If someone predicted how IT roles will change in the coming years, they’d likely envision tech roles maturing around emerging and high-value new technologies, such as AI, data science, and the cloud, as well as an ongoing focus on cybersecurity across industries and business divisions. These topics frequently come up in discussions with tech leaders about the near future of IT roles. But many would be surprised by two major trends.
Configuration Management Databases (CMDBs) are key elements of any IT infrastructure. In large or growing organizations, however, successfully managing a CMDB is no easy feat. After all, IT Operations teams are responsible for managing tens of thousands of data points in dynamic environments. Lack of visibility, shallow troubleshooting, and the overall maintenance of a “healthy” CMDB can quickly lead to frustrations and result in expensive professional services support.
There’s an interesting synergy between hybrid work and proactivity. If you have a large remote or hybrid workforce, difficulties will tend to take longer to troubleshoot – and will of course also cause even more disruption for the user. Let’s take a simple, everyday example of a failing laptop battery. In this scenario, every time a remote user wants to leave their desk, they can’t – the laptop cuts off as soon as they unplug it.
It’s hard to imagine our work lives without collaboration tools. Whether you attend Zoom meetings or brainstorm projects (and send the occasional humorous GIF) on Slack, these solutions have become foundational elements of the workplace – even moreso in recent times, when most workplaces became more digital than ever before.
With the right combination of tech and internal communications, you can do a huge amount to actually increase the wellbeing and value a remote employee feels they’re getting from your business. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses struggle to do this, at least on a continual basis.
Studies consistently show that a positive UX (user experience) drives revenue growth, repeat business and brand loyalty. Here’s a good example: in Robert Pressman’s book Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach, he writes “For every dollar spent to resolve a problem during product design, $10 would be spent on the same problem during development, and multiply to $100 or more if the problem had to be solved after the product’s release.”
With employees depending on web applications every day, you can’t risk leaving anything to doubt when it comes to managing your IT estate. Although technology performance might appear “in the green” from IT’s perspective, how often are employees experiencing application outages or slowdowns you’re not aware of? Are they using that highly touted new app you rolled out – or avoiding it because of hidden usability problems?
After more than a year of remote work and video meetings, most people are ready to bid farewell to the days of collaborating with colleagues through their computer screens. Not so fast. The approaching end to the pandemic doesn’t mean an end to telecommunication as the primary form of workforce collaboration. According to a recent study: While some companies have embraced remote work as the new normal, most businesses are preparing for a hybrid workplace.
Every IT environment is different. Some depend heavily on an efficient reactive support team, others need to manage a totally decentralized workforce, while some focus their resources on an infallible security and compliance team. Whatever your IT ecosystem looks like, you need to make sure you are taking into account the things that matter most to you, your IT department and your business at large.
