so far and the requirement to take a centrally managed approach (whether led internally or by your managed service provider) is critical to ensuring success with any endeavour.

Do you have a centrally-managed IT approach?Q3:

47%

26%

23%

4%

Yes

Working towards it

For some things

No

How many people work full-time in your internal IT team?Q4:

56%29%

7%

3%5%

1-to-3

4-to-10

10-to-20

21-to-50

50+



Fifty percent of survey respondents said that their sourcing model consisted of using external providers as part of an ‘Ongoing integrated operational model’, with 52% of respondents stating that 52% of IT activity is carried-out in-house.

Working hand-in-hand with managed service providers and other forms of external support brings more benefits to an organisation beyond doubling the IT team’s output. By becoming familiar with organisational goals, key stakeholders, and getting an intimate understanding of your technology set-up, you’re creating an always-there resource of expert support that can be accessed should a major issue occur or a change in focus be required. This will significantly reduce the time-to-action, and improve the quality and fit of any work.

Furthermore, it would appear that IT professionals within Australian medium-sized organisations are leaning on their external providers most commonly to get ‘Access to specialist skills & expertise’ (stated by 84% of respondents as either the first or second reason for seeking external help). ‘Fill internal resource gaps’ was the next most common answer at 33%, perhaps indicating that actually the direction and insights that managed service providers can provide is of greater value than the work that they do to double the IT team’s output.

30%

50%

20%

Use tactically for resourcegaps

Use as part of an ongoingintegrated operational model

Use strategically to driveinnovation

What is your sourcing model?Q5:

What percentage of all your IT activity (strategic, projects and operations) are delivered in-house?

Q6:Average 52% Median 51%

4%

9%

14%

16%

20%

20%

33%

84%

4%

4%

11%

5%

9%

11%

16%

41%

0%

5%

4%

11%

11%

9%

17%

43%

Other

Cheaper

Bridge short-term needs

Improve service levels

Strategic guidance

Strategic project delivery

Fill internal resource gaps

Access to specialist skills & expertise

1st2ndTotal

What are your main reasons for working with an external service provider? (Rank top 2 with 1 = biggest reason)Q7:



Unsurprisingly, budget came out as the second biggest challenge that IT professionals when trying to improve overall function within Australian medium-sized organisations. More interestingly, though, was that ‘Integrating new technologies’ came top and that ‘Finding the right partners’ came out as the third biggest challenge.

Whether it’s inflexibility in business models, the range of services on offer, the cost involved, or something else; there’s clearly work for managed service providers to do to make their services more appropriate and affordable to IT teams - whether that’s adopting new approaches to forming operational models or redefining pricing structures.

There’s definitely an incentive to getting this right, though, as ‘Implementing strategic initiatives’ was the second top priority for work in the next 12 months - only fractionally behind ‘Managing security and business risk’.7%

13%

14%

22%

30%

33%

36%

45%

4%

9%

11%

9%

12%

16%

18%

21%

3%

4%

4%

13%

18%

17%

17%

24%

Other

Internal perception

Attracting and retaining the right skills

Legacy technology

Lack of strategic alignment to the broaderbusiness

Finding the right partners

Budget

Integrating new technologies

1st2ndTotal

What would you describe as IT’s biggest challenges in improving overall function? (Rank top 2 with 1 = biggest reason)Q8:

What would you say are your top priorities in the next 12 months? (Rank top 2 with 1 = biggest reason)Q9:

5%

5%

16%

29%

37%

53%

55%

3%

4%

13%

18%

18%

26%

17%

3%

1%

3%

11%

18%

26%

38%

Other

Adopting a new sourcing model

Enabling self-service/Automation

Modernising your environment

Facilitating new ways of working

Implementing strategic initiatives

Managing security and business risk

1st2ndTotal



As discussed in some detail in the report’s key findings, the IT team are seen as ‘Enablers/Supporters’ of digital transformation, rather than as the linchpins that are really deciding on direction and driving success - which is also, perhaps, why very few (9%) of the survey’s respondents said that their organisation was making the most of its new technologies.

The major obstacles to digital transformation were seen by survey respondents as a ‘Time/budget’ issue (64%) and followed by ‘Legacy technology’ (28%): both things that they have control over.

