JUNE 2019

2019 IT Priorities
This research report delves into IT pros’ priorities
around budgets, practice areas and development
plans. Find out where IT budgets and mind share are
focused.
By Brein Matturro
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CONTENTS
ABOUT US. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
RESEARCH SYNOPSIS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Budget Allocation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Personal IT Involvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Data Backup Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Data Center Infrastructure Deployment Plans. . . . . . . . . . 8
Storage-Related Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Desktop Project Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Security Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Software Development Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Networking Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Deployment Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Budget Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
TABLE OF
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FIGURES
Figure 1: Key Project Types, Bulk of IT Budget Allocations . . . 6
Figure 2: Personal Involvement in 2019 Initiatives . . . . . . . 7
Figure 3: Data Backup Projects to Be Deployed in 2019. . . . . 8
Figure 4: Data Center Infrastructure Projects
to Be Deployed in 2019. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Figure 5: Deploying Storage-Related Projects. . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 6: Desktop Projects to Be Deployed in 2019 . . . . . . 11
Figure 7: Security Initiatives to Be Deployed in 2019 . . . . . 12
Figure 8: S oftware Development Initiatives
to Be Deployed in 2019. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure 9: N etworking Initiatives to Be Implemented
in 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Figure 10: Deployment Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 11: IT Budget, 2018 vs. 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
APPENDIX
Figure 12: Budget Changes by Initiative. . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Figure 13: IT Spend Control & Allocation
Breakdowns 2018-2019. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2
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The Author
ABOUT US BREIN MATTURRO
Brein Matturro is a technology-focused freelance writer and editor, having spent the past decade-plus as
an editor and managing editor for the application development group at TechTarget.com.

ITPro Today
ITProToday.com is a leading online source of daily news, analysis and how-to’s about the information technology industry.
We help IT professionals and technology stakeholders learn about, assess and manage the acquisition of next-gen technology
that drives business innovation, including — but not limited to — analytics, artificial intelligence/machine learning, cloud com-
puting, compute engines, containers, data center operations, edge computing, hyper-converged infrastructure, the mobile-first
workplace, security, software development and DevOps, storage, and the Internet of Things.

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I
SUMMARY
T is constantly evolving, and the latest, greatest tech tends to garner lots of headlines. Today, IoT, AI and edge computing get
a disproportionate amount of press. However, research conducted among our readership highlights the fact that the tech that
actually occupies the bulk of IT mind share is in mature practice areas, the upkeep of which is critical to businesses’ operations.
Edge computing, for instance, may be on the radar of IT pros involved in data center infrastructure projects, but their time is
more likely to be spent in numerous other types of projects before edge. That’s not to suggest edge computing is not headed for
wider adoption, but, according to our survey, its time is clearly somewhere in the future. Likewise things like GPU-accelerated servers,
NVMe, predictive storage analytics, and AI for security and networking, for example.
These insights are gleaned from our 2019 Information Technology Trends survey. Conducted early this year, we surveyed 158
EXECUTIVE

ITProToday.com readers to get a better understanding of their budget, trends and development plans.
So what, exactly, does occupy the time of IT professionals? Well, for starters, security and cloud computing (as part of data center
infrastructure projects) are bedrock technologies that garner hefty budgets and resource allocations. As businesses are becoming
more acclimated in the cloud, there is a rising trend toward hybrid and private cloud. They allow ease of data access and relieve the
angst of IT departments that may be wary of handing over critical data to public cloud vendors.
Hacking, cyber threats and phishing scams, meanwhile, are still a colossal concern. In 2018, there were approximately 5 billion
data breaches. While that figure represented a drop from 2017’s recorded 7.9 billion breaches, it’s still obviously a huge problem.
Thirty-four percent of survey respondents say they’re involved with security at their company, and 46% reported security as one of
their organization’s top three IT budget targets.
Security is seemingly creeping into all aspects of IT planning, which to some is great news. However, throwing money at an existing
issue doesn’t always fix the problem. “The thing to remember is that just because money is being spent and action is being taken
in and around security, it means little in terms of resilience and where things truly stand,” said Kevin Beaver, author and information
security expert.
With that, let’s dig into the survey results, after the Research Synopsis, to learn more about how cloud, security and other technologies
figure into IT organizations’ initiatives.

