As the landscape of tech continues to evolve every year, 2024 is poised to be no exception, with massive changes expected in the world of automation, a continued focus on remote work, increasing cybersecurity threats, and more. A substantial portion of the workforce now operates remotely, necessitating new strategies for protecting company data against cyberattacks and managing equipment for employees who may be located far from office hubs. This emphasis on remote work is just one aspect of the broader challenges facing IT departments. They are also contending with an increase in cyberattacks, operational complexities, and reliance on outdated software or hardware, all of which can impede efficiency.
In an effort to better understand the trends, priorities, and challenges that IT organizations will face in 2024, we’ve partnered with Omdia, an independent analyst and consultancy firm, to conduct a survey of IT decision-makers to get their feedback in our new “Leading IT Trends for 2024” report. In this study, we surveyed over 600 respondents across 10+ verticals to evaluate their various IT infrastructure investments, challenges, and initiatives.
Common Priorities for IT Departments
While businesses continue to evolve, IT is often tasked with finding ways to make a business more secure and efficient. According to our survey, these are the top priorities for IT in the coming year.
Automation
Automation is a top priority for businesses worldwide, regardless of size, industry, or location. In a recent survey, 41% of participants identified automating IT processes as their primary focus, closely followed by security. The most prevalent form of automation is in backup & recovery, with 57% of organizations having complex or fully implemented solutions and 27% in the process of implementation. Other popular automation areas include remote access, IT service management (like service desks or IT asset management), identity and access management, and endpoint management.
When it comes to automation functionality, 29% of survey respondents were existing NinjaOne customers and 95% of those customers found that automation capabilities greatly improved the time spent on manual tasks.
Enhancing security
While automation is a big focus for infrastructure and operations, maintaining a strong security posture still remains a massive priority as cyberattacks continue to evolve. 35% of respondents label enterprise security strengthening as a top priority for investment and 37% of respondents want to enhance their overall security stance. Security is also particularly important for smaller organizations.
As well as a focus on enhancing overall security stance, organizations are also prioritizing a multitude of other security-focused operations such as vulnerability management, patch compliance, and better endpoint management. And for those NinjaOne customers that were surveyed, 95% of them reported improved patch compliance with the platform.
Technology consolidation
Currently, 48% of organizations use multiple technology partners for key infrastructure and operations capabilities. However, this is anticipated to shift in 2024, with the figure expected to drop to 33% as businesses increasingly prefer fewer vendors. This trend is especially notable in larger organizations, which typically rely on a more diverse and complex set of digital technologies compared to smaller companies. This often results in higher costs and less favorable user experiences. For instance, while 51% of larger organizations (with 1,000+ employees) use over four different solutions for remote access, 83% of smaller organizations (with less than 250 employees) use only 1 to 3 remote access solutions.
Considering economic pressures, businesses will be focusing on reducing and consolidating tools as well as investing in new capabilities to achieve greater efficiencies. But it’s important for vendors to recognize that tech integration and consolidation is not just a cost-saving measure but will also help improve operations and support business outcomes.
Conclusion
This survey serves as a great example of the various changes IT may need to prepare for in the coming year and the significance of automation, security, and consolidation as top digital priorities. Within this report, you’ll also find valuable insights and solutions to these difficult IT challenges, helping you enter 2024 ahead of the curve.
To learn more, download the free Leading IT Trends for 2024 report here: https://go.ninjaone.com/leading-it-trends-2024
