A new IBM report that surveyed IT leaders in the United States and United Kingdom finds that few of them are fully confident about the status of their organizations’ network infrastructure.

WHY IT MATTERS
The Managed Infrastructure Services unit of IBM’s Global Technology Services division polled 380 chief information officers and chief technology officers at large and medium-sized organizations for the report, The State of IT Transformation Study. 

More than half (60%) said their company’s IT modernization program “is not yet ready for the future,” according to IBM.

 

In fact, one in four CIOs and CTOs said their infrastructure overhaul initiatives are only just getting off the ground.

Across the board, however, there was strong appreciation for what cloud hosting can do to help further these efforts: More than 95% of respondents said they’re looking toward public, hybrid or private cloud strategies.

Indeed, 53% of the tech leaders polled said they’re “aggressively pursuing” public cloud strategy – with 48% eyeing a hybrid cloud and 45% a private cloud strategy.

THE LARGER TREND
The COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on the need for cloud infrastructure, professional skills development, and security upgrades, according to the IBM survey, which found that more than 60% of CIOs and CTOs say they expect increased demand for cloud infrastructure to be permanent.

Still, these IT leaders recognized the challenges – legacy apps, large data pools – inherent in a multi-cloud environment.

And many of them voiced doubts about the teams they have in place to help manage the demands of wholesale infrastructure modernization.

Forty percent of survey respondents “do not feel their teams have the right skills to fully meet their IT ambitions, and more than three in four surveyed say they will rely more on trusted partners that can provide managed infrastructure services,” according to IBM.

Meanwhile, the poll found majorities of leaders noting a need for increased infrastructure flexibility as driving the digital transformation, followed by the need for competitive advantage (61%), cost savings (58%), increasing globalization (54%) and meeting client demands (45%).

ON THE RECORD
“Our clients are looking to accelerate IT modernization by leveraging cloud models – both public and hybrid, data, AI, automation and other key technologies to help shape, scale and manage more effectively massive, complex, global architectures,” said Archana Vemulapalli, general manager, IBM Infrastructure Services, in a statement.

“In this rapidly changing digital business environment, organizations can bring in the right technology and the right partners to help aggregate, integrate, build and maintain a scalable digital business, while also enforcing effective governance,” he said.

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email the writer: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.

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