Australian IT professionals have the chance now to seize the opportunity and really drive digital transformation within their organisations, promoting and enhancing their roles and growing their horizons in the process. There’s no need to go it alone, you can utilise the support of external expertise to start and see-through the process, but time really is of the essence because if you or someone else within your organisation is not willing to step-up, then your organisation risks disruption and greater existential threats.

8%

24%

55%

9%4%

Leaders

Innovators/Drivers

Enablers/supporters

Handbrakes

Not involved

How are IT viewed when it comes to organisational digital transformation?Q10:

Do you think that your organisation is making the most of new technologies?Q12:Yes 9% Somewhat 61% No 30%

12%

17%

17%

17%

21%

24%

28%

64%

8%

12%

7%

8%

12%

11%

16%

27%

4%

5%

11%

9%

9%

12%

12%

37%

Poor coordination

Lack of leadership

Poor inter-team/department relations

Not a priority

Slow decision-making

Other

Legacy technology

Time/budget

1st2ndTotal

What are the major obstacles to digital transformation in your organisation? (Rank top 2 with 1 = biggest issue)Q11:



SECTION TWO:

SECURE YOUR ORGANISATION


49%

35%

16%

Yes

Somewhat

No

Forty-nine percent of IT professionals based in Australian medium-sized organisations who responded to the survey said that their business has a ‘Disaster recovery or business contingency plan’, with 35% stating that they had part of one (‘Somewhat’).

In a similar question that asked about the existence of a defined security policy that aligns to organisational strategy, just 37% of respondents said that they had one.

With the risk involved and the growing threat to medium-sized organisations, the response to these questions is really quite shocking.

Given the stakes and what could eventuate from a legal, reputational, and customer point-of-view should the worst occur, it could be said that organisations are playing with fire and it’s for IT professionals to step-up and not only get across the current threat landscape, but also demand the resources to do something about it.

Technology touches every function within an organisation, (and a security breach can occur at any one of them), so engaging external support to help with this area of your IT make-up could be highly advantageous. Not only will it help you to get something into place quicker, but they’ll also be able to evolve your position across your organisation going forwards with minimal input.

Do you have a disaster recovery plan or business contingency plan for your organisation?Q1:

Do you have a defined security policy documented that aligns to your organisation’s strategy?Q2:

37%

45%

18%

Yes

Somewhat

No



Many of the respondents surveyed didn’t have some common security accreditations, such a ISO 27001 (12% of respondents) and NIST cyber security framework (10%).

Beyond that, only 32% of respondents indicate that their organisations are in complete alignment with the legally-required Australian federal government’s Notifiable Data Breaches legislation (‘We were already compliant’ and ‘Yes, we’re now fully-aligned’).

MultiFactor authentication is being used in 54% of medium-sized organisations in Australia and just 39% of them are using encryption.

With such basic measures and procedures not being adopted - even those that are mandated by law - it would suggest that medium-sized Australian organisations should be on high alert, as there’s every risk that they could be the next ‘major security breach’ headline.

Does your business currently comply with any of the following security or risk frameworks? Choose all that apply.Q3:

Has your organisation made changes to align practices to the Notifiable Data Breaches legislation?Q4:

23%

21%47%

9%We were alreadycompliant

No, we’ve got some holes

Yes, but we’ve got some distance to go still

Yes, we’re now fully-aligned

Does your organisation have the following controls in place to stop the leakage of information from your organisation? Choose all that apply.

Q5:

49%

27%

10%

7%

12%

10%

Other

Payment Card Industry Data SecurityStandard (PCI DSS)

NIST cyber security framework

ISO 31000

ISO 27001

Information Security Manual (ISM)

22%

54%

39%

41%

Other

MultiFactor authentication

Encryption

Classification of information



Part of getting the right security footing within any organisation is about making sure that someone is owning it and educating the wider business of the correct procedures and ways of working.

With 37% of survey respondents saying that their people receive no security training and 49% stating that no-one owns the policies and controls within their organisation, there’s clearly a significant way to go for Australian mid-market businesses if they are to even approach something that resembles best practice.

It’s incredibly easy for the issue of security to fall down an organisation’s priority list, as there’s so much else to focus on and it represents a potential, rather than immediate, threat. However, cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated, frequent and widespread - focussing on not just the high-end of town, but increasingly commonly on the perceived easier pickings that exist just down from that. Now is the time to act and if you’ve not time to do it internally, there are any number of external providers who will be able to help, including Brennan IT.

