Background
Solving for Innovation isn’t just a catchphrase—it’s the new era we’ve entered.
After an unprecedented 2020, IT leaders are trying to create new ways to operate and innovate. What are their biggest priorities in 2021? What are their biggest pain points? How do they measure up to yours? Learn from a survey of 2,000 Senior IT leaders conducted by IDG, in collaboration with Google Cloud.
What did we find?
Digitally Forward companies experienced less disruption due to COVID-19.
Our survey revealed disparities in how organizations at different levels of digital maturity were impacted by the global pandemic. For example, Digitally Conservative** organizations were more likely than their Digitally Forward* peers to have canceled or delayed three or more IT initiatives (16% vs. 8%).
One-third of organizations also accelerated or launched initiatives to shift more workloads and software development to the cloud and automate manual business processes.
Leaders want a modern infrastructure they can maximize.
Global IT leaders are prioritizing initiatives to get the most out of their infrastructure and assets. Nearly one-third of them say that legacy systems and technologies are barriers to innovation, and nearly one-quarter of them are accelerating plans to improve their use of data analytics and intelligence.
Security has become an even bigger concern.
Another major pain point that is hindering innovation across different regions and industries is security risks and concerns. From controlling data access to always-on encryption and more, IT leaders want very specific safeguards.
Sustainability is no longer on the back burner.
Organizations are feeling pressure to make their operations more energy efficient and “greener,” due to both external and internal factors. 90% of respondents say that sustainability is a priority and/or a performance metric for their IT departments. Two-thirds of organizations have already put sustainability targets in place and another 29% plan to implement them