SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2015: Business at the Speed of IT (Singapore)

IT TRENDS REPORT 2O15: BUSINESS AT THE SPEED OF IT

S U R V E Y C O N D U C T E D B Y C W H I T E C O N S U L T I N GD E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4

A L O O K AT T H E C U R R E N T S T AT E O F S I G N I F I C AN T N E W T E C H N O L O G Y AD O P T I O N , B AR R I E R S T O AD O P T I O N AN D N E E D S O F I T P R O S T AS K E D W I T H D E L I V E R I N G B U S I N E S S I M P AC T

( S I N G AP O R E )

STUDY OVERVIEW

IT and IT’s ability to successfully adopt significant new technologies is critical to long-term business success. The new measures of IT performance are not just availability, reliability and uptime—but also business productivity, growth and profitability. However, barriers and challenges, including, for some, business leadership, continue to stall adoption and therefore business impact.

• Nearly all—96 percent—of IT professionals who responded to the survey indicated that adopting significant new technologies is at least somewhat important to their organization’s long-term success; of those, 48 percent said it is important and another 24 percent said it is extremely important

• Inability to convince decision makers of the need and/or benefit ranked as the top barrier to adopting those significant new technologies, followed by inability to prove ROI and a shortage of IT personnel to implement and/or manage the technology, respectively

• While 66 percent of survey-takers indicated they view their organizations’ CIO as an enabler in adopting significant new technologies, nearly one-fifth said their CIO is either a barrier or uninvolved

2

K E Y F I N D I N G S

© 2015 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

STUDY OVERVIEW

Without empowering IT to effectively overcome these barriers, organizations struggle to achieve expected results from technology adoption within anticipated timeframes, and to ensure overall business-critical technology performance.

• Nearly half of IT professionals surveyed said it took longer than anticipated—25 percent said much longer—for the last significant new technology their organization adopted to start impacting business and/or end-user efficiency

• Less than half of the survey-takers said their organizations’ last adoption of a significant new technology achieved expected return on investment within the projected timeframe; while more than one-third said it took longer than expected—17 percent of those said it took much longer

• Nearly 90 percent of respondents said their Organizations’ end-users were negatively affected by a performance or availability issue with business critical technology in the past 12 months; nearly a quarter of those reported that such issues occurred six times or more

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STUDY OVERVIEW

To better empower IT to overcome these barriers and drive the success

of their businesses through technology adoption, organizations must

first provide IT with a more active management, more resources, better

training and development and greater autonomy.

• Nearly 50 percent of survey-takers said more more or better strategic counsel and

guidance from the CIO ranked as their number one need to feel more empowered

• Stronger CIO support when liaising with other business leaders (46 percent), more

resources, such as budget, personnel and time (42 percent), greater IT department

autonomy (32 percent), and and more timely approval from the CIO (29 percent)

rounded out the list of IT’s top five needs ranked number one by IT professionals

surveyed

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STUDY OVERVIEW

5

D E M O G R AP H I C S : S U R V E Y R E S P O N D E N T S


123 IT practitioners, managers and directors in Singapore from small,mid-size and enterprise companies participated in a December 2014 online survey

15%

11%

16%

11%

5%

12%

9%

21%

Company Size(number of employees)

25-49 FTEs

50-99 FTEs

100-249 FTEs

250-499 FTEs

500-999 FTEs

1000-1499 FTEs

1500-4999 FTEs

5000+ FTEs

37%

41%

12%

4%7%

IT Pro’s Role

Practitioner

Manager

Director

IT Consultant

Other IT-related

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

6

I M P O R TAN C E O F AD O P T I N G F O R L O N G - T E R M S U C C E S S


24%

48%

24%

3%

2%

25%

39%

31%

6%

0%

16%

42%

37%

0%

5%

25%

60%

12%

2%

2%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Extremely Important

Important

Somewhat Important

Not Important at All

Do not know

Importance of Adopting Significant New Technologies for Long-Term Business Success

Overall

Small Bus

Mid-Size Bus

Enterprise

In general, how important is adopting significant new technologies (those that each require over 10% of the annual IT budget) to your company’s long-term business success? [choose only one]

Nearly three-fourths of all IT pros surveyed indicate that adopting significant new technologies is important or extremely important to their company’s long-term business success. As business size increases, so do the

percentage of IT pros who find adoption important to their company’s long-term business success.

