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The Evolving Role of Network Professionals

Pete Goldin
Editor and Publisher
APMdigest

Increasingly diverse demands from next generation technologies is changing the role of network professionals, according to the 2016 Network World State of the Network study by IDG’s Network World.

Among enterprises, nearly all survey respondents (91%) noted the increased demands of the position, and while the role might be becoming more complex, the majority see a more integral responsibility in shaping IT strategy (71%). In fact, 65% stated that communication between the CIO and the networking management team is happening more frequently than ever before. Communication enterprise-wide is also proving to be critical to digital-enabled business innovation. Seventy-nine percent agreed that collaboration efforts between the network team and other teams within IT are successful in driving innovation. Looking beyond IT, the networking group works with top business executives on at least a monthly basis, according to 69% of respondents and collaborates at a similar frequency with corporate operations (66%).

“The network has always been the backbone of the enterprise,” said Brian Glynn, Chief Revenue Officer of IDG Enterprise. “We are now seeing the team behind the network taking a larger role in IT strategy and collaboration across the business, which is important as companies continue to respond to digital disruption, drive innovation around emerging tech, and digitally transform their business.”

Other highlights of the survey:

■ 51% of enterprise respondents indicated their IT budget will increase over the next 12 months, with more than one-third (38%) saying it will remain the same.

■ 55% cite network speed and performance as the top business driver for networking investments. This is followed by improving data security (53%) and ensuring availability (50%).

■ These drivers correlate to the areas that respondents say will receive increased budget allocation – cloud (63%), network security (50%), and data storage (43%).

■ Security areas being most actively looked into include enterprise mobility management (57%), securing access for mobility programs (54%), ID management solutions (54%), securing access to social media (52%), data loss prevention (52%), next-generation firewalls (52%), and corporate data encryption (50%).

■ 70% say cloud will add complexity, while at the same time nearly the same amount (69%) stated cloud will enable the networking team to play a more strategic role.

■ 48% of enterprise organizations are actively researching plans around SDN and 9% are piloting software-defined networking (SDN) technology. And 22% plan to be piloting the technology a year from now.

■ 20% of enterprise organizations have Internet of Things (IoT) efforts underway and an additional 43% plan to implement IoT efforts within the next three years.

Pete Goldin is Editor and Publisher of APMdigest

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The Evolving Role of Network Professionals

Pete Goldin
Editor and Publisher
APMdigest

Increasingly diverse demands from next generation technologies is changing the role of network professionals, according to the 2016 Network World State of the Network study by IDG’s Network World.

Among enterprises, nearly all survey respondents (91%) noted the increased demands of the position, and while the role might be becoming more complex, the majority see a more integral responsibility in shaping IT strategy (71%). In fact, 65% stated that communication between the CIO and the networking management team is happening more frequently than ever before. Communication enterprise-wide is also proving to be critical to digital-enabled business innovation. Seventy-nine percent agreed that collaboration efforts between the network team and other teams within IT are successful in driving innovation. Looking beyond IT, the networking group works with top business executives on at least a monthly basis, according to 69% of respondents and collaborates at a similar frequency with corporate operations (66%).

“The network has always been the backbone of the enterprise,” said Brian Glynn, Chief Revenue Officer of IDG Enterprise. “We are now seeing the team behind the network taking a larger role in IT strategy and collaboration across the business, which is important as companies continue to respond to digital disruption, drive innovation around emerging tech, and digitally transform their business.”

Other highlights of the survey:

■ 51% of enterprise respondents indicated their IT budget will increase over the next 12 months, with more than one-third (38%) saying it will remain the same.

■ 55% cite network speed and performance as the top business driver for networking investments. This is followed by improving data security (53%) and ensuring availability (50%).

■ These drivers correlate to the areas that respondents say will receive increased budget allocation – cloud (63%), network security (50%), and data storage (43%).

■ Security areas being most actively looked into include enterprise mobility management (57%), securing access for mobility programs (54%), ID management solutions (54%), securing access to social media (52%), data loss prevention (52%), next-generation firewalls (52%), and corporate data encryption (50%).

■ 70% say cloud will add complexity, while at the same time nearly the same amount (69%) stated cloud will enable the networking team to play a more strategic role.

■ 48% of enterprise organizations are actively researching plans around SDN and 9% are piloting software-defined networking (SDN) technology. And 22% plan to be piloting the technology a year from now.

■ 20% of enterprise organizations have Internet of Things (IoT) efforts underway and an additional 43% plan to implement IoT efforts within the next three years.

Pete Goldin is Editor and Publisher of APMdigest

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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 ...

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) ...

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