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Industries Most and Least Likely to Be Disrupted in 2018

When it comes to their own companies, 50% of IT stakeholders think they are leaders and will disrupt, while 50% feel they are behind and will be disrupted by the competition in 2018, according to a new survey of IT stakeholders from Alfresco Software and Dimensional Research. The report, Digital Disruption: Disrupt or Be Disrupted, is a wake-up call for the C-suite.

By industry, more telcos (65%) and technology (65%) companies predict they will be disruptors, while 17% of IT stakeholders working for government and non-profit organizations worry they will be disrupted.

According to Alfresco founder and CTO John Newton, “Today’s corporate leaders must realize that digital disruption is happening, and it’s happening right now. Those who don’t have a digital strategy in place and IT modernization initiatives underway are not likely to survive.”

Companies with Vision and Execution will Disrupt

An important takeaway from this survey is what is most likely to propel a company into the disruptor position. According to IT stakeholders, the top predictors of success are IT vision and ability to implement new technologies:

■ Vision of their technology leadership (62%)

■ Ability of their technology teams to execute (58%)

■ Capabilities of new technologies, such as cloud, AI and IoT (57%)

On the other hand, companies most likely to be disrupted are those that are lacking the vision and right levels of investment to succeed, specifically:

■ Lack of budget and people resource investments (61%)

■ Lack of vision among business leaders (48%)

■ No willingness for company culture to embrace digital transformation (47%)

Furthermore, 70% of IT stakeholders believe business executives are taking too long to make the digital transformation leap; only 38% feel the technology team is holding them back. Another 78% feel that people changes are the most difficult, while 22% feel the technology changes are the most difficult.

Banking Most Likely to be Negatively Impacted by Digital Transformation in 2018

The report also looked at which industries were most and least likely to be impacted by digital transformation this year – 40% of IT stakeholders say banking is most likely to be negatively impacted by failing to digitally transform in 2018, and a third (30%) say retail is the industry most likely to be improved by embracing digital transformation.

Industries most likely to be negatively impacted by failing to digitally transform include:

■ Banking – 40%

■ Government – 18%

■ Insurance – 10%

Other industries likely to be improved by embracing digital transformation include:

■ Retail – 30%

■ Healthcare – 24%

■ Manufacturing – 18%

■ Airlines – 17%

■ Transportation – 17%

Cloud is Key to Digital Transformation

To achieve digital transformation quickly, companies need a technology infrastructure that can adapt quickly to change. Infrastructure clouds or infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solutions enable companies to innovate quickly and respond more rapidly to changing business conditions, with minimal capital expense and maintenance costs.

■ The vast majority (95%) of stakeholders say IaaS is important to their digital transformation

■ 81% say they have achieved value from IaaS, but only 11% say they are doing everything they can and have maximized its value

About the Research: An online survey was sent to an independent database of IT professionals with responsibility for digital transformation. A total of 307 qualified IT professionals completed the survey. All participants lived in the United States or the United Kingdom and worked at companies with more than 500 employees. Each had responsibility for digital transformation decision making. Participants included a mix of job levels, company sizes and industries.

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Industries Most and Least Likely to Be Disrupted in 2018

When it comes to their own companies, 50% of IT stakeholders think they are leaders and will disrupt, while 50% feel they are behind and will be disrupted by the competition in 2018, according to a new survey of IT stakeholders from Alfresco Software and Dimensional Research. The report, Digital Disruption: Disrupt or Be Disrupted, is a wake-up call for the C-suite.

By industry, more telcos (65%) and technology (65%) companies predict they will be disruptors, while 17% of IT stakeholders working for government and non-profit organizations worry they will be disrupted.

According to Alfresco founder and CTO John Newton, “Today’s corporate leaders must realize that digital disruption is happening, and it’s happening right now. Those who don’t have a digital strategy in place and IT modernization initiatives underway are not likely to survive.”

Companies with Vision and Execution will Disrupt

An important takeaway from this survey is what is most likely to propel a company into the disruptor position. According to IT stakeholders, the top predictors of success are IT vision and ability to implement new technologies:

■ Vision of their technology leadership (62%)

■ Ability of their technology teams to execute (58%)

■ Capabilities of new technologies, such as cloud, AI and IoT (57%)

On the other hand, companies most likely to be disrupted are those that are lacking the vision and right levels of investment to succeed, specifically:

■ Lack of budget and people resource investments (61%)

■ Lack of vision among business leaders (48%)

■ No willingness for company culture to embrace digital transformation (47%)

Furthermore, 70% of IT stakeholders believe business executives are taking too long to make the digital transformation leap; only 38% feel the technology team is holding them back. Another 78% feel that people changes are the most difficult, while 22% feel the technology changes are the most difficult.

Banking Most Likely to be Negatively Impacted by Digital Transformation in 2018

The report also looked at which industries were most and least likely to be impacted by digital transformation this year – 40% of IT stakeholders say banking is most likely to be negatively impacted by failing to digitally transform in 2018, and a third (30%) say retail is the industry most likely to be improved by embracing digital transformation.

Industries most likely to be negatively impacted by failing to digitally transform include:

■ Banking – 40%

■ Government – 18%

■ Insurance – 10%

Other industries likely to be improved by embracing digital transformation include:

■ Retail – 30%

■ Healthcare – 24%

■ Manufacturing – 18%

■ Airlines – 17%

■ Transportation – 17%

Cloud is Key to Digital Transformation

To achieve digital transformation quickly, companies need a technology infrastructure that can adapt quickly to change. Infrastructure clouds or infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solutions enable companies to innovate quickly and respond more rapidly to changing business conditions, with minimal capital expense and maintenance costs.

■ The vast majority (95%) of stakeholders say IaaS is important to their digital transformation

■ 81% say they have achieved value from IaaS, but only 11% say they are doing everything they can and have maximized its value

About the Research: An online survey was sent to an independent database of IT professionals with responsibility for digital transformation. A total of 307 qualified IT professionals completed the survey. All participants lived in the United States or the United Kingdom and worked at companies with more than 500 employees. Each had responsibility for digital transformation decision making. Participants included a mix of job levels, company sizes and industries.

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

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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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