The IT Trends 2024: Industry Report, an annual report that surveys 2,100 internal IT and MSP experts on the most important trends and issues facing IT teams, has been made public by cloud-based IT management platform provider Auvik. The biggest issue facing IT teams, according to the 2024 report, is a shortage of qualified personnel. As a result, teams are prioritizing automation, outsourcing to managed service providers (MSPs), and utilizing new technology to boost productivity.
An increased focus on implementing automation, particularly AI and ML tools, to meet the demands of overworked and underfunded IT personnel is one of the report's main conclusions. Automating processes is becoming a vital way to improve end-user experiences and close the gap between MSPs and internal IT departments. This trend is being driven by ongoing talent shortages, resource limitations, and the difficulty of managing multiple solutions. In contrast to the findings of the 2023 research, 24% more IT professionals stated that they planned to invest in automation in 2024. Additionally, 96% of IT professionals currently use at least one AI or ML technology. 29% of network and SaaS-related jobs are still, on average, carried out entirely or primarily by hand. By using automation to reduce workload and free up time, internal IT departments may focus on other important tasks.
Currently, 64% of IT departments spend up to 50% of their working hours addressing end user demands. In an effort to alleviate the labor shortfall, a large number of IT professionals are also outsourcing network-related duties or responsibilities; approximately three quarters of those surveyed stated that at least some of these responsibilities are being assigned to outside parties like MSPs.
“We are hearing from our customers that they want frictionless IT, and that is reflected in the trends toward automation and outsourcing when it comes to network management,” said Doug Murray, CEO of Auvik. “IT experts and managed service providers (MSPs) desire to be able to adapt to changing circumstances, integrate cutting-edge technology into their settings, and cut down on the enormous amount of time their teams currently spend on unimportant duties. Automation makes it possible for businesses to accomplish more with less, freeing up time and resources to concentrate on more strategic projects while maintaining a seamless user experience for staff members and the day-to-day operations.”
Discrepancies Between C-suite and IT Perceptions
The burden placed on frontline IT staff is also causing a big divide in the perspectives of practitioners and top management over the state of IT today. For instance, only 35% of IT specialists expressed the same level of confidence that their company's network toolkit satisfies the demands of remote workers, compared to nearly 58% of C-suite respondents.
Mr. Murray went on, “There is a rift within organizations about how end-user satisfaction is prioritized because so many IT technicians are understaffed and overburdened. Only 26% of technicians agreed that customer satisfaction is the most crucial statistic, compared to 46% of C-suite executives. There is a comparable disparity in the statistics about configuration management in terms of security and compliance priorities. This, in our opinion, is a direct request for improved resources and tooling from IT teams in order to enable complete organizational alignment on the most important challenges.”
Growing Investment in IT
Focusing on IT investments, especially in the fields of cloud management, network security, and security, is another popular trend. Nearly 50% of respondents said they anticipated budget increases of at least 20% from 2023, while the majority (86%) reported higher budgets in 2024. Regarding particular investments, 48% of survey participants said they are primarily making SaaS monitoring and management tools, 46% said they are making Wi-Fi management investments, and 46% said they are making cloud monitoring and management investments.
Every area in which planned investments have been reported by respondents has increased since 2023, but network automation has seen the biggest increase, with 24% more IT professionals reporting planned investments in this area than in 2023.
Mr. Murray added, “There has been a 10% increase in IT teams facing infrastructure and performance challenges compared to last year's data. Organizations are undoubtedly using new network management solutions to address these issues. IT teams are regaining control of their IT systems, reducing their biggest obstacles, and finding some respite from the never-ending to-do list of ticket requests and little tasks by embracing innovation and automation.”
With the help of Auvik, a cloud-based IT management tool, IT staff can handle change more smoothly. Its secret, according to Auvik itself, is total simplicity which would include easy automation, a user-friendly interface, and seamless deployment. IT teams would be enabled to manage multiple networks, security devices, endpoints, and SaaS applications in a proactive manner. Auvik says it offers monitoring services for over 10 million devices and oversees one million network devices, three million SaaS apps, and 100,000 networks.
