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Honoring the IT Professionals

Patrick Hubbard

Most end users (63 percent) agree that IT has a greater impact on their daily work lives than the C-suite, according to SolarWinds’ IT Pro Value Surveys. Other key findings include:

IT Pro Value Survey: The North American End User’s Perspective

■ Nearly three-quarters of end users (67 percent) place greater importance on the technology supported by IT professionals in the workplace­ such as phones, computers and software­ than they do on personnel.

■ Three out of five end users (63 percent) indicate work productivity is lost without the technology supported by IT professionals, with one-third (32 percent) saying one day’s work would take an additional business day or longer to complete without said technology and 15 percent saying it would not at all be possible to carry out their daily work without it.

IT Pro Value Survey: The Global IT Professional’s Perspective

■ Three out of five IT professionals (62 percent) feel at most moderately valued by their employer for their unique contribution to business, with more than one-quarter (27 percent) feeling only slightly to not at all valued.

■ Four out of five IT professionals (83 percent) feel they are worth more than they are currently compensated, with one-third (35 percent) saying they feel worth at least 21 percent more.

■ The majority of IT professionals (61 percent) are concerned about job security, with almost half (42 percent) suggesting company leadership not understanding the importance of IT as a key reason why.

“The survey results demonstrate that business leaders and end users can do a lot more to show IT pros how appreciative they are of the value they provide to business,” said Kevin Thompson, President and CEO of SolarWinds. “The technology we rely on to keep business running smoothly is absolutely critical to success, but the level of recognition and reward IT pros receive for the part they play in enabling and supporting it may not match it. IT Professionals Day is a great way to start leveling that.”

IT Professionals Day

SolarWinds’ IT Pro Value Surveys are a series of two brief studies done in connection to IT Professionals Day on September 15, which is designed to annually celebrate all IT professionals regardless of discipline. Whereas holidays such as System Administrator Appreciation Day do well at recognizing one category of the profession, IT Professionals Day honors not only system administrators, but network engineers, database administrators, information security professionals, developers, IT support technicians and all other professionals serving in IT-related roles.

Thompson added: “When you think about what a typical day would look like for many of today’s workers without IT pros and the technology they support, it’s safe to say work on the whole would slow to a crawl or worse. Considering all they do, IT pros truly are the unsung heroes of modern business."

Patrick Hubbard is a Head Geek and Technical Product Marketing Manager at SolarWinds.

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Honoring the IT Professionals

Patrick Hubbard

Most end users (63 percent) agree that IT has a greater impact on their daily work lives than the C-suite, according to SolarWinds’ IT Pro Value Surveys. Other key findings include:

IT Pro Value Survey: The North American End User’s Perspective

■ Nearly three-quarters of end users (67 percent) place greater importance on the technology supported by IT professionals in the workplace­ such as phones, computers and software­ than they do on personnel.

■ Three out of five end users (63 percent) indicate work productivity is lost without the technology supported by IT professionals, with one-third (32 percent) saying one day’s work would take an additional business day or longer to complete without said technology and 15 percent saying it would not at all be possible to carry out their daily work without it.

IT Pro Value Survey: The Global IT Professional’s Perspective

■ Three out of five IT professionals (62 percent) feel at most moderately valued by their employer for their unique contribution to business, with more than one-quarter (27 percent) feeling only slightly to not at all valued.

■ Four out of five IT professionals (83 percent) feel they are worth more than they are currently compensated, with one-third (35 percent) saying they feel worth at least 21 percent more.

■ The majority of IT professionals (61 percent) are concerned about job security, with almost half (42 percent) suggesting company leadership not understanding the importance of IT as a key reason why.

“The survey results demonstrate that business leaders and end users can do a lot more to show IT pros how appreciative they are of the value they provide to business,” said Kevin Thompson, President and CEO of SolarWinds. “The technology we rely on to keep business running smoothly is absolutely critical to success, but the level of recognition and reward IT pros receive for the part they play in enabling and supporting it may not match it. IT Professionals Day is a great way to start leveling that.”

IT Professionals Day

SolarWinds’ IT Pro Value Surveys are a series of two brief studies done in connection to IT Professionals Day on September 15, which is designed to annually celebrate all IT professionals regardless of discipline. Whereas holidays such as System Administrator Appreciation Day do well at recognizing one category of the profession, IT Professionals Day honors not only system administrators, but network engineers, database administrators, information security professionals, developers, IT support technicians and all other professionals serving in IT-related roles.

Thompson added: “When you think about what a typical day would look like for many of today’s workers without IT pros and the technology they support, it’s safe to say work on the whole would slow to a crawl or worse. Considering all they do, IT pros truly are the unsung heroes of modern business."

Patrick Hubbard is a Head Geek and Technical Product Marketing Manager at SolarWinds.

Hot Topics

The Latest

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 ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

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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Broadcom

From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...