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Business Decisions: The Evolving Role of the Modern IT Professional

Suaad Sait

Increasing infrastructure complexity has affected the role of nearly all IT professionals, creating the need for new skillsets, including the ability to help companies make informed, strategic business decisions, according to the SolarWinds New IT Survey, which sheds light on the evolving role of the modern IT professional in today’s technology-driven business environment.

While most IT professionals are at least some degree confident in their ability to provide such advice, more preparation is needed to feel completely confident.

The days of IT's limited impact on business are long gone, replaced by the modern era of almost complete reliance on technology and the incredibly complex infrastructure it brings with it. Something as simple as an incorrect server configuration can lead to loss of access to cloud-based applications and data, email server outages and ecommerce site shutdowns.

These and other IT issues can have tremendous negative impact on productivity and revenue generation. As a result, more businesses are starting to recognize that behind their success are teams of IT heroes that need to be involved in business-level decisions. Likewise, IT professionals need to be prepared to take on this new role.

Survey Findings:

Technology's rise in importance as a core business component may have only been outpaced by the complexity it created. This increasing infrastructure complexity has affected the role of nearly all IT professionals.

- Over half of all IT departments now manage virtualization, mobility, compliance, data analytics, SDN/virtual networks, BYOx, cloud computing and self-service automation

- 52% of respondents said increasing complexity has greatly affected their responsibilities over the past 3-5 years, and an additional 42% said it has somewhat affected their role

Foremost among the results of this evolution, modern IT professionals are now expected and must be prepared to help their companies make informed, strategic business decisions with regard to emerging technologies.

- 99% of respondents said they are given the opportunity to at least occasionally provide guidance and expertise necessary to help their companies make such decisions

- While 95% of survey-takers said they feel at least somewhat confident in their ability to provide such advice, only one-third of those are completely confident doing so

- To feel more empowered to provide such advice, slightly more than half of respondents said they need more training in their area(s) of responsibility, and nearly 40% said they need a better understanding of their companies’ overall business

In addition, this evolution of IT and the increasing infrastructure complexity behind it have also resulted in the need for new technology and IT skillsets to effectively manage networks and systems.

- More than 50% of those surveyed said information security and cloud computing top the list of IT skillsets that will grow in demand over the next 3-5 years, followed by virtualization

- Respondents said information security is the IT role that will need to adapt the most to evolving technology over the next 3-5 years

- Cloud computing ranked as the most important technology for businesses to invest in today to remain competitive for the next 3-5 years, followed closely by mobility, virtualization (server or desktop), data analytics and BYOx, respectively

The survey was conducted from November 12-18, 2013, resulting in 298 survey responses from IT practitioners, managers and directors in the US and Canada from public- and private-sector small, mid-size and enterprise companies.

Suaad Sait is EVP Products and Markets at SolarWinds.

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Business Decisions: The Evolving Role of the Modern IT Professional

Suaad Sait

Increasing infrastructure complexity has affected the role of nearly all IT professionals, creating the need for new skillsets, including the ability to help companies make informed, strategic business decisions, according to the SolarWinds New IT Survey, which sheds light on the evolving role of the modern IT professional in today’s technology-driven business environment.

While most IT professionals are at least some degree confident in their ability to provide such advice, more preparation is needed to feel completely confident.

The days of IT's limited impact on business are long gone, replaced by the modern era of almost complete reliance on technology and the incredibly complex infrastructure it brings with it. Something as simple as an incorrect server configuration can lead to loss of access to cloud-based applications and data, email server outages and ecommerce site shutdowns.

These and other IT issues can have tremendous negative impact on productivity and revenue generation. As a result, more businesses are starting to recognize that behind their success are teams of IT heroes that need to be involved in business-level decisions. Likewise, IT professionals need to be prepared to take on this new role.

Survey Findings:

Technology's rise in importance as a core business component may have only been outpaced by the complexity it created. This increasing infrastructure complexity has affected the role of nearly all IT professionals.

- Over half of all IT departments now manage virtualization, mobility, compliance, data analytics, SDN/virtual networks, BYOx, cloud computing and self-service automation

- 52% of respondents said increasing complexity has greatly affected their responsibilities over the past 3-5 years, and an additional 42% said it has somewhat affected their role

Foremost among the results of this evolution, modern IT professionals are now expected and must be prepared to help their companies make informed, strategic business decisions with regard to emerging technologies.

- 99% of respondents said they are given the opportunity to at least occasionally provide guidance and expertise necessary to help their companies make such decisions

- While 95% of survey-takers said they feel at least somewhat confident in their ability to provide such advice, only one-third of those are completely confident doing so

- To feel more empowered to provide such advice, slightly more than half of respondents said they need more training in their area(s) of responsibility, and nearly 40% said they need a better understanding of their companies’ overall business

In addition, this evolution of IT and the increasing infrastructure complexity behind it have also resulted in the need for new technology and IT skillsets to effectively manage networks and systems.

- More than 50% of those surveyed said information security and cloud computing top the list of IT skillsets that will grow in demand over the next 3-5 years, followed by virtualization

- Respondents said information security is the IT role that will need to adapt the most to evolving technology over the next 3-5 years

- Cloud computing ranked as the most important technology for businesses to invest in today to remain competitive for the next 3-5 years, followed closely by mobility, virtualization (server or desktop), data analytics and BYOx, respectively

The survey was conducted from November 12-18, 2013, resulting in 298 survey responses from IT practitioners, managers and directors in the US and Canada from public- and private-sector small, mid-size and enterprise companies.

Suaad Sait is EVP Products and Markets at SolarWinds.

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According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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