22%

41%

37%More than once a year

Less than once a year

Never

How often does your business conduct security training for your people?Q6:

Do you have a nominated person who is responsible for owning all security policies and controls?Q7:

51%49%

Yes

No



It’s good to see that the survey respondents have correctly acknowledged that ‘Poor internal practices’ are the number one threat to their organisation’s IT security (45%), closely followed by ‘External forces/attacks’ (43%).

Given the correct identification of what needs to be addressed and the importance that IT professionals are putting on it - ‘Managing security and business risk’ was the top response when survey participants were asked what their priorities were for the next 12 months (question 9 in section 1), we should hopefully see that the Australian mid-market’s security footing will significantly improve in the next 12 months.

3%

9%

12%

16%

17%

22%

33%

43%

45%

1%

6%

6%

3%

9%

12%

13%

28%

23%

1%

3%

6%

13%

9%

10%

20%

16%

22%

Legislative compliance

Other

Legacy systems

Partner/supplier failure

New technology/application implementations

Lack of investment/resourcing

Internal staff

External forces/attacks

Poor internal practices

1st2ndTotal

What would you say is the biggest threat to your organisation’s IT security in the next 12 months? (Rank top 2 with 1 = biggest issue)Q8:



SECTION THREE:

DO MORE WITH HYBRID IT

Hybrid IT refers to the enterprise computing approach of marrying services that are hosted in-house, in data-centres, in a private cloud, or in the public cloud; which may be managed by an external service provider.


41%

37%

22%

Yes

Somewhat

No

Forty-one percent of medium-sized organisations in Australia have embraced a Hybrid IT strategy, although they’re not yet sold on its importance in fuelling organisation success (44% of survey respondents said it was ‘Somewhat’ important, rather than 21% who said yes or 8% who said they’ve already got one).

The reason that mid-market IT professionals in Australia seem to be adopting a hybrid model is when they’re coming-up against the incompatibility of ‘Legacy apps that are not suitable for the cloud’ (67%). The next highest answer (48%) from survey respondents was that they were taking a hybrid approach to retain control of their data.

It should be noted that cloud computing is entering an important new phase. Instead of there being essentially three flavours (public, hybrid, and on-premise) to choose from, IT Managers now have numerous sub-choices that can be crafted to suit specific business needs. This shift, as well as the increasing costs of having everything in the cloud and security requirements of some organisations, is just beginning and new technologies - like HP’s GreenLake - will enable organisations to further develop a hybrid approach that gives them the advantages of each approach without blowing their budgets.

It’s a key area to look out for in future reports.

Has your organisation embraced a Hybrid IT strategy? Q1:

What are the application decisions that have driven your Hybrid strategy? Q2:

67%

29%

48%

Legacy apps that aren't suitable for the cloud

Data sovereignty

Data control

Is adopting a Hybrid IT model key to your organisation’s success?Q3:

21%

44%

27%

8%

Yes

Somewhat

No

No, we're already there!



It’s unsurprising to see that ‘Finance, Marketing, Engineering and other department-specific platforms or apps’ are the most common apps that IT respondents said they were looking to have/move to the cloud (64%), followed by ‘Business Analytics/Intelligence’ (50%). Many of these platforms are designed-for and will only function optimally in that environment.

With that, again, it’s probably to be expected that 48% stated the need to move to ‘SaaS product versions’ was the primary reason for transitioning. As previously discussed, there could be alternatives to this should you wish to retain on-premise systems, so it might be worth a conversation with your managed service providers/external support.

What applications have you / will you migrate to the Cloud?Q4:

Q5:

47%

36%

17% Mainly moving to the SaaS productversion of current softwareapplications

Migrating from own hardware toCloud Servers to run dedicatedinstances of software applications

Continuing to use own hardwareand only utilise the Cloud forBackup and Disaster Recovery

What does your Cloud adoption make-up look like?

40%

43%

50%

57%

64%

64%

Workplace productivity

Intranet

Business Analytics/Intelligence

CRM or customer database

Finance, Marketing, Engineering andother department-specific platforms

Website (including online purchasingplatform)



Respondents to the survey have indicated that, in addition to moving more of their applications to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model (41% now to 50% in 12 months), they’ll also be looking to engage Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers more to help them determine their wider technology stance (44% of their infrastructure is provided by them now, but expect that to be 60% in 12 months’ time).