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

7

F I V E B I G G E S T B AR R I E R S TO I T AD O P T I O N


66%

54%

32%

46%

43%

34%

50%

46%

39%

26%

54%

0%

69%

62%

35%

44%

42%

31%

46%

52%

33%

33%

46%

0%

42%

53%

21%

42%

58%

42%

58%

32%

47%

32%

53%

0%

71%

46%

33%

48%

38%

35%

52%

46%

42%

17%

62%

0%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Budget limitations

Convincing bus dec makers of need/benefit

Lack of IT empowerment

Lack of skills needed to implement/manage

Inability to prove ROI

Disruption to bus/end user perf during implementation

Need to continue supporting old, legacy tech

Security/Compliance concerns

Concerns over IT managing hetero/multi-vendor environs

Concerns over IT never having implemented a sig new tech

Shortage of IT personnel to implement/manage

Other

Top Barriers to IT Adoption of Significant New Technologies – Most Mentioned (%)

Overall Small Bus Mid-Size Bus Enterprise

What are your FIVE biggest barriers to IT adoption of significant new technologies (those that each require over 10% of the annual IT budget)? [rank 1-5 with 1 “biggest barrier”, also provided “other” write-in option]

Two-thirds of all IT pros surveyed indicate that budget limitations is one of their top 5 barriers to IT adoption, with 15% listing budget limitations as their biggest barrier. By weighted rank, convincing business decision makers of the need/benefit of IT

adoption is the #1 barrier (with 17% listing it as their biggest barrier), followed by (#2) inability to prove ROI and (#3) lack of skills needed to implement and/or manage the new technology. By business size, IT pros in small business indicate the inability to prove ROI as #1 by weighted rank, followed by lack of empowerment to act for the betterment of the company as a whole (#2) and convincing business decision makers of the need/benefit (#3) while enterprise IT pros indicate convincing business

decision makers as #1 by weighted rank, followed by security/compliance issues (#2) and budget limitations (#3).

#4 by weighted rank

#1 by weighted rank

#3 by weighted rank

#7 by weighted rank

#6 by weighted rank

#5 by weighted rank

#2 by weighted rank

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

8

E N G AG I N G T H E C I O


56%

42%

46%

16%

5%

23%

2%

54%

39%

48%

23%

6%

21%

2%

63%

53%

47%

11%

5%

16%

0%

56%

42%

42%

10%

4%

27%

2%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

During the initial exploratory stage (for strategic guidance)

During the resource planning stage (budget & staff)

Duing the procurement/purchasing phase (for final approval/sign-off)

During the implementation stage

I am NOT required to engage my CIO/equivalent highest ranking ITexecutive

I seek my CIO's input throughout the project life of a significant newtechnology

Other

Point(s) at Which IT Pro is Required to Engage CIO

Overall

Small Bus

Mid-Size Bus

Enterprise

At what point(s) in adopting a significant new technology (one requiring over 10% of the annual IT budget) are you required to engage your Chief Information Office (CIO) (or the equivalent highest ranking technology executive within your company if you do not have a CIO)? [choose all that apply, also provided “other” write-in option]

Over half of all IT pros surveyed are required to engage their CIO during the initial exploratory stage while just under half are required to engage their CIO during the procurement/purchasing stage, and two-fifths engage

during the resource planning stage. By business size, over half (respectively) of IT pros regardless of company size indicate they are required to engage their CIO during the initial exploratory stage.

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

9

I T P R O P E R C E P T I O N O F C I O I N V O LV E M E N T


11%

66%

7%

16%

14%

62%

8%

17%

11%

68%

11%

11%

8%

69%

6%

17%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

A barrier

An enabler

Uninvolved

Do not know

IT Pros Perceive their CIO as …

Overall

Small Bus

Mid-Size Bus

Enterprise

In general, how would you describe your CIO (or the equivalent highest ranking technology executive within your company if you do not have a CIO) in regard to adopting significant new technologies? [choose only one]

Two-thirds of all IT pros surveyed consider their CIO an enabler in regard to adopting significant new technologies. By business size, slightly more small business IT pros consider their CIO a barrier when compared to their mid-size and enterprise IT pro counterparts (respectively), and slightly more mid-size IT pros consider their CIO uninvolved when compared to their small business and enterprise IT pro counterparts (respectively).