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Survey name: Information Technology Trends
Previous Next
Survey date: Jan. 30 to April 10, 2019
Next Region: Global

Number of respondents: 158 ITProToday.com readers

SYNOPSIS
Purpose: To understand 2019 information technology-related priorities and trends

Methodology: ITPro Today surveyed 158 IT professionals. To encourage prompt response and increase the response rate overall,

the following marketing research techniques were used:

A live link was included in the e-mail invitation to route respondents directly to the online survey.

The invitations and survey were branded with the ITPro Today name and logo, in an effort to capitalize on subscriber affinity
RESEARCH

for this brand.

A reminder email was sent to non-respondents.

Each respondent was invited to participate in a drawing for one of four $100 gift cards.

Survey respondents came from across a range of vertical industries, with consulting, IT and/or communications services having

the largest share, at 12% of respondents, followed by, in order, financial services; computer/data processing/IT services; health

care/pharmaceutical; education; government; manufacturing (non-computer-related); MSP/VAR; media/entertainment/publishing;

communications/telecommunications equipment; manufacturing (computer-related); ISV/application development; networking services

and technologies; utilities/energy; agriculture/mining/oil/gas/chemicals; construction/engineering (physical systems)/architecture;

non-profit/trade; real estate; retailer/distributor/wholesaler (non-computer-related); cloud services; consulting/professional services

(non-computer-related); marketing/advertising/PR; colocation services; hospitality/travel; retailer/distributor/wholesaler (computer-

related); and telecom services.

With regard to company size, about 39% of respondents were from companies with fewer than 100 employees; 27% were from

companies with from 100 to 999 employees; and 35% were from companies with 1,000 or more employees.

About 66% of resopndents were from the United States; 10% were from Western Europe; Asia Pacific, Canada and South America/

Mexico were each represented by 5%; 4% were from Eastern Europe; and Africa and the Middle East each claimed 1%.

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FIGURE 1
Next Budget Allocations
One important goal for our IT trends survey
was to gauge how the IT budget is being spent.
Key Project Types, Bulk of IT Budget Allocations
Which key project types will receive the bulk of IT budget allocations in 2019?
We asked survey respondents to identify the
project types that will receive the bulk of IT budget Data center infrastructure (including IT, network, facilities, colocation, IaaS)
allocations this year, and we allowed respondents 50%
to choose as many as five technologies, from a Security
list of 12. The result? Data center infrastructure 46%
demands the most budget, cited by 50% of Storage
respondents as a technology that will receive 34%

the bulk of IT budget allocations this year. This Data backup

29%
finding correlates to the fact that the plurality
of respondents (36%) plan to spend their time Desktop
28%
working on data center infrastructure. (Digging
Data center infrastructure down into this topic below, you’ll see hybrid cloud Software development
27%

demands the most budget,

cited by 50% of respondents
as a technology that will
receive the bulk of IT budget
allocations this year.
is the No. 1 data center infrastructure project.
And a look at deployment models later in the Online applications
27%
report drives home the point that cloud figures
Networking
prominently in data center projects.)
27%
The next highest budgetary allocation target is
security at 46%. “Security sticks out, which is
Packaged business applications, such as finance/accounting or marketing automation software
16%
probably a sign that enterprises are starting to
come to grips with all of the widely publicized
Broad software initiatives, such as big data analytics and IT automation
15%
breaches,” said George Lawton, longtime IT
author. Of course, security has always been
Mobility
11%
a concern, but as infrastructure and cloud
Wireless LAN
computing advances are happening, security 9%
must follow.
Base: 158; up to five answers permitted
Storage is ranked third, cited by 34% of
respondents as receiving the bulk of IT budget is included in this mid-range grouping, outranking Personal IT Involvement
allocations, followed by data backup, desktop, packaged business applications, mobility and LAN, When it comes to initiatives IT professionals
software development, networking and online was a surprise to Lawton. “It suggests that many have the greatest involvement in, data center
applications, each cited by between 27% to 29% companies are replacing on-premises apps with infrastructure projects led the way. Data center
of respondents. The fact that online applications cloud-based apps,” he said. initiatives broadly cover anything from hybrid cloud

