SolarWinds Finds 84 Percent of Australian Tech Pros Need to Develop Skills to Confidently Manage Environments by 2024; Over 70 Percent Lack Time or Budget to Train

| Source: SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC.

  • SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2019: Skills for Tech Pros of Tomorrow examines confidence, current and future skillsets, career development, and barriers to career success
  • Tech pros still prioritise hybrid IT and systems and infrastructure and look to develop deeper understanding in areas like data science and security
  • According to more than 70 percent of tech pros, more training, time, and budget is needed to develop skills to manage environments in the next three to five years

SYDNEY, Australia, March 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SolarWinds (NYSE:SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, today released the findings of the SolarWinds® IT Trends Report 2019: Skills for Tech Pros of Tomorrow. This year’s annual report studies the state of skills and career development for technology professionals—meaning anyone who manages on-premises or public/private cloud infrastructures, hybrid IT environments, or SaaS-based applications, as well as managed service/managed security service providers (MSP/MSSP)—revealing they have one foot grounded in today’s hybrid IT realities while also setting their sights on emerging technology.

Specifically, Australian tech pros have prioritised hybrid IT, systems and infrastructure and coding and scripting skills development in the past 12 months. When it comes to the next three to five years, they are looking to further develop skills in hybrid IT and security, while eyeing career paths such as data science and analytics. However, without improvement in time and budget constraints, the majority of tech pros (84 percent) say they will be unable to confidently manage future innovations. This reality ultimately puts businesses at risk of performance and competitive advantage losses, making the prioritisation of skills and career development for tech pros paramount.

“Recent history has proven that there is a direct correlation between technology and business performance,” said Joe Kim, executive vice president and global chief technology officer, SolarWinds. “The results of this year’s IT Trends Report highlight that businesses need to focus even more on developing these professionals charged with running and pioneering technologies for the businesses. By removing day-to-day barriers, arming technology pros with the right technology and management tools, and prioritising skills and career development in the IT budget, tech pros can be better equipped for the future and help with business growth.”

“The findings are also in line with our view that the most critical problem we need to help tech pros solve today is the reality of the hybrid IT landscape—this applies to all tech pros whether on-premises, managing hybrid infrastructures, SaaS-based, or MSPs,” added Kim. “The way SolarWinds has always addressed and will continue to address these realities is through our deep connection to tech pros across the IT infrastructure. We are committed to understanding the needs of our customers and making their jobs easier as business technology continues to evolve.”

2019 Key Findings

The SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2019: Skills for Tech Pros of Tomorrow explores confidence, current and future skillsets, career development, and barriers to career success to provide a clear understanding of how tech pros and the businesses they serve can improve to better manage future technology realities. Key findings show that:

The majority of technology professionals in Australia are not fully confident they have all the skills needed to manage their environments into the near future, especially when it comes to emerging tech.

  • 84 percent of tech pros surveyed in Australia are not “completely confident” in having all the necessary skills to successfully manage their IT environments over the next three to five years—even though 97 percent of tech pros have worked to develop a skill over the past 12 months.
    • A lack of confidence in skillsets is consistent across business size: Over one-third (35 percent) of small business tech pros are somewhat to completely unconfident in their ability to manage environments into the near future with current skillsets, compared to 40 percent of medium-size tech pros and 37 percent of enterprise tech pros who share this sentiment.
  • When it comes to the idea of implementing or managing specific technologies, emerging tech is a pain point (despite how much mind share these buzzworthy technologies get in headlines). The top three technologies tech pros feel unequipped to manage with their current skillsets are:
    • 1. Artificial intelligence (45 percent)
    • 2. Quantum computing (39 percent)
    • 3. Machine and/or deep learning (37 percent)
      • According to the Gartner® list of strategic technology trends that have the potential to disrupt and are on the verge of becoming more widely used in the next five years, AI, and quantum computing both rank in the top 10.
    • There is a great opportunity for tech pros to increase their knowledge of these technologies and to have productive conversations with businesses on the reality of implementation in the near future.

Tech pros in Australia will continue building skills in daily operations with an eye toward areas like data science. 

