AI, low- or no-code platforms and data analytics are actively used in regional organisations
ManageEngine has announced results from its IT at Work: 2022 and Beyond study. This newly released data involving IT decision-makers (ITDMs) and business decision-makers (BDMs) examines the democratisation of IT and the ability of IT teams to influence business decisions in large and enterprise-sized organisations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The vast majority (92%) of respondents indicated that collaboration has increased between the IT team and other departments during the last two years. This trend might have been driven by the decentralisation within organisations’ IT structures. Sixty percent of ITDMs said their organisations have already successfully decentralised their IT structures, with another 39% reporting that their organisations are currently attempting to do so.
Though non-IT departments are enjoying increasing autonomy when it comes to technology decisions, enterprises are concerned that employees might be unable to take full advantage of the technologies they use. The majority (82%) of BDMs said employees are held back by various barriers, primarily a lack of training (42%).
“Professionals are keen to gain new perspectives from industry peers in order to stay updated and advance in their careers. Through this study, we hope to facilitate the sharing of knowledge among stakeholders in Saudi Arabia. The insights also help ManageEngine in its constant endeavour to evolve as a comprehensive, effective IT management platform,” said Rajesh Ganesan, president of ManageEngine.
Key Findings From the Study
- The Role of IT Teams
- Around 92% of all respondents agree that IT is more responsible for business innovation than ever before, and 90% believe IT could drive greater innovation if they had a stronger leadership position.
- The vast majority (80%) of BDMs reported that IT teams have complete or considerable authority to prevent business decisions based on security and technical concerns.
- Over half of the BDMs said the IT team plays a role in approving decisions related to strategy (58%), finance (58%), operations (58%) and security (61%).
2. Technology Adoption on the Rise Across Departments
- Nearly all BDMs (97%) said their organisations have invested in AI and ML and are doing so for more than one use case on average. The majority (61%) of BDMs reported that they are using AI and ML to prevent cyberattacks.
- The IT department is the most likely department to create its own applications via low-code or no-code platforms (70%), followed by non-IT developers and DevOps teams (61%) and finance and legal teams (45%).
- Advanced data analytics is being used in IT operations for performance monitoring (77%), correlation and contextualisation (73%) and forecasting and predictive analysis (72%).
3. A Focus on Technical Training for Non-IT Roles
- Over two-thirds (69%) of BDMs think it is considerably important that prospective employees have a minimum level of technical proficiency when hired for non-IT roles.
- Nearly all ITDMs (98%) believe that at least one department in their organisation should receive more technical skills training, with non-IT developers and DevOps teams being notably more likely (71%) to require additional technical training.
- Just over half (53%) of BDMs said their organisations have a team dedicated to technology processes and tools training, and a similar amount (54%) said they rely on their IT team for training. Yet nearly as many BDMs (44%) reported that their departments take care of training through online courses.
ManageEngine commissioned independent market research agency Vanson Bourne to survey 200 decision-makers across IT and other key business functions from a range of private sector organisations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Visit ManageEngine’s website for access to the IT at Work: 2022 and Beyond study at https://mnge.it/sa-itsurvey