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FIGURE 2
to on-prem approaches, so it seems worthy of the
Next
plurality vote at 36%. Following closely behind at
34% is security, which can hardly be a surprise to Personal Involvement in 2019 Initiatives
anyone who works in IT. Security was also cited by In which of the following IT initiatives will you have the greatest involvement in 2019?
nearly half of respondents as a technology that will
Data center infrastructure (including IT, network, facilities, colocation, IaaS)
receive the bulk of IT budget allocations this year. 36%
Most of the remaining initiatives that respondents
Security
have personal involvement with mirror, in rough 34%
order, IT spending budget plans for 2019, including Data backup
data backup, storage, online applications, desktop 22%
and software development. The percentages are Storage
lower for the personal involvement question than 22%
for the budget allocation question, likely because Online applications, such as cloud-based file sync and share and cloud-based business applications
respondents were allowed to choose only three 21%
responses for the personal involvement question Networking
versus five for the budget question. 18%
Interestingly, mobility is low on both the budget Desktop
and personal involvement questions. Mobile 15%
development continues to be something that Software development
companies tend to outsource, instead of developing 14%
in-house talent. This parallels the web, which in its Broad software initiatives, such as big data analytics and IT automation
early days merely provided the digital analog to 11%
print advertisement as a primary value proposition: Packaged business applications, such as finance/accounting or marketing automation software
Websites were static versions of product brochures. 9%
This scenario has of course evolved and many Mobility
websites today are highly intricate and dynamic 8%
publishing outlets. Mobile development is going Wireless LAN
through the same changes. Grocery chains initially 5%
used mobile technology simply to outsource coupon Other
and shopping applications, but that’s changing, as 3%
those applications – and the technologies that Don't know
underpin them – become smarter about shoppers’ 6%
habits. As this technology matures, mobility will be Base: 157; up to three answers permitted
more commoditized, at which point mobile app

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support and maintenance will shift more to the IT
Next department, but it will be a slow and partial shift.
Technologies move in waves. The technology Data Backup Projects to Be Deployed in 2019
that anchored lots of discussion in days gone by Which of these data backup projects will your company deploy in 2019?
— the wireless network — is now installed and a Backup for virtual servers
done deal, a reality that’s reflected in the last-place 56%
finish of wireless LAN in both the budget allocation Application backup
and personal involvement questions. 41%
—With input from Matt Heusser, managing Cloud backup
director for Excelon Development 41%
In-house/internal DR/business continuity
Data Backup Projects 38%
While most businesses are at least dabbling Continuous data protection
in various stages of cloud computing, it makes 35%
sense that within the data backup space, among Snapshots/replication
respondents who are active around data backup, 29%
the majority of them — 56% — plan to deploy Archive systems
backup for virtual servers, easily outpacing the next 26%
most frequently cited response, application backup Backup disk array
(cited by 41% of that group of respondents). Virtual 26%
server backup continues to guard against massive Backup software refresh
amounts of data loss by human error. It stands to 26%
reason that virtual server backups, though not new, Deduplication for backup
will continue to stand the test of time and newer 21%
trends, like agentless backup, will evolve. Laptop/mobile device backup
18%
Data Center Infrastructure Deployment Cloud-to-cloud backup
9%
Plans
Copy data management
Hybrid cloud tops the list of data center
9%
infrastructure deployment plans, with 44%
DRaaS
of respondents active around data center
9%
infrastructure citing it. It’s clear that hybrid is an
Don’t know
approach whose time has come. Established
3%
enterprises with monolithic software are waking up
Base: 34; respondents indicating personal involvement in data backup projects in 2019

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Next
to the fact that they need to revamp infrastructure
to take advantage of modern IT practices if they are
Data Center Infrastructure Projects to Be Deployed in 2019
Which of these data center infrastructure projects will you deploy in 2019?
to stay in the game. Part of that process involves
Hybrid cloud
leveraging public clouds for workloads that would
44%
gain by being located on the cloud. Companies Deploying more storage
such as Red Hat and others have been easing 38%
the way by developing blueprints and software Server refresh or deploying new servers
that makes transitioning from an all-on-premises 38%
Consolidating and/or closing existing on-prem data center(s)
approach to a hybrid approach that incorporates
29%
the best of on-premises with the best of cloud Moving workloads from on-prem or colocation to public cloud
Younger organizations that somewhat painlessly attainable.
At the same time, there’s indication that the Adding colocation footprint
24%