  • In the past 12 months, tech pros have prioritised skills in hybrid IT deployment/management (48 percent), systems and infrastructure management (43 percent), and coding and scripting (43 percent).
  • In the next three to five years, the top two skills tech pros plan to develop skills are hybrid IT deployment monitoring and management (51 percent) and security management (47 percent).
    • This is in line with what tech pros say will be most important to their organisations’ transformation over the next three to five years (by weighted rank): cloud and/or hybrid IT.
    • Tech pros’ instincts are correct when it comes to their top two skillset areas as they are expected to see continued growth, according to Gartner:
      • The firm predicts that the Worldwide Public Cloud Services market will grow by 17.33 percent in 2019, going from US$175.8 billion in 2018 to US$206.2 billion this year.
      • Gartner research analysts also estimate that global revenue for the information security market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8 percent between 2017 and 2022, reaching US$143 billion in constant currency terms.
  • Data science and analytics round out the top three skillsets tech pros in Australia plan to develop in the next three to five years.
    • The desire to build skills in data science also hints at tech pros’ preparation for emerging tech like AI.

Tech pros in Australia say cloud and/or hybrid IT, automation and/or orchestration, and big data analytics are the key technologies for career development, which will help achieve higher goals like innovation.

  • Tech pros say the most important technologies for their career development are (by weighted rank) aligned with the top three technologies for organisations’ transformation over the next three to five years):
    • 1. Cloud and/or hybrid IT (67 percent)
    • 2. Automation and/or orchestration (53 percent)
    • 3. Big data analytics (51 percent)
  • When it comes to career development goals over the next three to five years, tech pros will look to prioritise (by weighted rank):
    • 1. Technology innovation (59 percent)
    • 2. Strategic planning (45 percent)
    • 3. Management/leadership skills (people management) (43 percent)
    • IT security protocol and/or processes, and data analytics and/or data science round out the top five career development goals for the next three to five years.

Tech pros in Australia have an appetite to prioritise career development on a weekly basis but are hindered by factors like time and cost.

  • More than seven in 10 tech pros (74 percent) say their day-to-day IT tasks extend into time earmarked for career development, with 24 percent saying this always happens.
  • This is alarming, considering tech pros enjoy technology skills training, with 59 percent finding it informative, 34 percent saying it’s engaging and interactive, and 19 percent reporting it’s not long enough.
  • Tech pros cite time and availability (59 percent) and cost (24 percent) as the biggest barriers affecting their current ability to participate in IT skills training and career development programs at the frequency they would like.
  • When it comes to their primary sources for training, tech pros turn to:
    • 1. Vendor training (27 percent)
    • 2. Online communities/forums (19 percent)
    • 3. Organisation and/or coworkers (17 percent)
  • However, the ideal delivery format for IT skills training according to tech pros is (by weighted rank):
    • 1. Self-guided online course
    • 2. In-person workshop/user conference (full-day)
    • 3. In-person workshop/user conference (half-day)

To explore and interact with all of the 2019 findings, please visit the SolarWinds IT Trends Index, a dynamic web experience that presents the study’s findings by region and additional insights into the data, as well as charts, graphs, and socially shareable elements.

The findings are based on a survey fielded in December 2018, which yielded responses from 150 technology practitioners, managers, and directors in Australia from public-and private-sector small, mid-size, and enterprise companies. All regions studied in 2019, as reported on the SolarWinds IT Trends Index, were North America, Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, with 966 respondents across all geographies combined.

Additional Resources

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About SolarWinds
SolarWinds (NYSE:SWI) is a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT infrastructure management software. Our products give organizations worldwide, regardless of type, size or IT infrastructure complexity, the power to monitor and manage the performance of their IT environments, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid models. We continuously engage with all types of technology professionals—IT operations professionals, DevOps professionals, and managed service providers (MSPs)—to understand the challenges they face maintaining high-performing and highly available IT infrastructures. The insights we gain from engaging with them, in places like our THWACKonline community, allow us to build products that solve well-understood IT management challenges in ways that technology professionals want them solved. This focus on the user and commitment to excellence in end-to-end hybrid IT performance management has established SolarWinds as a worldwide leader in network management software and MSP solutions. Learn more today at www.solarwinds.com.

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IT Trends Report data science Hybrid IT AI Tech Pros of Tomorrow