IT operations staff are spending over 30% of their time on new service requests and supporting issue resolution, while only 15% of their time is allocated to innovation.
This is according to a report by Dimension Data titled Optimisation Drives Digital Transformation, which looks at how optimisation of IT operations drives digital transformation. The report found IT support staff in organisations are spending more time on service requests and issue resolution than they do on innovation. This represents a 25% year on year decline - just as the demand to capitalise on improving customer engagement, adopting the Internet of things (IOT), and leveraging the use of big data and data analytics is making IT innovation a non-negotiable within organisations.
Dimension Data warns that enterprises that don't evolve their IT business models could miss future market opportunities.
Alan Turnley-Jones, Dimension Data Middle East and Africa executive for Services, says the report highlights that automation is essential to optimising IT operations.
"Savvy IT organisations understand that if they don't focus on efficiencies today, they could miss the greater market opportunities of the future. Dimension Data found automation and orchestration skills enable employees to spend more time focusing on staying competitive, innovating new sources of value, engaging with customers on their channels of choice, and exploiting their data to optimise operations."
Over the past decade, technology has delivered consistent efficiencies: from saving costs to redeploying labour, contributing to leaner operations, and meeting shareholder expectations. However, with the rise of the digital era, efficiency on its own is no longer sufficient, adds the report.
Dimension Data commissioned research firm IDC to conduct the Web-based survey which surveyed IT and senior managers in 10 countries at 275 enterprises that employ over 1 000 people each. Of those 275 organisations surveyed, two-thirds said they considered IT operations to be 'core' to their business.
According to the report, only 20% of organisations claim they've fully automated and optimised their infrastructure, while the majority are on a path to automation, but haven't reached their goal.
* 9% of organisations have no automation.
* 3% have limited automation.
* 32% have a medium level of automation and orchestration.
* 25% are highly automated.
Turnley-Jones says some of the reasons IT organisations are lagging behind can be attributed to budget, experience and expertise. "Successful digital transformation requires the right mix of people, processes, and tools. However, IT service automation platforms are expensive and time consuming to develop and successfully integrate into hybrid IT environments," explains Turnley-Jones.
While organisations know they must evolve their IT operations to be more strategic and less tactical, the report reveals most in-house IT and development teams are still struggling to keep up. In fact, most companies that participated in the survey said they still monitor and tune their IT in a disjointed manner, with only 14% reporting that their infrastructure is positioned for digitisation.
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