started only in the cloud, increasing number of hybrid deployments is also

due to a movement in the opposite direction.
New data center (move or build)
15%

thereby avoiding capex

expenses, are now finding
a need to run some of their
infrastructure on-premises,
13%
Younger organizations that started only in the Deploying GPU-accelerated servers
cloud, thereby avoiding capex expenses, are now 9%
finding a need to run some of their infrastructure Edge computing
7%
on-premises, or at least in colocation data centers.
Driving the move in this direction is that all-cloud Upgrading to 100G Ethernet
7%
companies are learning that the economics of the
cloud don’t fall in their favor for all workloads, and
Deploying Power servers
5%

or at least in colocation
regulations require some data to be kept on servers Deploying Arm servers
under the company’s control. 4%
Deploying FPGA-accelerated servers
data centers.
It is also important to note the supporting
4%
numbers of 29% for those that are “consolidating
Expanding power and cooling capacity in existing on-prem data center(s)
and/or closing existing on-prem data centers” and 4%
24% that are “moving workloads from on-prem or Intent-based networking
colocation to public cloud.” This indicates cloud- 4%
bound movement, contrasted by 38% planning a Deploying liquid cooling (including rear-door heat exchangers, direct to chip or full immersion)
2%
“server refresh or deploying new servers,” 15%
Upgrading to 400G Ethernet
adding colocation footprint, and 13% adding new 2%
data centers, which at least partly represents a Other
move in the opposite direction. 5%
The 38% who said they had plans to deploy None of the above
4%
more storage also isn’t a surprise given the rise
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in the amount of data being generated, and the
Next constant need to add storage is likely to continue
Deploying Storage-Related Projects
for the foreseeable future. Which of these storage-related projects will your company deploy in 2019?
The 7% figure for organizations planning Cloud storage (private)
edge computing deployments seems a little 35%
Storage for virtual environments
low, considering what we’re hearing from tech 35%
companies across the board. That number should Solid-state storage
32%
begin to rise dramatically during the next couple
All-flash arrays
of years, especially as 5G deployment becomes 29%
more widespread. Storage virtualization
Also expect the number of companies planning 29%
Expect the number of to deploy servers running ARM or other non-x86
Storage networking
26%

companies planning to
architectures to continue to rise, especially as the Cloud storage (public)
move to the edge begins to take hold. 24%
Scale-out NAS
deploy servers running
—With input from Christine Hall, writer for ITPro
24%
Today and Data Center Knowledge Software-defined storage

ARM or other non-x86 Storage-Related Projects Converged infrastructure

24%

15%
architectures to continue There are no true stand-out stats in storage-
related project plans. Private cloud and virtual
Hybrid storage arrays
15%

to rise, especially as the environments share the lead in the list, each
cited by 35% of respondents involved in storage
Data reduction in primary storage
12%

move to the edge begins

Hyper-converged infrastructure
projects. Private cloud’s popularity might be due 12%
to the growing trend of businesses moving their High-capacity flash

to take hold. workloads from outsourced or public clouds to 9%

Storage for artificial intelligence
hosted private or on-premises clouds. 9%
There are plenty of underlying reasons for a Storage for big data
business to move to private cloud. Coined “cloud 9%
Object storage
repatriation” in 2018, the most logical drivers of
6%
the trend are security and cost. Local hosting NVMe
offers direct access to data and bypasses financial 3%
Predictive storage analytics
aspects of outsourcing cloud services. 3%
Don’t know
Desktop Project Plans 3%
Since Windows 7 will reach the end of lifecycle Base = 34; repondents indicating personal involvement in storage-related projects

