Author: Rose de Fremery
Date published: September 13, 2024
Innovation is critical for enterprises, with 82% of enterprise leaders saying they must invest in digital transformation or be left behind, according to the 2023 Insight Intelligent Technology Report. Yet often, a lack of internal IT staff and expertise can hold back the ability to make progress on these initiatives. Fifty-nine percent of CIOs said their ability to implement strategic and innovative plans were limited by staff and skills shortages, according to the Foundry State of the CIO Study 2024 report. Managed network services can help overcome challenges from IT skills shortages by providing enterprises with the knowledge and capabilities needed, clearing the way for moving ahead with their transformations on schedule and within budget.
When considering their transformation efforts, CIOs have recognized the importance of agility as enterprises with network flexibility and resilience can be in a better position to weather business ups and downs. This crucial quality of network agility, can provide an enterprise with a future-ready foundation upon which it can continue to digitally transform and innovate.
PwC found that top-performing enterprises, determined by a metric combining the effect of profit margin and revenue growth, in industry-adjusted terms, are 4.2 times more likely to use managed services partnerships for strategic advantage to access talent and technology, reduce costs and become faster and more innovative.
They also tend to embrace a philosophy of continuous improvement, treating digital and network transformation as an ongoing process instead of a one-off initiative. These enterprises are also investing in technologies that can accelerate other business areas, such as NaaS and software-defined wide area network (SD WAN).
There is a pronounced shortage of IT professionals who are qualified to take on these initiatives, just as enterprises need top IT talent to execute their network transformation initiatives. According to a study by ISC2, 67% of global cybersecurity professionals report a significant shortage of cybersecurity staff in their organization, with cloud computing security cited as the top skill gap (35%).1 Nearly three-quarters (72%) are attempting to mitigate this problem by upskilling and retraining their current employees, while 69% of them plan to offer more flexible working conditions.
Enterprises are already pursuing IT automation to free up internal capacity, which could make it easier to adopt these professional development strategies. IT automation could also aid recruitment by attracting IT professionals who are wary of burnout, prefer to work at digitally mature organizations, or both. Almost two-thirds of enterprises plan to invest more in IT automation, even when their overall budgets are being reduced or staying the same, according to an IDC infographic sponsored by Kyndryl and Red Hat.
These measures alone may not fully address the scale of the IT skills shortage, however—particularly in an uncertain economic climate in which budgetary resources may be limited. Enterprises could find themselves between a rock and a hard place. They are acutely aware that they have limited time to transform their networks, and they recognize the significant opportunity cost of not doing so. Yet, they are struggling to source the IT talent and skills they need to accomplish their goal. It only makes sense that many enterprises are addressing this challenge by leveraging managed network services to overcome the IT skills gap.
Enterprises are no strangers to seeking expert help outside of their organizations, of course. By pursuing a strategic partnership with an experienced managed network services provider, an enterprise can rapidly augment its existing IT team and give it access to considerable domain expertise in the area of network transformation, even as it specifically applies to the company's industry and business model.
Two-thirds (68%) of respondents to the June 2023 Futuriom SD-WAN and SASE managed services survey said expertise and knowledge was the driving force behind their use of managed services–the second highest reason given behind network complexity (85%).
According to Aryaka’s 2023 Enterprise Network Transformation Report, 95% of C-suite leaders expect managed services to play a bigger role in their transformation efforts, with NaaS, in particular, seen as one of few viable solutions for IT leaders to solve the growing complexity of their challenges.
NaaS can enable enterprises to stay on track with their network transformation goals without necessarily having to scale up their internal IT teams in advance—an approach that could be costly in addition to requiring significant lead time, which many organizations do not have. Given the current state of the IT skills shortage, it may not even be possible to source the exact talent needed, regardless of the time frame being contemplated. NaaS can help bridge this gap, offering enterprises a cost-effective way to obtain the capabilities needed to execute their network transformation goals.
Yet, these companies may lack the IT skills needed to accomplish their innovation goals on time due to having major difficulty finding the right talent given the global IT skills shortage. Many of these companies are already familiar with the advantages of managed network services and the benefits of NaaS. So using these two strategic assets can also help them quickly obtain the expertise they require without having to engage in a lengthy recruitment process or add to their existing headcount. By leveraging a strategic partnership in this way, organizations could have the visibility, control and network connectivity to achieve Enterprise Intelligence and attain operational excellence, adaptability and the ability to seize emerging opportunities. Enterprises using MSPs strategically to respond to opportunities and threats or to keep pace with changes in technology are 1.6 times more likely to be faster to market and 2.4 times more likely to be more innovative, according to PwC.
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The author of this content is a paid contributor for Verizon.
1 ISC2, Cybersecurity Workforce Study, 2023.