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

10

P R I M ARY R O L E O F C I O


59%

12%

60%

46%

22%

32%

2%

52%

8%

48%

42%

19%

31%

2%

79%

21%

63%

42%

42%

21%

5%

60%

14%

71%

50%

17%

37%

2%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Budget approvals

IT training & development

Strategic counsel & guidance

Liaison to the business

IT project management

Involved in all areas of IT

Other

IT Pro Perception of CIO’s Primary Role(s)

Overall

Small Bus

Mid-Size Bus

Enterprise

What is the primary role of your organisation’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) (or the equivalent highest ranking technology executive within your company if you do not have a CIO)? [choose all that apply, also provided “other” write-in option]

Three-fifths of all IT pros surveyed consider their CIO’s primary role as providing strategic counsel & guidance while nearly the same number consider their CIO’s primary role to be budget approvals, and just under half indicate their CIO’s primary role is liaison to the business. One-third consider the CIO’s primary role as being involved in all areas of IT. By business size, more enterprise IT pros consider the primary role to be strategic

counsel & guidance while more IT pros in small and mid-size companies (respectively) consider the primary role to be budget approvals.

#1

#2

#3

#4

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

11

AD D I T I O N A L S U P P O R T N E E D E D F R O M C I O


21%

49%

21%

32%

42%

29%

46%

2%

25%

44%

21%

29%

42%

27%

42%

0%

32%

58%

37%

42%

58%

47%

47%

5%

14%

50%

15%

31%

35%

25%

48%

4%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Provide more/better IT training & development

Provide more/better strategic counsel & guidance

Provide more/better IT project management

Allow for more autonomy of the IT department

Provide more/better resources (such as budget/staff/time for projectexecution)

Provide more timely approvals

Provide stronger support of IT when liaising with business

Other

IT Pro to CIO: Would You Please …

Overall

Small Bus

Mid-Size Bus

Enterprise

How could your Chief Information Officer (CIO) (or the equivalent highest ranking technology executive within your company if you do not have a CIO) better aid you in carrying out your IT role/responsibilities? [choose all that apply, also provided “other” write-in option]

Almost half of all IT pros surveyed would like their CIO to provide more/better strategic counsel & guidance while nearly the same amount would like their CIO to provide stronger support while liaising with the business, and over two-fifths would like their CIO to provide more/better resources (such as budget/time/staff for project execution). As business size increases, the percentage of IT pros needing CIOs to provide stronger support of

IT when liaising with the business increases.

#3

#5

#4

#2

#1

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

12

T I M E N E E D E D TO C O M P L E T E S TAG E S


2.67

2.71

2.85

3.50

4.60

4.66

2.73

2.67

2.94

3.44

4.65

4.56

2.68

2.84

3.00

3.53

4.47

4.47

2.62

2.69

2.71

3.56

4.60

4.83

1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00

Research

Budget acquisition

Deployment/implementation

Testing

IT training

End user training

Time Needed to Complete Each Stage AFTER Adoption Decision Has Been Made (weighted rank average)

Overall

Small Bus

Mid-Size Bus

Enterprise

Once the decision has been made to adopt a significant new technology (one requiring over 10% of the annual IT budget), which of the following stages typically takes the longest to complete? [rank 1-6 with 1 “longest”]

Overall, IT pros surveyed indicate that the Research stage takes the longest to complete (by overall weighted rank average), with over one-third ranking it as their longest stage of the six stages. The Budget Acquisition stage and then

Deployment/Implementation stage follow as the next longest stages. The shortest stage based on length of time needed to complete is End User Training. By business size, mid-size and enterprise IT pros’ (respectively) top 3 rank mirrors overall

findings while IT pros in small businesses rank Budget Acquisition stage as the longest stage followed by Research stage as the second-longest stage, then Deployment/Implementation stage as the third-longest stage.