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support on Jan. 14, 2020, it stands to reason that
Next migrations from Windows 7 to Windows 10 are on
the radar for the 74% of desktop-involved folks
who cited that as a desktop deployment project.
There will be some holdouts that will keep some
machines on Windows 7 for compatibility reasons,
but with Microsoft’s Desktop App Assure program,
Microsoft plans to help solve that for customers at
no additional cost.
At 43%, desktop management/monitoring is
Desktop, a multi-user Windows 10 desktop system will be provided free of charge to any customer
served up over Azure. The system’s multi-user using Windows 7 as a Windows Virtual Desktop.
capability means fewer resources are needed. In For companies still running Windows 7 devices
addition, Windows 7 Extended Security Updates after that operating system’s end of life, this could
FIGURE 6
Desktop Projects to Be Deployed in 2019
Which of these desktop projects will your company do in 2019?
Windows 10 deployment/migration

second on the list of desktop deployment projects. 74%

Desktop management/monitoring
Windows 10’s System Center Configuration Manager
43%
(an admin tool for managing the deployment and
Application virtualization
security of devices and applications) and Intune
35%
(an enterprise mobility management tool) create
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)/desktop virtualization
greater synergy between the monitoring system
30%
and remote client endpoints. Much more robust
Unified endpoint management
reporting, tracking and monitoring helps IT staff to
22%
prioritize their workloads, deployment of updates
Desktops as a service
and security management.
17%
At Microsoft Ignite last year, Microsoft announced
Open source desktop deployment
App-V using its Azure cloud service. Application
17%
virtualization is ranked third in desktop deployment
Workspace suites
projects (at 35%); the idea of hosting the app and
17%
its data remotely is appealing to many organizations
Bring-your-own-PC program
since they can easily access that service from
13%
just about anywhere. There was demo of this at
Software-as-a-service applications
Ignite last year, and from our perspective it was
13%
impossible tell the difference between a virtualized Chrome OS rollout
app and a local app. Their performance, shortcuts, 9%
etc., all look native to Windows 10. Don’t know
Thirty percent of respondents active in the 9%
desktop space plan on deploying virtual desktop Other
infrastructure/desktop virtualization. At Ignite 4%
last year, Microsoft announced Windows Virtual Base = 23; respondents indicating personal involvement in desktop projects in 2019

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FIGURE 7
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represent a significant cost savings. Security Initiatives to Be Deployed in 2019
Next —With input from Richard Hay, writer for ITPro Which of these security initiatives will your company deploy in 2019?
Today E-mail security/spam filtering
42%
Mobile-device-specific management: EMM, MAM, MDM
Security Initiatives 36%
On one hand, it’s great to see organizations Data loss prevention (DLP)
30%
spending the most on email security/spam filtering Cloud access security broker (CASB)
(42% of respondents with involvement in security 24%
Security information and event management (SIEM)
projects said their companies would deploy such 24%
initiatives this year). That’s certainly a significant way VPN
24%
Vulnerability and to stop one of the biggest threats to the enterprise.
What stood out in a less positive way, however,
Encryption
18%

penetration testing and is the 15% of organizations looking to deploy a

patch manager solution. Maybe most organizations
Identity and access management (IAM)

Log management
18%

security program review have one or think their current efforts are working.
Third-party malware detection/antivirus
18%