Viewed together, these results could be considered incongruous - why do you need more IaaS support if you’re increasingly utilising SaaS services? But the answer to this can be found in question 8 of section 1 when ‘Integrating new technologies’ was stated as the single biggest challenge for IT professionals in the Australian mid-market.

Inflexibility in connectors, a technology environment drawn together from multiple sources based on individual team needs and not wider technology strategy, as well as any number of potential networking issues mean that the new, interconnected world of every system working with each other in harmony is just as far off as it always was.

What percentage of your current IT infrastructure is provided by IaaS providers…Q6:

What percentage of your organisation’s applications are provided as SaaS…Q7:

Today?Average 44% Median 40%

Likely be in 12 months?Average 60% Median 67%

Today?Average 41% Median 40%

Likely be in 12 months?Average 50% Median 60%



The scalability and ability to manage their organisation’s hybrid environment was not identified as a serious problem for most respondents to our survey.

Fifty-nine percent rated their ability to scale their current infrastructure as ‘Fair’, and another 13% ‘Easy’. A similar proportion stated that managing these hybrid environments was ‘Fair’ (55%) and ‘Easy’ (13%).

Our experience at Brennan IT of assisting our customers within the space has been that they’ve sometimes struggled on both fronts, however we’re delighted to see that the mid-market space seems to be getting to grips with it.

How easy is it to further scale your current infrastructure to integrate and support new systems?Q8:

How would you describe how easy it is to manage your Hybrid Environment?Q9:

13%

59%

16%

2%

10%

Easy

Fair

Difficult

Impossible

Not my problem - externally handled

13%

54%

18%

0%

15%

Easy

Fair

Difficult

Impossible

Not my problem – externally handled



8%

11%

13%

15%

19%

23%

29%

34%

48%

5%

6%

13%

8%

11%

8%

10%

15%

24%

3%

5%

0%

6%

8%

15%

19%

19%

24%


Other

External forces


Internal staff


Legacy systems



1st2ndTotal

What would you say is the biggest challenge for improving your organisation’s infrastructure in the next 12 months? (Rank top 2 with 1 = biggest issue)

Q10:‘Lack of investment/resourcing’ came out on top as the biggest challenge for improving their organisation’s infrastructure in the next 12 months (48%), followed by ‘New technology/application implementations’ (34%), and ‘Legacy systems’ (29%).

What was interesting in the results is that organisations at the smaller-end of the Australian mid-market were more likely to state that ‘External forces’ were a factor, perhaps citing their reliance on single platforms or vendors that are subject to change. The only way of avoiding this is to create a hybrid strategy that isn’t overly reliant on a single system or platform - this will have the added benefit of being able to incorporate future technologies when the need arises.



SECTION FOUR:

SUPPORT YOUR WORKFORCE


When it comes to supporting their workforces, IT professionals within Australian medium-sized organisations are focussed on being able to ‘Increase workforce productivity’ and ‘Provide consistent performance, access and experience’, with both stated by 70% of survey respondents. According to Raj Khetia, Head of Managed Services at Brennan IT, ‘Many Managed Service Providers are now offering guaranteed PC uptimes, so this is an area where MSPs can also help - not only enabling you, but guaranteeing to do so.’

Being able to ‘Provide anywhere, any-device access to business apps’ was only stated as a top-2 priority by 38% of survey respondents, which is slightly surprising given the amount of literature that’s been dedicated to it in recent years.

With regards to the challenges that they face, ‘Enabling mobility and flexibility’ was the clear leading answer from our survey respondents (stated by 60% of them). So, whilst it’s not a top priority, it appears that facilitating mobile access is important, but an area that organisations are struggling with.

Managed service providers and other external agencies would be able to assist you with configuring your IT environment to facilitate mobile, anywhere ways of working, for relatively small levels of investment - it could be an easy way for you to remove your biggest headache in this space.

