It’s no secret that businesses need to leverage technology to succeed. However, new research highlights just how many business leaders are struggling to implement the necessary technology and practices to advance their company’s performance.
The Biggest Technology Challenges for Businesses
Research reveals that organizations are struggling with three key areas of technology:
The data reveals that although most business leaders recognize these areas are important to invest in, they face barriers and challenges in fully implementing best practices and realizing the benefits.
Securing Applications
Cybersecurity Insiders surveyed 325 cybersecurity professionals for their Application Security Report. The report sheds light on barriers companies face when addressing their cybersecurity weaknesses and preventing breaches.
Compromised applications are a real and common problem: 44% of surveyed organizations reported application breaches or compromises in the past, and of those, 20% experienced an attack within the last year. This figure may actually be even greater, as 32% of respondents said they weren’t sure if their company had experienced a security breach.
There are numerous barriers preventing enterprises from protecting themselves from cyber threats, but the most common ones stem from employees and management lacking the necessary skills, support, and overall awareness.
When asked which barriers most inhibit their business from adequately defending against cybersecurity threats, respondents pointed to:
- Lack of skilled personnel (39%)
- Low security awareness among employees (35%)
- Lack of collaboration between separate departments (29%)
- Lack of management support and awareness (26%)
These obstacles put organizations at risk, making them vulnerable to major security threats and breaches.
Achieving Digital Transformation
Digital transformation is another area that organizations are increasingly investing in. WalkMe surveyed nearly 1,500 senior business leaders to better understand the current state of digital transformation and recently released the report of their findings, The State of Digital Adoption 2022-2023.
The data makes it clear that organizations are striving to prioritize digital transformation – large organizations surveyed spent more than $100 million on average on digital transformation and software. Moreover, 67% of business leaders surveyed said they are under “incredible pressure” to accelerate digital transformation within their enterprise.
Yet organizations are struggling to fully achieve digital transformation, as exemplified by statistics from the report:
- On average, enterprises have only met 41% of their digital project KPIs in the past year.
- On average, organizations waste $17 million on digital transformation projects that fail to meet their goals because end users – customers or employees – cannot use the technology.
- Only 22% of enterprise leaders surveyed can confidently say that employees use new technologies correctly.
- 70% of business leaders say they do not know exactly who is responsible for digital adoption in their organization.
Although many organizations recognize the importance of achieving digital transformation, as illustrated by how much budget they are allocating towards it, they’re failing in key areas highlighted above.
Businesses are wasting millions of dollars only to achieve less than half of their KPIs, employees are struggling to adapt to changes in technology, and the majority of business leaders do not even know who is responsible to address and remedy these issues.
Adopting Site Reliability Engineering
Ben Treynor Sloss, the senior VP overseeing technical operations at Google – and the originator of the term “Site Reliability Engineering” (SRE) – defined SRE as “what happens when you ask a software engineer to design an operations team.”
SRE helps to bridge the gap between dev teams and IT operations teams by establishing the principle that developers and software engineers should be more responsible for tasks traditionally held by operations.
The DevOps Institute released the results of their Global SRE Pulse, a survey of more than 460 SRE leaders and practitioners from midsize and large enterprises to determine the current state of SRE adoption, practices, and challenges.
Though 62% of respondents say their companies leverage SRE, these enterprises are at varying stages of SRE implementation:
- 19% say their entire organization is leveraging SRE
- 55% say SRE is leveraged only within specific teams, products, or services
- 23% say SRE is just being piloted in their enterprise
- 1% say they tried SRE and it did not work.
When it comes to implementing SRE, respondents shared that the largest challenges for enterprises are:
- Lack of employees with the necessary skills (85%)
- Lack of internal understanding of the value SRE offers (71%)
- Lack of tools in place to leverage SRE (55%)
- Lack of time to implement SRE (53%)
- Lack of management support necessary to implement SRE (44%)
Though these challenges are notable, they are far from impossible to overcome – but it starts with having the right people and the right support.
Overcoming Barriers to Transform Your Business
Understanding the value of new technologies and best practices is the first step in the right direction. However, if employees and leaders lack the time, knowledge, and skills to effectively implement and sustain change, your investment will fail and your organization will be weaker for it.
If an organization is struggling with its technology projects, leveraging outside support can be the best way to solve challenges, achieve KPIs, and drive innovation – and potentially at a lower cost than doing the work internally.
By working smarter, not harder, and bringing in a team of experts, businesses can maximize the return on their investment while ensuring they don’t overhire, reducing the risk of layoffs.
AIM Consulting has deep expertise in all areas of technology that organizations need to harness to be successful, from digital transformation to DevOps maturity. We have the skills and ambition to resolve your challenges and achieve your most ambitious technology initiatives.
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