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Just 15% of IT departments are at the top of their game. Is yours?

Your IT department can play a vital role in driving your company forward – but only if they’re functioning at an optimized level.

 

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More than mere helpdesks, IT departments play a vital role in achieving organizational success by defending against security threats and improving business agility through the adoption of new technologies. But according to a recent online survey conducted by Rogers, only 15% of Canadian IT departments are sufficiently advanced, or “mature”, to meet those expectations, with 63% of tech teams responding to their businesses’ needs too reactively, often relying on users and customers to flag issues.

"Just 15% of Canadian IT departments can be classified as “mature”, providing powerful service and driving value for their organizations."

Rogers Enterprise Business Unit Data & Cloud Landscape Study

Our research, which targeted businesses of all sizes, also found that while 77% of respondents rated themselves somewhat or very knowledgeable about colocation and cloud services, less than a third were correctly able to identify the tiered rating system for these services.

Approximately a quarter of businesses can be described as “maturing,” using diagnostic analytics and trends to more proactively prevent issues. However, only 15% of respondents can accurately predict outcomes and provide a level of support aligned with their companies’ higher objectives.

The bottom line is that Canadian businesses’ IT teams are facing great challenges in a time of more pervasive and malicious cybercrime threats as well as stricter data protection regulations—and this is despite simultaneously having greater opportunities than ever before to improve efficiencies and business results through the adoption of new technologies.

How can businesses progress towards IT maturity? The first step is to implement a proactive approach to IT management so that internal resources are not consumed by basic tasks that achieve little more than “keeping the lights on.” Freeing up IT resources in this way can be accomplished by:

  • Improving uptime as well as network speed and performance, possibly by switching to fibre internet (depending on what online activities your business relies on);
  • Ensuring that security strategies reflect the current (and ever-evolving) threat landscape, including protection against the growing risk of DDoS attacks; and
  • Filling internal skills and knowledge gaps with managed services, which can assist with cloud deployment, security monitoring and other regular yet crucial tasks.

With their deep knowledge of transformational technologies and visibility across business lines, IT departments are well positioned to drive value for their organizations – but only if they are enabled to reach the necessary level of IT maturity.