Visibility tool creep

Modern, cloud-based applications and infrastructure are increasingly scattered, fragmented, and complex. This presents painful problems in terms of management and visibility.

It’s not necessarily a lack of tools that’s leading to blind spots. In fact, many organizations are suffering from tool creep: the average enterprise-level company now deploys at least 10 network and application performance-monitoring tools – despite less than half of them actually being used.

Tool creep can be caused by myriad factors, including workforce attrition, shifting priorities, siloed approaches, mergers and acquisitions, and the complexity of the tools themselves. And once it’s in place, a bloated and disjointed approach to managing visibility toolsets will inevitably lead to gaps in coverage across some areas, and duplicated coverage across others. It’s expensive, it’s inefficient, and it’s slowing down teams just like yours.

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"Like change management, tool management should be an integral part of IT and IT-related business units. Not having proper oversight can lead to tool creep and cause companies to continue to waste money on overlapping and underutilized tools."

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Resourcing challenges

Even where I&O teams have visibility tools in place, many still lack the required resources and skills to effectively implement and manage the technology. It’s not uncommon for I&O teams to invest millions of dollars in market-leading tools that nobody in the team actually knows how to utilize properly. Those tools soon become ‘set and forget’ as they aren’t updated, and can even become dust-gathering ‘shelfware’.

Lack of time

I&O teams have lost the luxury of time. You’re juggling day-to-day business demands with digital transformation objectives, leaving little time for innovation or the introduction of new solutions.

Lack of resources

Many IT modernization efforts are hindered by a lack of internal skills or resources. And hiring new talent is not always straightforward: Gartner reports that the current IT talent shortage is the most significant barrier to technology adoption.

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"Buying in skills takes time, whether recruiting new team members or coordinating in-house teams with resources from outside the business. It all takes up extra management overhead. Meanwhile, upskilling your in-house team through training can pose a challenge due to how swamped you and your staff may already be."

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Lack of tools

Our research has revealed that 81% of I&O leaders say they lack the tools required for optimization, security, and visibility in a WFA environment. Without such tools, your I&O team will struggle to make real change happen.

Time is of the essence

The pandemic has led to digital transformation being accelerated in unexpected and, at times, unwelcome ways. Projects that may previously have taken you months to turn around – cloud migrations, for example – now need to be completed within mere weeks. This could further intensify your team’s feelings of overwhelm.

Inadequate security solutions

It’s clear that the traditional castle-and-moat security model is no longer fit for purpose. Legacy solutions are unable to provide adequate protection. Many I&O teams, however, are still heavily reliant on traditional network architectures and antivirus tools, and simply don’t have the time or resources to develop their internal cyber-security skills.

Implementing modern security solutions

I&O teams like yours are now expected to implement solutions such as Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE),  Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR). Meanwhile, you’re also being asked to deliver policy at the point of need; onboard new staff; handle BYOD; navigate user attitudes and behaviors; and gather security and performance insights that will allow you to respond to any issues before the business is impacted.

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"Considering tools that leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence to monitor your network is highly recommended. Monitoring from fixed points (such as cloud perimeter firewalls) is no longer enough to protect your environment and data."

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The rising security workload

The global epidemic of ransomware attacks is seriously impacting cybersecurity workloads, and leaving I&O teams unable to protect their business. But if you're already struggling with limited time and resources to introduce adequate security measures, you could be risking longer dwell times for your organization, and threats to its data integrity and digital assets. Not to mention the risk of service interruption, performance degradation, or poor user experience.

Heightened operating system requirements

October 2021’s general release of Windows 11 only compounded the issue further. The upgrade requires substantially increased hardware requirements: 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage capacity, at the very minimum. Many of the aforementioned under-specced devices simply do not meet these requirements, driving further hardware costs to the upgrade process.

The need to right-size license requirements

Many organizations don’t have adequate visibility in terms of device or license utilization across their IT environment. As a result, many upgrades are blanket-delivered across all devices. Without visibility of license usage, there’s no way to reveal underutilized and dormant licenses, which could be removed. Put in the context of March 2022’s Microsoft Office 365 cost increases: many businesses will be paying for upgrades to end users who don’t require them.

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"Despite myriad challenges of ensuring organizations are fully operational in a long-term WFA environment, I&O leaders must not rest on their laurels. Without addressing challenges with urgency, they could risk their company’s operational inefficiency, competitive advantage, and reputation."

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Staff retention and the Great Resignation

The ongoing transition to WFA is leading to a reassessment of employee wellbeing and engagement. Many companies are facing a mass exodus of employees who are re-evaluating their work-life balance. According to the Harvey Nash Digital Leadership Report, as the tech-skills crisis reaches new heights, 80% of digital leaders report that as employees rethink their life priorities, retention is becoming even more difficult.

The so-called "Great Resignation" has hit the IT industry particularly hard. A staggering one-third of tech workers have either already left their roles, or plan to over the next few months. A number of interconnected factors are fueling this trend, including burnout, skills shortages, and employees being asked to return to offices after they’ve grown comfortable with remote work.

Creating a seamless employee experience

There’s a growing need to enhance employee experience in order to attract and retain talent. I&O teams are under pressure to help the business create a more inclusive and collaborative experience.

To attract and retain staff, your team needs to facilitate employees gaining hands-on experience that will allow them to further their careers. However, this must be done in a way that minimizes risk and avoids unnecessary workload – otherwise, employee retention issues could be further exacerbated.

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"Cloud solutions should provide flexible consumption models, which empower you to pay only for what you need. However, it’s vital that you have tools and systems in place to monitor and manage spend."

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Stretched budgets

Although Gartner reports that tech budgets are expected to grow by 3.6% in 2022 – the biggest year-over-year growth rate in more than a decade – your I&O team remains under immense pressure to ‘do more with less’.

If you’re investing in AI and machine learning, distributed  multi-cloud and SASE, you’re likely to be left with little budget for additional spend in other key areas. The increasingly sophisticated threat landscape, for example, also requires significant investment in cybersecurity tools. And with the ongoing IT skills shortage, your team will also need to invest heavily in recruiting and retaining talent.

The budget considerations don’t end there. You’ll also need to focus on renewal decisions for legacy infrastructure, to ensure that there’s no unnecessary overlap. Otherwise, your I&O team could spend far more than it needs to.

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"Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of Teneo customers looking to further leverage the cloud as part of their IT strategy."

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Automate to innovate

As your I&O team strives to propel the business towards growth and innovation, there’ll be an increased focus on AI and machine learning.

Gartner reports that this area is a top priority for business and technology workflow optimization, with 48% of IT teams deploying AI and machine learning over the next 12 months.

With the skills gap affecting many organizations, and service desks flooded with requests, I&O teams will struggle to cope if processes aren’t automated. Your team will become mired in a cycle of reactive, frantic tasks likely to leave them stressed and overwhelmed. They’ll also have little time left for proactive management, training, or upskilling.