The world of Information Technology (IT) is ever-changing. There was a time when IT departments were primarily focused on maintaining the current technology environment and supporting users’ daily functions.
However, as businesses grow and technology changes, IT teams have been tasked with not just maintaining value but creating value through strategic analysis.
In this blog, we will cover some of the emerging trends we are seeing in IT, as well as ways you can prepare your company for these changes, so you can keep your competitive advantage and continue to thrive and be successful.
Trends in Today’s IT Environment
Before you can start to make any changes, you need to first understand what’s going on in the IT space today.
Shifting Technology Landscape
For a long time, companies were able to get by simply by hiring a few key IT resources who could maintain their current systems. But over time, as infrastructure and new technologies have become more complex, businesses have had to increase their spending to support this technological innovation. This means they have less budget to spend on strategic initiatives that help create value.
Today, creating value is an essential function of an IT department. Instead of simply being reactive and supporting the business once a problem arises, IT has been tasked with being more proactive – using data sets and analytics to help inform decision-making.
Talent Retention Challenges
Since IT is now playing a more strategic role in the company, it’s more important than ever to make sure you are retaining top talent. And in a world where the battle to retain talent in particularly fierce, this is no easy task.
Although there will always be costs associated with keeping employees happy, you need to weigh them against the costs of hiring and training new talent. When looking at incentives that will help you retain those valuable employees, a few items to consider are:
- Salary
- Insurance Coverage
- Paid Time Off
- Bonus Structure
- Hybrid or Remote Work
Potential Economic Storm
Although no one can predict the future, it’s important for companies to always be looking ahead for any potential economic challenges. Today, we face many factors that can create a storm on the horizon – including things like inflation, supply chain bottlenecks, warfare, interest rates, etc.
While we can’t say for certain if all these factors will create a storm (it could be any combination of these things or none at all), it’s important to plan ahead and complete a strategic review of your existing IT support organization.
Be sure to look at what business processes and staff you have in place, as well as any costs associated with maintaining or adjusting these.
Preparing Your Company to Tackle These Trends
In today’s environment, it can be challenging to keep up with the wide range of technologies businesses need to seamlessly operate. While it’s exciting to have so many options available, optimizing your technologies will be critical to outpace shifting technology trends.
Leveraging the Cloud
A major benefit of the cloud is its agility and elasticity. It gives businesses the capability to scale up (or scale down) their business as needed at any time. This not only provides substantial cost savings (as you would only be paying for that which you are using) but also allows your business to use more real-time data to stay agile as the environment around you changes.
A great use case of this is in retail. For the majority of the year, most retail businesses operate with a steady capacity. But in the holiday season, capacity demands spike. Rather than paying for that level of holiday capacity year-round, retailers utilize cloud computing to help increase their operations as needed.
Another example that affected almost every industry was the pandemic. Organizations faced several unprecedented challenges (decreased consumption of their goods or services, being unable to work on site, interrupted supply chains, etc.) and an overwhelming sense of overall uncertainty. While some companies were already reaping the benefits of the cloud, others struggled to catch up.
Optimizing Investments in Digital Transformation
In a recent study by Gartner that surveyed 199 CFOs, 78% of them said they were planning to increase or maintain their enterprise-wide digital investments over the next two years. This reinforces the idea that digital transformation isn’t going anywhere; for many, it’s just the beginning. Finding ways to implement new and more efficient digital technologies into your company can help you better prepare for any unprecedented or significant changes.
Much like the cloud, there are many ways you can work OpEx (Operating Expense) models (i.e. paying only for what you are using) into the technologies your business utilizes. For example, you may choose to lease hardware or equipment rather than paying the full amount to buy it outright. Or you might purchase a subscription to a certain software rather than buying it. OpEx models allow businesses to stay agile and change their plan as new information or challenges arise.
Review Existing Licensing Posture
Our last suggestion to help prepare your company for the unknown future is to consider where you’re at – specifically as it relates to software licensing.
Knowing the licenses and software you own or have access to will be instrumental in planning for where you want to be. Not only can a review of your existing licensing help you better utilize your budget, but it also gives you the opportunity to make strategic adjustments to improve your business. Review our recent blog that breaks down the three steps organizations should take to turn their software licensing into a strategic asset.
Agility is Key
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that you never know what the future might hold. Preparing your business to be ready to handle things such as technological advances or economic changes could be the difference between thriving and failing.
The key to success is agility. It’s important that companies have the ability to shift and change their strategy as needed, instead of relying on old methodologies.
To learn more about how Core BTS can help your business increase its agility and prepare for the future, reach out to our team today.