What are your key goals when it comes to supporting your workforce? (Rank top 2 with 1 = biggest issue)Q1:

What are your key challenges when it comes to supporting your workforce? (Rank top 2 with 1 = biggest issue)Q2:

2%

5%

16%

38%

70%

70%

2%

5%

13%

25%

27%

29%

0%

0%

3%

13%

43%

41%

Other

Enable and support BYOD

Attracting and retaining talent

Provide anywhere, any-device access tobusiness apps

Increase workforce productivity

Provide consistent performance, access andexperience

1st2ndTotal

3%

16%

21%

21%

37%

43%

60%

2%

8%

11%

14%

14%

21%

30%

2%

8%

10%

6%

22%

22%

30%

License compliance

Other

Migrating off end-of-life devices

Migrating off end-of-life software

Data security and integrity - loss of data andIP

Managing device compliance, security

Enabling mobility and flexibility

1st2ndTotal



5%

33%

32%

24%

6%

Strong

Good

Fair

Room for improvement

Poor

Forty percent of survey respondents said that their workforces worked flexibly now, but that that number will grow by a further 10% in the next 12 months.

Whilst encouraging for HR and productivity reasons, the problem with this figure is that the majority of IT departments indicated that their ability to meet the expectation to work flexibly as ‘Fair’ to ‘Room for improvement’ at present (56%), although they are set to make investments in enhancing this in the next 12 months with 52% believing that they’ll either have a ‘Strong’ or ‘Good’ ability by then.

What percentage of your workforce works flexibly…Q3:

How would you rate your IT departments ability to meet your workforce’s changing expectations for a flexible working environment? Q4:

Today? 40%

Will in 12 months? 50%

Today?

16%

45%

24%

13%2%

Strong

Good

Fair

Room for improvement

Poor

Will in 12 months?



27%

22%

51%

In-house

Third-party

Mix

When it comes to end-user support, most organisations have a mixed model that incorporates both in-house and third-party providers (51%), with the majority not having access to around-the-clock support (62% of survey respondents).

According to Raj Khetia, Head of Managed Services at Brennan IT, when talking about around-the-clock support: ‘This could be for two reasons: either they don’t need it or they aren’t being offered it.’ Although needs will be different within every organisation, ensuring that your workforce can access the systems critical to their operations at any time could be essential for your customer retention or growth strategies - problems can arise, after all, at any time. Utilising your third-party supplier that’s capable of providing this level of support would be an easy and efficient way of covering this gap.

Another easy time-saving fix for IT professionals, especially those that aren’t using any third-party support at all (27%), is if you outsource the setting-up of new starters to your organisation. Monotonous, time-consuming and repetitive; getting someone else to set-up devices and configure network access is a way of dramatically increasing the amount of time that IT teams have available to work on projects that matter to your organisation.

Is your support model…Q5:

Are your end-users supported 24/7 in and out of the office, whether they’re on personal or company-issued devices?Q6:

38%

62%

Yes

No



For IT professionals within medium-sized Australian organisations, ‘New technology/application implementations’ (46%) and ‘Lack of investment/resourcing’ (40%) came out clearly as the top two challenges that they face when supporting their business’ wider workforce in the next 12 months.

Whilst budget levels might be an issue, partners and managed service providers with relationships with hardware and software suppliers will often be able to ensure that you find the right package for your needs (and at the best price), as well as then help you to implement and draw maximum value from your technology investment(s) across your organisation. Therefore, engaging them and allowing them to get to the bottom of your needs could, in fact, be significantly cheaper than trying to handle it in-house.

8%

11%

17%

17%

17%

21%

22%

40%

46%

3%

11%

13%

8%

6%

6%

14%

24%

14%

5%

0%

5%

10%

11%

14%

8%

16%

32%


External forces

Legacy systems


Other

Internal staff




1st2ndTotal

What would you say is the biggest challenge you face with supporting your organisation’s workforce in the next 12 months? (Rank top 2 with 1 = biggest issue)

Q7:



SYDNEY BRISBANE MELBOURNE MUMBAI NEWCASTLE

Speak to us today:www.brennanit.com.au

1300 500 000 [email protected]

Voted Australia’s No.1 Managed Services Provider for the past 9 years.

For 20 years we’ve been committed to making our clients’ lives easier. It all started with a realisation that Australian businesses could be so much more - if only they were able to leave IT to the experts and focus on what they do best: their business.

We do it by offering the mid-market exactly what they need: professionalism, know-how, simplicity and the same passion for their business as they have.

We can help you to:

• Manage & innovate with technology

• Adopt & do more with Hybrid IT

• Better support your workforce

• Connect your business & teams

• Secure & protect your organisation

Published March 2019


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