Top IT Priorities for 2013

The results are in – research professionals from a variety of companies have published their findings on the trends and priorities of IT professionals in 2013. With an ever-shrinking budget, IT staff members need to identify the main items that they wish to invest their limited resources on. After analyzing four different studies, we found that the results seemed to vary slightly across the board, but 5 key items remained prevalent throughout the findings. Below is a list of these items, in no discernible order, as well as brief summary of the results.

• Cloud Computing (including SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS): It appears that cloud computing will continue to win over IT professionals, displacing traditional computing and storage methods. The studies revealed that cloud computing is taking a large portion of IT budgets, with a majority of respondents claiming that they plan to utilize external providers to implement cloud computing.
• Virtualization: IT members are including virtualization as one of their primary infrastructure projects for 2013. One study found that virtualization increased in priority by 42% from last year. This rise in importance may be part of a long-term consolidation plan, or as preparation for migrating to the cloud.
• Mobile: Mobile proved to be a high priority for IT professionals in all four studies, but it seems to be more about blending mobility into the enterprise; not mobile devices replacing desktops. However, IT seems to be straggling at the enterprise infrastructure level, with only 29% of respondents implementing mobile device management and 28% implementing mobile security.
• Business Continuity: The occurrence of the many unfortunate natural disasters in the previous years seems to have had an impact on the mindset of IT professionals. More than ever, IT needs to plan for, and respond, to potential business disruptions and outages. One study revealed that the three top-of-mind priorities in this category are developing and maintaining business resumption plans, developing and maintaining IT disaster and recovering plans, and developing and maintaining crisis management plans. It’s not surprise that business continuity has been identified as a high priority for businesses since every minute a company is inactive, more money is lost.
• Security and Risk Management: Security appears to be top-of-mind for many IT professionals, as 51% of respondents have identified it as a priority for 2013. Especially with the implementation of cloud computing, as well as the increased popularity of mobile, businesses need to do everything in their power to ensure their data is secure. The top security initiatives listed by IT professionals are data protection, network-based security, identity and access management, and mobile endpoint security.

Think we should have included another priority for 2013? Let us know by providing a comment.

Blog Author: Vanessa Hartung

Resources:

2013 IT Priorities: http://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/computerweekly/2013%20IT%20Priorities%20Europe.pdf

2013 IT Priorities Survey: http://www.protiviti.com/en-US/Documents/Surveys/2013-IT-Priorities-Survey-Protiviti.pdf

CIO Priorities 2013: IT Budgets, Mobility and Cloud: http://mspmentor.net/managed-services/cio-priorities-2013-it-budgets-mobility-and-cloud

Technology Priorities for 2013: http://www.microscope.co.uk/magazineContent/Download-Technology-Priorities-for-2013