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Top CIO Challenges: IT Complexity and Managing IT Performance

Digital transformation, migration to the enterprise cloud and increasing customer demands are creating a surge in IT complexity and the associated costs of managing it. Technical leaders around the world are concerned about the effect this has on IT performance and ultimately, their business according to a new report from Dynatrace, based on an independent global survey of 800 CIOs, Top Challenges for CIOs in a Software-Driven, Hybrid, Multi-Cloud World.

CIO responses to the survey indicate that lost revenue (49%) and reputational damage (52%) are among the biggest concerns as businesses transform into software businesses and move to the cloud.

And, as CIOs struggle to prevent these concerns from becoming reality, IT teams now spend 33% of their time dealing with digital performance problems, costing businesses an average of $3.3 million annually, compared to $2.5 million in 2018; an increase of 34%. To combat this, 88% of CIOs say AI will be critical to IT’s ability to master increasing complexity.

Software is Transforming Every Business

Every company, in every industry, is transforming into a software business. The way enterprises interact with customers, assure quality experiences and optimize revenues is driven by applications and the hybrid, multi-cloud environments underpinning them. Success or failure comes down to the software supporting these efforts. The pressure of this "run-the-business" software performing properly has significant ramifications for IT professionals.

According to the survey:

■ 44% of CIOs fear there could be a threat to the existence of their business if they are unable to manage IT performance.

■ As complexity continues to grow, 74% of CIOs say it could soon become extremely difficult to manage performance efficiently.


Enterprise "Cloud-First" Strategies Increase Complexity

Underpinning this software revolution is the enterprise cloud, allowing companies to innovate faster and better meet the needs of customers. The enterprise cloud is dynamic, hybrid, multi-cloud, and web-scale, containing hundreds of technologies, millions of lines of code and billions of dependencies. However, this transformation isn’t simply about lifting and shifting apps to the cloud, it’s a fundamental shift in how applications are built, deployed and operated.

According to the survey:

■ The majority of CIOs are already using or are planning to deploy microservices (88%), containers (86%), serverless computing (85%), PaaS (89%), SaaS (94%), IaaS (91%) and private cloud (95%) in the next 12 months.

■ The average mobile or web application transaction crosses 37 different technology systems or components. This brings an inherent increase in IT complexity, making it harder for organizations to manage performance.

The Age of the Customer Increases Pressure to Deliver Great Experiences

We are squarely in the age of the customer, where high quality service is paramount due to the ease with which customers will try competitive offerings and share their experiences instantly via social media.

The research highlights the extent to which businesses are struggling to combat IT complexity that threatens the customer experience, with CIOs revealing: on average, organizations have suffered 6 IT outages where user-experiences, business revenues or operations were impacted in the last 12 months.

IT Teams Are Feeling the Strain

Digital transformation, migration to the enterprise cloud and increasing customer demands are collectively putting pressure on IT teams, who continue to feel the strain, especially as it relates to performance. Revealing the extent of this dilemma, key findings of the research also show that:

■ More than three quarters of CIOs (76%) say they don’t have complete visibility into application performance in cloud-native architectures.

■ 78% of CIOs are frustrated that so much time is spent setting up monitoring for different cloud environments when deploying new services.

■ IT teams now spend around 33% of their time tackling performance problems.


Exploring the potential antidote to these challenges, the research further reveals that 88% of CIOs say that they believe AI will be critical to IT’s ability to master increasing complexity.

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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 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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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 ...

Top CIO Challenges: IT Complexity and Managing IT Performance

Digital transformation, migration to the enterprise cloud and increasing customer demands are creating a surge in IT complexity and the associated costs of managing it. Technical leaders around the world are concerned about the effect this has on IT performance and ultimately, their business according to a new report from Dynatrace, based on an independent global survey of 800 CIOs, Top Challenges for CIOs in a Software-Driven, Hybrid, Multi-Cloud World.

CIO responses to the survey indicate that lost revenue (49%) and reputational damage (52%) are among the biggest concerns as businesses transform into software businesses and move to the cloud.

And, as CIOs struggle to prevent these concerns from becoming reality, IT teams now spend 33% of their time dealing with digital performance problems, costing businesses an average of $3.3 million annually, compared to $2.5 million in 2018; an increase of 34%. To combat this, 88% of CIOs say AI will be critical to IT’s ability to master increasing complexity.

Software is Transforming Every Business

Every company, in every industry, is transforming into a software business. The way enterprises interact with customers, assure quality experiences and optimize revenues is driven by applications and the hybrid, multi-cloud environments underpinning them. Success or failure comes down to the software supporting these efforts. The pressure of this "run-the-business" software performing properly has significant ramifications for IT professionals.

According to the survey:

■ 44% of CIOs fear there could be a threat to the existence of their business if they are unable to manage IT performance.

■ As complexity continues to grow, 74% of CIOs say it could soon become extremely difficult to manage performance efficiently.


Enterprise "Cloud-First" Strategies Increase Complexity

Underpinning this software revolution is the enterprise cloud, allowing companies to innovate faster and better meet the needs of customers. The enterprise cloud is dynamic, hybrid, multi-cloud, and web-scale, containing hundreds of technologies, millions of lines of code and billions of dependencies. However, this transformation isn’t simply about lifting and shifting apps to the cloud, it’s a fundamental shift in how applications are built, deployed and operated.

According to the survey:

■ The majority of CIOs are already using or are planning to deploy microservices (88%), containers (86%), serverless computing (85%), PaaS (89%), SaaS (94%), IaaS (91%) and private cloud (95%) in the next 12 months.

■ The average mobile or web application transaction crosses 37 different technology systems or components. This brings an inherent increase in IT complexity, making it harder for organizations to manage performance.

The Age of the Customer Increases Pressure to Deliver Great Experiences

We are squarely in the age of the customer, where high quality service is paramount due to the ease with which customers will try competitive offerings and share their experiences instantly via social media.

The research highlights the extent to which businesses are struggling to combat IT complexity that threatens the customer experience, with CIOs revealing: on average, organizations have suffered 6 IT outages where user-experiences, business revenues or operations were impacted in the last 12 months.

IT Teams Are Feeling the Strain

Digital transformation, migration to the enterprise cloud and increasing customer demands are collectively putting pressure on IT teams, who continue to feel the strain, especially as it relates to performance. Revealing the extent of this dilemma, key findings of the research also show that:

■ More than three quarters of CIOs (76%) say they don’t have complete visibility into application performance in cloud-native architectures.

■ 78% of CIOs are frustrated that so much time is spent setting up monitoring for different cloud environments when deploying new services.

■ IT teams now spend around 33% of their time tackling performance problems.


Exploring the potential antidote to these challenges, the research further reveals that 88% of CIOs say that they believe AI will be critical to IT’s ability to master increasing complexity.

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 ...

Image
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 ...