They’re not. Vulnerability and penetration testing 18%

suggest that patch
management is messy
on most networks across
all types of businesses, large
and small.
itprotoday.com
and security program review suggest that patch Web application security tools
18%
management is messy on most networks across
Intrusion detection/prevention system (IDS/IPS)
all types of businesses, large and small. 15%
Patch management solution
Not only are basic Windows patches often not
15%
maintained (in many cases, dating back five years AI-enabled security tools
12%
or more on workstations and servers), but so are Firewalls
third-party software updates for Java, Adobe and 12%
Telephony and/or VoIP security software
related software. Third-party patches can create 12%
problems in terms of malware infections, remote Wi-Fi access control/configuration software
9%
exploits and the like. With software being so poorly Automated DDoS mitigation systems
maintained on most networks, it’s a wonder that 6%
security attacks and malware infections aren’t Micro-segmentation
6%
happening more often. And this is an easy fix: Network access control (NAC)
6%
Deploy a good patch management solution that
Unified threat management (UTM)
works on all software across all systems that’s 6%
properly managed and measured. Additionally, None of the above
6%
network infrastructure devices (firewalls, routers, Don’t know
switches, etc.) often fall completely out of patch 6%
Base = 33; respondents indicating personal involvement in security initiatives in 2019
management oversight but create similar business
12
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risks nonetheless. services. However, microservices and containers delivery,” Tozzi said. These survey results suggest
Next One other notable finding: A lot of time, effort and showcase at a mere 10% and 5%, respectively. “This that enterprises don’t necessarily believe that next-
money is being spent on products and “solutions,” is surprising given that so many of the respondents generation deployment technologies are necessary
but there’s no mention of actual proactive security did indicate an interest in DevOps, and I’ve always for DevOps.
testing. It’s like going to the doctor to get on meds thought of DevOps as going hand-in-hand with Service-oriented architecture, which some
and presumably prevent disease before doing what containers and microservices, since the latter can claimed to have died in 2009, held steady at 15%,
you know needs to be done: increase exercise and help enable continuous integration/continuous higher on the list than both microservices and
fix poor dietary habits. You can have all the products
FIGURE 8
in the world and yet have minimal security because
you’ve failed to acknowledge the things that are Software Development Initiatives to Be Deployed in 2019
creating tangible risks. The thing to remember is Which of the following software-development-related initiatives will your company deploy in 2019?
that just because money is being spent and action
Application modernization
is being taken in and around security, it means little 40%
in terms of resilience and where things truly stand. DevOps
—With input from Kevin Beaver, author and 40%
information security expert Agile development methods
35%
APIs
Software Development Initiatives 35%
Application modernization is tied for first place Cloud application development
among software development-related initiatives 30%
that are expected to be deployed in 2019, cited Custom application development
30%
by 40% of respondents involved in software
Application lifecycle management
development. That’s not surprising, given that 20%
application modernization and updating legacy IoT application development
applications are constant software development 15%
necessities. “I think app modernization has been Service-oriented architecture
15%
on all the lists of IT trends/goals I’ve seen since I
Microservices
started paying attention 10 years ago,” said Chris 10%
Tozzi, author and software development expert. Cloud native
Tied with application modernization is the more 5%
Containers
recently popularized DevOps, cited by 40% of
5%
respondents. DevOps, though not new in concept,
Platform as a service
has been the catalyst for several tools and market 5%
trends, sprouting various managed platform Base = 20; respondents indicating personal involvement with software development-related initiatives in 2019

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FIGURE 9
Previous Next Networking Initiatives to Be Implemented in 2019
containers. The survey suggests that SOA, though
Next not in trend, is actually a consistent initiative in IT. Which of these networking initiatives will your company implement in 2019?
“My big takeaway is that the hype about next- Network management: On-premises
46%
generation technologies doesn’t match adoption Network virtualization
levels for many organizations,” Tozzi said. 29%
DNS/DHCP management and monitoring
25%
Networking Initiatives VPN
Among those planning networking initiatives, 25%
Remote access/branch office connectivity
46% of respondents are likely to implement on- 21%
premises management. This far exceeds other WAN optimization
networking initiatives. One way to look at this 21%
Unified communications applications
number is that businesses are growing, with GDP 18%
growth steadily rising between 2% and 3% in 2019. Network management: Cloud (SaaS)
Offices are expanding, which likely creates more 14%
Software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN)
need for on-premises implementation. 14%
At 29%, network virtualization initiatives rank Network management: For cloud networks, virtual private clouds (VPCs)
second. As the survey suggests, cloud computing is 11%
Don't know
maturing. “Network virtualization stands out, since 11%
it is speaks to a path to the cloud,” according to Intent-based network automation
7%
Lawton. Closely behind, at 25%, is DNS/DHCP
Internet performance management
management and monitoring, which falls in line 7%
with the survey’s showing of security concerns IoT infrastructure
7%
among respondents. Mobile network monitoring/optimization
7%
Deployment Models Network analytics and machine learning optimization (Alops)
7%
On-premises software/hardware was the top- Service mesh
ranked deployment model cited by all survey 7%
respondents looking back at 2018 as well as Upgrade/improve cloud connectivity
7%
looking ahead at 2019. In fact, on-premises Container network, integration to DC network fabrics
software/hardware and on-premises appliances 4%
Converged storage and data center network
each appear in the top three responses for both 4%
years. “I would say that on-premises continues to Network as a service for network transport connectivity
be a leading deployment model because of demand 4%
Next-generation network security, microsegmentation, AI-based defenses, etc.
around hybrid cloud,” said Nicole Henderson, 4%
content director for ITPro Today. Larger businesses Other
4%
never fully committed to public cloud, given that
None of the above
itprotoday.com 4%
Base = 28; respondents indicating personal involvement with networking initiatives in 2019
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FIGURE 10
Next that would mean handing over critical business Deployment Models 2018
information to an outsourced service. Hybrid cloud 2019
Which of the following deployment models did or will your company use?
offers the ease of public cloud with the security
On-premises software/hardware
of on-premises access. “All of the major cloud
67%
providers are meeting this demand with new
57%
offerings that give enterprise IT a single pane of On-premises appliance
glass across on-premises and cloud workloads,” 51%
Henderson said. 41%
Software as a service climbed to the No. 2 spot Software as a service (cloud applications)
for 2019, cited by 48% of respondents, compared 41%
with only 41% of respondents looking back at 48%
2018. “Growth of software as a service is driven Infrastructure as a service (private cloud)
36%
by several segments, including cloud-based
36%
collaboration suites and web conferencing, as well
Hybrid cloud, where like workloads move between internal and external clouds based on cost or other factors,
as enterprise resource planning (ERP),” Henderson with orchestration
said. Businesses are finding that SaaS is cost- 33%
effective, secure and accessible and, therefore, 40%
worth exploring. Infrastructure as a service (public cloud)
27%
Budget Changes 30%
Eight percent of ITPro Today survey respondents Platform as a service (private cloud)
25%
reported that they expect their 2019 IT budgets to
25%
go down compared with 2018’s. About a quarter
On-premises private cloud
expect it to stay the same. Among those who 21%
expect it to increase, about a third expect it to 23%
increase by more than 10%, 45% predict the Platform as a service (public cloud)
increase will be between 5% and 10%, and 21% 18%
predict an increase of less than 5%. 22%
Sixty percent of all survey respondents plan to Multicloud, where we use both internal and external clouds but without orchestration of workloads
increase security spending in 2019, which makes 16%
sense given that security issues have continued to 21%
Base = all respondents (135 for 2018 question, 141 for 2019 question)

