Traditionally IT has been regarded as a function that keeps businesses running. Anyone working in IT might tell you otherwise, but until recently this has been the purpose that IT teams have been associated with. However, with digital transformation rapidly climbing to the top of the agenda for many organisations, spurred on even more by Covid-19, IT teams are also being expected to help drive the business forward through technological innovation.

The struggle to balance support and innovation has created a confused sense of purpose for IT teams. This paradox poses a risk to IT’s ability to both support the business and deliver meaningful digital transformation projects. In recognition of this, we recently commissioned a study of 201 IT decision-makers and 200 business leaders in UK mid-sized companies (200-2,500 employees) to understand whether it’s time for the IT function to renew its core purpose and who, other than the CIO, can bring the technology function back together with the business support and innovation imperatives.

Here are our key takeaways from the research report: The IT Paradox: Balancing support and innovation.

1. From ‘Information and Technology’ to ‘Innovation and Transformation’

IT decision-makers and business leaders are in close agreement that their organisations see IT as an enabler facilitating innovation and driving the achievement of business goals, signalling that the purpose of IT is now largely to facilitate innovation and transformation.

Nearly half of IT decision-makers believe IT should be responsible for innovation and over half of business leaders see innovation as the main value of IT. However, that’s not to say its historic function is forgotten, with a large percentage of IT decision-makers and business leaders still seeing IT’s primary role as either a help desk and technical support function or to be responsible for maintaining and running business-critical systems.

Clearly IT has a new sense of direction as the driver of innovation across the business, but it hasn’t shaken its traditional function of keeping the business running and IT teams are having to strike a balance between these two roles.

2. Boardroom influence and authority over budgets

According to our research, the majority of mid-sized companies now have an IT representative on the board and have been given more authority when it comes to approving spend. Boardroom influence and autonomy over departmental budgets for IT leaders are both clear signs that IT is now regarded as key to the direction of the business rather than just a function that keeps technologies and systems ticking over day-to-day. As transformation projects become increasingly important, IT leaders are being called upon to help steer the business strategy from a technology perspective.

3. Rising expectations as new business challenges emerge

However, as the importance of IT grows and the remit of the role involves, so too is the pressure on IT teams. The vast majority of IT decision-makers say their organisation’s expectations of IT have increased in the last 12 months, with areas such as improving security and compliance, working with more areas of the business and supporting and having knowledge of a broader range of technologies key areas of pressure.As a result, nearly two thirds of IT decision-makers admitted to feeling under increasing pressure to keep their organisation running effectively in the last 12 months (outside of COVID-19) and for the majority this has had a negative personal impact.

It’s clear that IT has a new purpose. Business leaders and IT decision-makers see IT as the driver of innovation but also acknowledge that it must balance this with being the ‘caretaker’ of technology and systems. IT teams should feel empowered by this new recognition, but business leaders need to consider the impact on their IT departments as they attempt to balance both their new and existing purposes.

Want to learn more about the research results and how IT departments across the UK are faring? Download the full report here.

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Cyber security has evolved from being the stuff of Hollywood blockbuster plots, to becoming a national priority.

Global governments are taking the threat seriously, as seen in the UK’s own National Cyber Security Strategy, the establishment of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), investment of £1.9 million in transforming the UK’s cyber security, and the introduction of risk management frameworks such as Cyber Essentials that are designed to help businesses mitigate the threat of cyber attacks.

Download the whitepaper to find out more.

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Although cloud can be very intuitive and simple to configure, for many businesses without an in-house IT team skilled in cloud service delivery, configuring and managing your cloud environment can still be a complex task.

Pulsant’s Managed Cloud service takes on the management of your cloud environment, helping you with all stages of the process, across:

• Designing your cloud environment
• Planning your cloud environment and migration plan
• Moving your services to your new cloud environment
• Ongoing management and monitoring of your cloud environment
• Securing your cloud environment
• Ensuring your cloud environment is as performant as it can be

Using a trusted Managed Cloud provider takes away the worry of keeping your cloud environment running as efficiently as possible; ensuring that any capacity issues, bandwidth needs and potential cyber threats are monitored and dealt with quickly and proactively.

Without a managed cloud service, organisations need to manage their own billing, cloud design, configuration, storage and networking requirements. This in addition to, proactively monitoring the risk of cyber-attacks and ongoing maintenance can be a big task for existing IT teams to take on, so many look for a cloud provider like Pulsant to support them with their hybrid cloud environments.

Pulsant offers a range of different Managed Cloud options, across:

• Managed Azure IAAS
As a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider, Pulsant can manage and support your Azure environment, making moving to the public cloud easier than ever.

• Managed Office 365
Delegate the management, administration and support of your Office 365 environment to Pulsant. We can configure and migrate your systems over to Office 365 and then provide an ongoing fully managed service and support package.

• Pulsant Private Cloud
For when you need UK-based, enterprise cloud services in a secure and bespoke environment, Pulsant’s Private Cloud is the answer. And, our support and operational teams can manage the environment for you as a fully managed cloud service.

• Managed Azure Stack
If you need a hybrid mix of true public and private cloud services, then Azure Stack could be the answer. We can deliver Azure services from our enterprise UK data centres, and migrate services seamlessly over to Microsoft’s Azure cloud on-demand.

• Managed AWS
Unsure how to configure and manage AWS services as your IT requirements in the cloud become more complex? We can help with our managed service offerings around the AWS cloud.

• Pulsant Enterprise Cloud
Delivered from UK data centres and using the most robust, industry-leading technology, Pulsant Enterprise Cloud is your reliable choice for enterprise cloud computing needs. And our managed service wraparound helps you to bridge the gap between your in-house data centre technology and full public cloud services. This is a way to experience managed cloud services, with the security, availability and robustness of an enterprise data centre environment.

Why use a Managed Cloud service?
Cloud can seem easy. Sure, for simple applications that are ‘cloud ready’, moving to a public cloud environment can be straightforward.

But for enterprise IT environments, with a mix of services spread across public cloud environments, SaaS solutions and in-house IT, mixed with legacy applications that aren’t cloud-ready, moving to the cloud can quickly become complex.

That’s why Pulsant’s Managed Cloud service takes the pain out of the entire process. Our teams can walk you through the steps, from design and planning, through to migration and ongoing support and monitoring of your cloud environment.

Do I need a Managed Cloud service?
Many of our clients who we deliver Managed Cloud services for still retain their in-house IT teams to deliver frontline support or strategic IT projects. However, many organisations don’t have IT professionals in-house who have the experience and training to configure and deliver many of the industry-leading cloud services, and instead choose to work with technology partners like Pulsant to fill in any IT skills gaps when it comes to cloud.

Our teams are accredited to deliver, configure and support the leading cloud services, alongside being highly experienced in delivering Pulsant’s own cloud services.

There’s a few reasons why using our experts to deliver your Managed Cloud service can drive more value from your cloud investment:

• Compliance
Our experience and technical expertise will ensure your cloud environment adheres to the necessary cloud compliance regulations, such as GDPR and the Data Protection Act.

• Performance
We can help you to get the most out of your cloud’s performance and proactively identify any potential issues using our monitoring tools before they impact on your business.

• Cost-effectiveness
Get the most out of your cloud investment by using your capacity more effectively. We can quickly and easily scale your bandwidth up or down to match your business needs.

• Security
We get security. So let us focus on securing and monitoring your cloud environment so that you can focus on what really matters: your business.

Find out more about Pulsant’s Managed Cloud services, and the different options across the cloud services suite to find a solution that fits your business perfectly:

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