Survey: IT professionals see career potential in an as-a-Service trend

Hewlett Packard Enterprise asked IT decision makers about how aaS is rolled out and changes of duties.

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IT decision makers are optimistic that the as-a-Service (aaS) trend will create more career opportunities for them and enable them to focus on innovation and strategy. Among IT professionals at medium and large companies, 90% say that the aaS model will promote their career. The HPE As-A-Service: Driving Change report discovered that IT decision makers regard aaS as crucial to innovation, with 78% of respondents saying that progress will stop if companies do not switch in this way of working.

“The aaS model means that IT decision makers can move their resources from infrastructure management and app stack to writing new applications and boosting efficiency,” said Paul Miller, HP vice president of marketing for cloud systems.

Paul said this transition is a fundamental change in the way IT groups work and a way for IT to emerge from the “undifferentiated heavy lift” of maintaining a company’s technical infrastructure.

“This is really a change in the value that IT delivers,” said Paul. “The aaS model helps IT departments generate revenue streams and insights that help the company move forward.”

Hewlett Packard Enterprise interviewed 1,073 IT professionals to measure aaS attitudes and activities.

SEE: Special report: the future of Everything as a Service (free PDF)

When it comes to impact on job responsibilities, 83% believe that aaS acceptance will replace certain jobs, but only 24% are seriously concerned that their own jobs will be eliminated. IT decision makers in the C suite were more concerned about 30%.

American IT professionals are more optimistic than Germans about the impact of aaS: 57% of Americans think technology has improved their job security, while 25% of Germans think it has reduced job security.

Barriers for adoption

A majority of respondents (87%) say that the aaS transition is well underway. IT decision makers say the biggest barriers to adoption are:

  • Operation costs
  • Cyber ​​attacks on company data
  • Concerns about privacy of customer data
  • Lack of clarity about the return on investment

IT professionals over 55 are most concerned with data complexity that delays future data migrations.

One question in the survey suggests that cloud migration projects, instead of breaking data silos, can create new ones. Seventy-seven percent of respondents say that data is closed between public and private clouds.

Miller said that to prevent organizations from having to choose the aaS model that is most business and policy-based.

“Companies must use a model that is not linked to one cloud or one premise, but has the flexibility to move data and applications to the business needs that are best met,” he said. “If you use the correct aaS model, you will break the silos and increase overall efficiency.”

While the majority of companies state that they have implemented at least some aaS projects, 66% of respondents say that IT professionals avoid this new way of working for fear of losing their job. The younger respondents (from 22 to 34 years old) thought this the most with 70%, compared with 67% from 35 to 54 years and only 45% from 55 years and older.

Embrace a cultural shift

Miller said that this new business model requires cultural change among IT teams.

“It is highly recognized by seniors that they have to change their daily and cultural way of working,” he said. “Clients embracing this cultural shift are much happier in their work and are being revived.”

As aaS moves IT from an operational role to a more strategic role, there is a potential for IT decision makers to get more attention from the C suite. In the meantime, IT professionals are still looking for more support from the executive team. Seventy-eight percent wanted the C-Suite to give more support to aaS acceptance at their organizations.

HPE conducted the survey in October 2019 with 1,073 IT decision makers in the United States, the UK and Germany. Respondents were equally divided between medium and large companies with 44% in the C-suite and 56% in other roles.

Miller said that a few years ago, customers were more worried about the impact of cloud-based infrastructure and the impact of aaS.

“Now they are seeing the power and starting to build staff and retrain people to adopt the new model,” he said.

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