Despite nearly 90% of business and technology leaders believing that IT is more important for business innovation than ever before, more than 80% of IT leaders say their company should support them more, and about half say they would quit without flexible work options or opportunity for advancement, according to a new study from ManageEngine.
The IT enterprise management platform, owned by Zoho Corporation, found that IT leaders and their teams are most often consulted for advice on a variety of financial, technical and strategic decisions, and about three-quarters say their IT teams have complete or considerable authority to prevent business decisions based on security and technical concerns.
However, the influence of IT departments only goes so far, as 54% of non-IT departments have autonomy in purchasing apps and IT software, 52% can facilitate IT audits, 45% can purchase devices and 48% can hire tech talent.
Despite the majority of respondents adopting a flexible work model, 40% of IT leaders say they weren’t adequately consulted in doing so.
Combined with the increasing responsibilities being placed on IT teams, that disconnect is making for some unhappy IT professionals, according to ManageEngine’s survey, which found that only 44% of IT decision makers feel as loyal to their employer as they did two years ago.
During the pandemic, organizations rushed to procure and deploy tools such as videoconferencing, cameras, SaaS apps and more to aid in the transition to remote work, and this came amid a drastic rise in cyberattacks. Now, 81% of IT leaders say their organization should have supported the IT department more during that time.
Unsurprisingly, nearly 60% of IT leaders say they are actively looking for a new job, and 48% would resign if flexible work was no longer an option. Another 45% would quit if there was no potential for career advancement.
Economic factors are also on the minds of IT leaders, with 64% saying they are more concerned about losing their job than they were six months ago and 43% saying they will resign if they don’t get a raise in line with inflation.
IT decision makers want IT to play a greater role in their organizations, with 45% wanting to learn new skills and 41% wanting to guide organizational change from their IT positions.
Vijay Sundaram, chief strategy officer of Zoho Corp., says IT teams have proven to be indispensable to business innovation and continuity, but senior leadership has been reluctant to bring them into larger corporate decisions.
“But the role of IT in organizations will only grow and become more decentralized as more lines of business, especially those with no time to wait on the IT department, deploy IT to meet rapidly changing market requirements, Sundaram says. Yet this will require the expertise and involvement of ITDMs to identify appropriate technologies and meet corporate guidelines in areas like compliance, privacy and security. Oddly, decentralization could actually make IT leaders even more strategic.”
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!
Leave a Reply