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Next be a problem over the past few years. As cloud- FIGURE 11

based services become the norm, we see that
55% of respondents plan to increase their cloud
IT Budget, 2018 vs. 2019
services budget. How do you expect your 2019 budget for information technology to differ from your 2018 budget?
On the other hand, 56% of respondents plan to Increase by 5% to 10%

keep spending on backup and disaster recovery the 28%

Stay the same
same as it was in 2018. Cloud isn’t the only reason
23%
for this; the merger climate means what was once Increase by more than 10%
four data centers (due to disaster recovery) at two 21%
companies have become two data centers at one Increase by less than 5%
company. If you add recovery in the cloud, you 13%
have one data center at one company. Decrease by more than 10%
Realistically, though, most companies aren’t using 4%
Decrease by 5% to 10%
cloud computing for their databases. Bandwidth
3%
and storage is just too expensive to “rent” the cloud
Decrease by less than 5%
for databases for plenty of companies,. And, believe 1%
it or not, there are still some old non-relational, Don’t know
Cobol and non-x86 systems that don’t want to go 7%
to the cloud.
Base = all respondents (150)
—With input from Excelon Development’s Heusser

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APPENDIX
FIGURE 12

Budget Changes by Initiative Increased

Stayed the same
How did your 2019 budget change in the following areas, relative to 2018?
Decreased
Backup/disaster recovery
36% 56% 8%
Cloud services
55% 42% 4%
Colocation
29% 61% 10%
Consulting services
35% 52% 13%
Maintenance
22% 66% 12%

Managed services
28% 57% 15%
Networking, on-premises
30% 59% 11%
Security
60% 38% 2%
Servers, on-premises
29% 52% 19%
Software
37% 55% 8%
Staff
32% 57% 12%
Storage, on-premises
35% 50% 15%

Base = All respondents (79 to 125, depending on initiative type)

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FIGURE 13

IT Spend Control and Allocation Breakdowns 2018-2019

IT Spend Control: IT Department vs Business Units IT Spend Allocations: CapEx vs. OpEx
Mean Percentages Mean Percentages

IT Department Business Units CapEx OpEx

61% 61%

50% 50% 51%

49%

39% 39%

2018 2019 2018 2019

Base: ITPro Today respondents (n=137) Base: ITPro Today respondents (n=137)

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