New research published by SnapLogic, a leader in intelligent integration and enterprise automation, reveals that 87% of IT decision makers say their workload has increased in the past six months, against a backdrop of reduced headcount and shrinking IT budgets.
The survey, conducted in the UK and US, found the top three biggest demands on tech teams’ time included integrating new applications / platforms (48%), dealing with problems caused by ‘shadow IT’ (47%), and managing legacy systems (40%).
The IT leaders surveyed stated that they were managing changes to their workload through:
- Empowering non-IT users to take on routine technology tasks for themselves (57%)
- Investing in AI and automation technologies to eliminate manual work (54%)
- Recruiting or training additional staff (50%)
- Managing workload by deprioritizing or cancelling projects (31%)
To reduce the IT department’s workload, nearly nine in ten stated they have either already handed over more responsibility to non-IT users or were considering it. Nearly half of respondents already use AI, ML, automation, or self-service IT to supplement skill sets, speed up processes, or facilitate collaboration between teams. Low-code/no-code technology was the least-used option; suggesting that businesses could be missing a simple fix.
As a direct result of the recent economic downturn and fears of a recession, over half of respondents (59%) said they either planned to, or already had decreased their IT budget. 24% said that they planned to increase their budget: suggesting a small minority were prioritizing IT investment despite – or perhaps because of – the economic climate.
Just under half of respondents (44%) are planning to freeze or reduce/have already reduced their IT headcount as a result of the economy with some stark transatlantic differences. Just over one quarter of UK respondents (29.1%) said they are hiring or plan to hire new people compared to over half (68.9%) in the US.
Just under half (45%) of respondents said that reduced or limited resources would mean their IT dept will have to delay or cancel critical work; while 35% said it will take longer to complete critical work. 35% said they will have to work longer hours to meet targets / deliver on time – a worrying figure considering wider issues with workplace stress and mental health concerns.
Encouragingly, respondents said their relationships with other departments and the C-suite within their business had either stayed the same or improved over the last six months. A minority said their relationships had become worse.
“As inflation grows and the threat of recession in the UK/US becomes increasingly real, many businesses are facing widespread changes to the way they operate,” said Jeremiah Stone, CTO of SnapLogic. “These changes are never more present than in the IT teams, where they are expected to deliver more on increasingly smaller budgets. Businesses need to invest in AI, integration, and automation technologies which will save their organizations’ time and money, while also increasing business agility and efficiency.”
