New Survey Reveals Positive Outlook for IT Industry

by Stephanie Faris on Monday, June 5, 2017 12:00

For information technology professionals, it can be easy to work with blinders on. Keeping up with the latest changes in software and hardware, as well as protecting business infrastructures from outsider attacks, can be time consuming. For the many service providers now serving as vendors for multiple businesses, staying in touch with the outlook for the industry as a whole can be difficult.

VAI recently surveyed 100 business leaders and IT professionals to gain insight into where the industry is going. The results are promising for those who work in the field, with only three percent of those participating in the survey providing an overall pessimistic view of their own business’s outlook. This overwhelming optimism shows that many business owners are excited over what the near future will bring. Here’s what IT professionals can take away from the study.

Business Growth

Spending on IT remains a top priority for many businesses, with 91 percent of companies saying they expect to spend the same amount or more this year than they’ve spent in previous years. Respondents believe that technology plays a crucial role in the ongoing growth of their business, so it’s an investment they feel pays off. However, putting that technology in place remains the biggest IT challenge for 40 percent of the organizations surveyed.

Analytics have the full attention of many business leaders, with almost half of the businesses surveyed saying that business intelligence (BI) could have the biggest impact on their company in the upcoming year. This supports other surveys that find that the majority of businesses plan to increase their use of BI in the near future. For those specializing in this already in-demand field, this brings good news, but it also means server administrators need to prepare to house and support resource-intensive data analytics solutions.

Software Investments

IT professionals know they’ll often be called upon to recommend solutions to businesses, so it’s important to know what businesses currently want. More than 57 percent of leaders participating in the survey said productivity is a top motivator when investing in technology. If they can save time and resources, they can easily justify adding a monthly subscription or one-time charge to the expense column of the company’s budget.

Enterprise applications have also become a top supporting solution in businesses participating in the survey. VAI found that 30 percent of the respondents involved feel that enterprise warehouse applications would provide the biggest benefit to their companies. Behind that were enterprise purchasing and ecommerce applications. Businesses also increasingly seek applications that have mobile accessibility built in. For those developing and supporting software, it’s important to focus on applications that can automate processes and make day-to-day operations easier for businesses.

IT teams that keep up with the latest tech innovations can be prepared to help the end users they serve. However, it’s also important to consistently remain aware of the solutions businesses are interested in using each day to ensure you’re providing the best customer service possible. Surveys like these can help narrow down those demands on a general basis to make it easier for teams to keep track.