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IT Trend: Growing Need for Automation

Destiny Bertucci
Auvik

In 2024 the number one challenge facing IT teams is a lack of skilled workers, and many are turning to automation as an answer, according to IT Trends: 2024 Industry Report.

Compared to 2023, 24% more IT professionals reported planned investment in automation in 2024, and 96% are using at least one AI or ML tool to improve efficiency.


Source: Auvik

Responses from managed service providers and internal IT teams reveal a pressing need for greater automation to increase IT efficiency. Yet the report also indicates a wide disparity between how management perceives IT practices, versus what is really happening among IT workers in the field.

The top network-related activity that IT pros want to pursue involves researching new technologies, but their biggest obstacle in doing so involves time constraints due to the ongoing burden of responding to user requests. Nearly two-thirds of IT staff (64%) spend between 10 and 20 hours per week resolving requests for end users, while 16% of respondents spend more than 20 hours per week to address such reactive tasks.

Only half of respondents indicated that network planning is regularly performed at their companies. Network planning involves such critical security tasks as implementing hardware patches and replacements, and making needed updates to support new technology. The research suggests that network planning is taking a backseat because IT professionals are overwhelmed with day-to-day tasks and troubleshooting requests from end users, to the point that even basic network planning tasks like hardware patches are neglected.

Since the pandemic, nearly all IT professionals have come to support at least some level of remote work (90%). As a result, tool sprawl has clearly become a growing concern. Nearly half of respondents (44%) work with more than ten network-related tools to do their jobs, and nearly three-in-five organizations use more than 50 SaaS applications. Unsurprisingly, one in four respondents cited shadow IT — when users adopt software applications that are not authorized by IT — as a high priority issue to tackle in 2024.

The report findings also reveal a troubling discrepancy between the perceptions of C-suite executives and the experiences of IT technicians. C-suite respondents are more likely to report a higher level of confidence in the network toolset, with 58% who strongly agree their organization's current network toolset is meeting the needs of remote workers. IT technicians are the least likely to report a high level of confidence in the toolset, with only 35% who strongly agree.

Management also reported a higher level of confidence in such basic tasks as daily configuration updates. C-suite executives are twice as likely to report daily network configuration backups than technicians. This discrepancy indicates either the C-suite does not fully appreciate the level of work going into these backups, or that technicians are so overwhelmed with other tasks they are struggling to keep up with company policy when it comes to backups. This data describes a clear call for help from IT teams for better resources and tooling to aid in these essential tasks and get on the same page as management.

To this end, the 2024 report shows a focus on increased investments in IT, particularly in cloud security, network security and cloud management tooling. The majority (86%) of respondents reported an increased budget for 2024, and it is clear that teams have a need for tools that will help IT do more with less. As we are seeing, increased network automation can be an overriding solution to offset these challenges, including persistent talent shortages, resource constraints, and the complexity of managing numerous tools.

Methodology: This year's survey includes findings from 2,100 IT professionals, highlighting the demands for IT teams challenged by limited resources and talent shortages. The respondents reflected a range of industries including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, government, and education.

Destiny Bertucci is Product Strategist at Auvik

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IT Trend: Growing Need for Automation

Destiny Bertucci
Auvik

In 2024 the number one challenge facing IT teams is a lack of skilled workers, and many are turning to automation as an answer, according to IT Trends: 2024 Industry Report.

Compared to 2023, 24% more IT professionals reported planned investment in automation in 2024, and 96% are using at least one AI or ML tool to improve efficiency.


Source: Auvik

Responses from managed service providers and internal IT teams reveal a pressing need for greater automation to increase IT efficiency. Yet the report also indicates a wide disparity between how management perceives IT practices, versus what is really happening among IT workers in the field.

The top network-related activity that IT pros want to pursue involves researching new technologies, but their biggest obstacle in doing so involves time constraints due to the ongoing burden of responding to user requests. Nearly two-thirds of IT staff (64%) spend between 10 and 20 hours per week resolving requests for end users, while 16% of respondents spend more than 20 hours per week to address such reactive tasks.

Only half of respondents indicated that network planning is regularly performed at their companies. Network planning involves such critical security tasks as implementing hardware patches and replacements, and making needed updates to support new technology. The research suggests that network planning is taking a backseat because IT professionals are overwhelmed with day-to-day tasks and troubleshooting requests from end users, to the point that even basic network planning tasks like hardware patches are neglected.

Since the pandemic, nearly all IT professionals have come to support at least some level of remote work (90%). As a result, tool sprawl has clearly become a growing concern. Nearly half of respondents (44%) work with more than ten network-related tools to do their jobs, and nearly three-in-five organizations use more than 50 SaaS applications. Unsurprisingly, one in four respondents cited shadow IT — when users adopt software applications that are not authorized by IT — as a high priority issue to tackle in 2024.

The report findings also reveal a troubling discrepancy between the perceptions of C-suite executives and the experiences of IT technicians. C-suite respondents are more likely to report a higher level of confidence in the network toolset, with 58% who strongly agree their organization's current network toolset is meeting the needs of remote workers. IT technicians are the least likely to report a high level of confidence in the toolset, with only 35% who strongly agree.

Management also reported a higher level of confidence in such basic tasks as daily configuration updates. C-suite executives are twice as likely to report daily network configuration backups than technicians. This discrepancy indicates either the C-suite does not fully appreciate the level of work going into these backups, or that technicians are so overwhelmed with other tasks they are struggling to keep up with company policy when it comes to backups. This data describes a clear call for help from IT teams for better resources and tooling to aid in these essential tasks and get on the same page as management.

To this end, the 2024 report shows a focus on increased investments in IT, particularly in cloud security, network security and cloud management tooling. The majority (86%) of respondents reported an increased budget for 2024, and it is clear that teams have a need for tools that will help IT do more with less. As we are seeing, increased network automation can be an overriding solution to offset these challenges, including persistent talent shortages, resource constraints, and the complexity of managing numerous tools.

Methodology: This year's survey includes findings from 2,100 IT professionals, highlighting the demands for IT teams challenged by limited resources and talent shortages. The respondents reflected a range of industries including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, government, and education.

Destiny Bertucci is Product Strategist at Auvik

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 ...

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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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