IT Professionals Face New Challenges As Organizations Become More Digital, CompTIA Research Reveals

Job responsibilities for information technology (IT) professionals are becoming more challenging and complicated as organizations become more digital, according to a recent research report published by CompTIA, the IT industry association.

The wide range of new technology options available to organizations, led by cloud computing and mobile technologies, is prompting IT professionals to re-evaluate their roles and re-prioritize responsibilities, CompTIA’s Building Digital Organization report asserts.

Internal IT teams are finding that the construction and support of business systems, such as data storage, mobile device and app support and security, have become much more complicated.

“This is true on both the backend of the IT architecture, where applications are hosted and databases crunch numbers; and the frontend, where users interact with the backend and perform day-to-day operations,” Seth Robinson, senior director, technology analysis, CompTIA, explained.

“Cloud computing and mobile devices have transformed both of these aspects, with cloud changing how systems are constructed and mobile devices driving new experiences and workflows.”

No areas are more problematic for IT professional today than digital data and cyber security. While both have long been critical parts of IT operations, there importance is magnified as organizations adopt new cloud and mobile components.

“New threats have emerged as a result of cloud and mobility, so understanding these threats is a top priority for the IT team even as traditional threats continue to be effective,” Robinson said. “It’s no simple task.”

Cloud-driven Changes
The top change driven by cloud computing within the IT function is the management of storage. Systems and data are spread across multiple environments; and there are many cloud solutions, such as databases and analytics services, that allow companies to build robust plans beyond the simple storage of data.

“Backup and disaster recovery is a good example of a process that has been re-imagined, especially for companies in the SMB segment that previously had little activity in this area,” Robinson noted.

Though many companies have found cloud to be cost-neutral, the expectation of lower costs still lingers. Among IT professionals surveyed by CompTIA, 61 percent said that controlling costs is the top challenge in the overall management of back end architecture.

Other challenges with backend systems revolve around the complexity in managing multiple models, starting with selecting the correct model (cited by 47 percent of IT professionals). Complexity remains as the process moves on and models are integrated (43 percent), secured (43 percent) and monitored (42 percent).

The Impact of Mobility
Challenges on the front end follow a similar pattern. About half of the companies surveyed that have experienced difficulties with frontend systems cited cost control as an issue, as they need to support a growing number of devices. Companies also struggle with creating and managing new applications needed for mobile devices and ensuring that users are properly equipped to put their new devices to good use.

“Many companies discover that the traditional desktop development experience does not perfectly translate to mobile app development,” said Robinson. “Many more find that they’re adding new development efforts were there were none in the past.IT teams feel greater pressure to deliver on workflow efficiency.”

The CompTIA study Building Digital Organizations is based on online surveys of 650 business and technology professionals at companies based in the United States. Surveys were conducted in April and May 2015. Survey results were augmented by in-depth interviews with 14 technology and business professionals. The complete report is available for free with a simple registration. For more information, visit http://www.comptia.org/insight-tools.

About CompTIA
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a non-profit trade association serving as the voice of the information technology industry. With approximately 2,000 member companies, 55,000 registered users, 3,000 academic and training partners and more than two million IT certifications issued, CompTIA is dedicated to advancing industry growth through educational programs, market research, networking events, professional certifications and public policy advocacy. For more information, visit http://www.comptia.org/.