#1 LONGEST Stage by weighted rank

#2 by weighted rank

#3 by weighted rank

#4 by weighted rank

#5 by weighted rank

(Longest stage) (Shortest stage)

#6 SHORTEST Stageby weighted rank

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

13

M O V I N G F R O M AD O P T I O N TO I M P R O V E D E F F I C I E N C Y


12%

14%

18%

23%

25%

8%

15%

12%

21%

23%

19%

10%

16%

16%

5%

11%

37%

16%

6%

16%

20%

29%

27%

2%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Much shorter length of time than planned/expected

Slightly shorter length of time than planned/expected

About the amount of time planned/expected

Slightly longer length of time than planned/expected

Much longer length of time than planned/expected

Do not know

Length of Time Needed for Last Significant New Technology to Move from Adoption to Efficiency

Overall

Small Bus

Mid-Size Bus

Enterprise

Please think about the last significant new technology your organisation adopted: how long did it take to move from adoption to improved business/employee efficiency? [choose only one]

Nearly half of all IT pros surveyed indicate it took slightly longer or much longer than planned/expected to move the last significant new technology their organization adopted from adoption to improved

business/employee efficiency. Just under one-fifth say it took about the amount of time planned/expected. As business size increases, so does the percentage of IT pros who indicate that moving from adoption to improved

business/employee efficiency took longer than anticipated.

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

14

AC H I E V I N G E X P E C T E D R E T U R N O N I N V E S T M E N T ( R O I )


8%

10%

30%

17%

17%

19%

10%

14%

23%

14%

15%

25%

5%

0%

16%

42%

16%

21%

6%

10%

43%

10%

18%

12%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Much shorter length of time than planned/expected

Slightly shorter length of time than planned/expected

About the amount of time planned/expected

Slightly longer length of time than planned/expected

Much longer length of time than planned/expected

Do not know

Length of Time Needed for Last Significant New Technology to Achieve Expected ROI

Overall

Small Bus

Mid-Size Bus

Enterprise

Please think about the last significant new technology your organisation adopted: how long did it take to achieve expected return on investment (ROI)? [choose only one]

One-third of all IT pros surveyed indicate it took slightly longer or much longer than the amount of time planned/expected to achieve expected ROI from the last significant new technology their organization adopted.

Just under one-third indicate it about the amount of time anticipated. By business size, over two-fifths of enterprise IT pros indicate it took about the amount of time planned to achieve expected ROI while almost one-

third of small business IT pros indicate it took slightly longer or much longer than anticipated.

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

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D I S R U P T I O N TO U S E R S D U R I N G I M P L E M E N TAT I O N


9%

38%

43%

6%

5%

12%

40%

33%

8%

8%

11%

42%

42%

0%

5%

6%

33%

53%

6%

2%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Not affected at all

Minimally affected (no complaints, little/no performance issues)

Affected (received complaints, some performance issues)

Greatly affected (substantial performance issues)

Do not know

Amount Business/End Users Were Affected While Implementing Last Significant New Technology

Overall

Small Bus

Mid-Size Bus

Enterprise

Please think about the last significant new technology your organisation adopted: how much were business/end users affected during the implementation process? [choose only one]

Nearly 90% of IT pros surveyed indicate business/end users were affected (minimally affected, affected and greatly affected combined) from the last significant new technology their organization adopted, however, only

6% indicate business/users were greatly affected. As business size increases, the percentage of IT pros indicating that the business/end users were affected (minimally affected, affected and

greatly affected combined) increases.

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

16

I T I N F R AS T R U C T U R E M I G R AT E D TO T H E C L O U D


What is your best estimate of the percentage of your IT infrastructure that has been migrated to the cloud (public, private or hybrid)? [choose only one]

Half of all IT pros surveyed have migrated less than 25% of their IT infrastructure to the cloud while just over one-tenth have not migrated anything to the cloud, and 13% have migrated half or more of their IT

infrastructure to the cloud. By business size, nearly one-fifth of small business IT pros have yet to migrate anything to the cloud while less than one-tenth of IT pros in enterprise have yet to do the same.

