IT Priorities

South African companies are increasingly turning towards technologies that enhance the functionality of their existing IT footprint rather than technologies that aim to replace that infrastructure. This trend is exacerbated by recessionary influences impacting on technology budgets and is emphasised in the graph below.

IDC SA recently asked 100 local IT decision-makers to rank their IT priorities for the upcoming 12 months. As the graph shows, cost reduction, security, and innovation stood out clearly in terms of being the most important issues in the next 12 months. Consolidation and virtualisation are similarly considered high priority in the coming year.

Based on the results, we believe projects relating to cost reduction, security improvements and consolidation will be key technology investment areas over the next 12 months.

Cost cutting: Although cost savings have always been a senior management priority, cost reduction has again become a primary concern. In this demanding economic environment it is not surprising to find that service providers, especially outsourcers, are experiencing pressure from clients to do more work for the same price or at a sizeable discount. To ensure customer retention, vendors must be flexible in renegotiation of existing contracts and offer aggressive pricing models on new deals.

Security: Unsurprisingly, security remains a key priority for all CIOs. This is especially true during increases in internal and external threats. Regulatory necessities are a key driver that will continue to fuel investment in security solutions. Companies are pressured to comply with international and local government regulations and industry standards. Coupled with this is the desire to derive maximum benefit from compliance investments via enhanced security, process standardisation, business continuity, and supporting infrastructure. Through compliance comes the realisation of efficiency gains, which, in turn, translates into faster turnaround times, improved client service, and better use of resources. These benefits will remain key drivers of IT investment in software, services, and hardware.

Consolidation and virtualisation: Changing business priorities and increasing demands upon the server environment all fall within the much bigger issue of increasing complexity within data centres. Expansion in the number of servers and devices that operate within the data centre are all forcing customers to think in new ways about the structure of their data centre.

This has brought about companies looking at ways to streamline their data centres, with the first steps being consolidation and virtualisation. The results of the survey clearly indicate that these strategies have moved from the boardroom to being deployed in the data centre.

SA organisations are turning towards technologies that enhance the functionality of their existing IT footprint rather than technologies that aim to replace that infrastructure.

IDC Insights