14%

26%

24%

15%

8%

4%

1% 8%

% of IT Infrastructure Migrated to Cloud(Overall)

0% migrated

1-9% migrated

10-24% migrated

25-49% migrated

50-74% migrated

75-99% migrated

100% migrated

Do not know

19%

29%19%

12%

8%6%

0% 8%

By Business Size: Small

0% migrated1-9% migrated10-24% migrated25-49% migrated50-74% migrated75-99% migrated100% migratedDo not know

21%

21%37%

5%0%0% 5%

11%

By Business Size: Mid-Size


6%

25%

25%21%

12%

4%0%8%

By Business Size: Enterprise


FULL SURVEY RESULTS

17

AR E A S O F I T I N F R AS T R U C T U R E M I G R AT E D TO C L O U D


27%

32%

11%

49%

37%

23%

6%

23%

27%

10%

35%

29%

33%

6%

32%

32%

16%

42%

21%

32%

5%

29%

37%

10%

65%

50%

10%

6%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Database

Software

Security (Testing aaS)

Applications

Storage

No areas have been migrated to the cloud

Other

Area(s) of IT Infrastructure Already Migrated to the Cloud

Overall

Small Bus

Mid-Size Bus

Enterprise

Which area(s) of your IT infrastructure have been migrated to the cloud (public or private)? [choose all that apply, also provided “other” write-in option]

Nearly half of IT pros surveyed indicate Applications have been migrated to the cloud while over one-third have already migrated Storage and nearly one-third have migrated Software. As business size increases, the

percentage of IT pros who have migrated Applications and Software (respectively) to the cloud increases while the percentage who have not migrated any areas to the cloud decreases.

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

18

I S S U E S AF F E C T I N G T H E U S E O F B U S - C R I T I C A L T E C H


How many times in the past twelve months has your organisation experienced a performance and/or availability issue that affected the end user’s ability to use a business-critical technology in performing his/her role/responsibilities? [choose only one]

Two-thirds of all IT pros surveyed indicate that 1-5 times in the past 12 months performance and/or availability issues have affected the end user’s ability to use business-critical technology while another 9% say that has

happened 11+ times. By business size, a larger percentage of small and mid-size IT pros (respectively) indicate that business/end users were not affected compared to their enterprise IT pro counterparts.

12%

66%

13%

7% 2% 2%

No. of Times in Past 12 Months that Performance and/or Availability Issues

Have Affected End User’s Ability to Use Business-Critical Technology

(Overall)None

1-5 times

6-10 times

11-15 times

16+ times

Do not know

12%

73%

6%

6%0%4%

By Business Size: Small

None

1-5 times

6-10 times

11-15 times

16+ times

Do not know

26%

42%

11%

11%

11%0%

By Business Size: Mid-Size

None

1-5 times

6-10 times

11-15 times

16+ times

Do not know

6%

67%

20%

6%

0%0%By Business Size: Enterprise

None

1-5 times

6-10 times

11-15 times

16+ times

Do not know

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

19

I M PAC T O F R E S O LV I N G B I G G E S T P E R F O R M AN C E I S S U E


28%

18%

16%

16%

21%

2%

19%

14%

21%

15%

27%

4%

21%

21%

16%

26%

16%

0%

41%

20%

10%

12%

16%

0%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Network traffic

Application data

Database performance

Hosted environments

SaaS apps that integrate with your business

Other

Performance Issue Whose Resolution Produces Greatest Overall Benefit to IT, Business & End Users

Overall

Small Bus

Mid-Size Bus

Enterprise

If you had the ability to instantaneously resolve current performance issues, in which ONE area (over all others) would solving performance issues result in the greatest overall benefits for IT, the business, and end users? [choose only one, also provided “other” write-in option]

Nearly 30% of IT pros surveyed indicate that resolving network traffic performance issues would result in the greatest overall benefits for IT, the business, and end users while just over one-fifth indicate that resolving

SaaS applications that integrate with their business would result in the greatest benefits. By business size, over two-fifths of enterprise IT pros consider the resolution of network traffic performance issues as providing the

greatest benefit compared to one-fifth of small business and mid-size business IT pros (respectively).

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SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2015: Business at the Speed of IT (Singapore)

Technology

percent of survey

business critical technology

significant new technologies

business productivity

business leadership

percent of respondents

anticipated25 percent

expected17 percent