89% of tech pros say IT automation is necessary for digital transformation – TechRepublic

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Automate or die seems to be the message for IT leaders. Some 89% of tech pros said that IT automation must be used in new ways to achieve digital business objectives, according to a new survey from BMC Software.

Further, 73% of IT decision makers said they believe that businesses that do not embrace IT automation in digital transformation strategies within the next five years will no longer exist in 10 years.

Half of respondents said that digital transformation is the largest item on IT's agenda, and 45% said it represents the largest investment of any IT program. Demands for new sources of revenue, competitive advantages, and operational excellence have created enormous pressure to compete digitally in order to earn the trust of customers, trading partners, and employees, 92% of tech professionals agreed.

The survey included responses from more than 650 IT decision makers across 12 countries. Some 94% of these professionals reported that they expect automation to spread from IT departments into all areas of business by 2020, to keep pace with the digital business innovation race that every industry is currently competing in.

SEE: Digital Transformation: A CXO's Guide (ZDNet)

Containerization, workload automation/scheduling, and DevOps were the top three areas of investment priority for the tech leaders surveyed over the next 24 months, BMC Software found.

"As companies continue to incorporate hybrid cloud capabilities across the digital enterprise, they are challenged by the complexity of managing workloads across public and private clouds," said Gur Steif, president of digital business automation at BMC, in a press release. "IT teams must be able to manage the customer value chain in spite of decentralized usage of cloud services. This is requiring a new level of IT automation to adapt to the challenges posed by increasingly diverse infrastructure, disparate data, and accelerated applications - the critical components of digital business."

Enterprises face a number of other digital transformation challenges as well, the survey found. Some 42% of CIOs surveyed said they believe business units still have conflicting objectives, and 32% said their company needs tighter internal organizational alignment.

However, 88% of IT leaders surveyed said they believe they are empowered to deliver the necessary IT innovation to drive digital transformation efforts. And 77% said they believe businesses are doing enough to prepare and train the workforce with greater automation skills. Meanwhile, 76% of respondents said they consider themselves excellent or very good at using data to deliver tangible business outcomes for a competitive advantage.

1. As more businesses undergo digital transformation efforts, 89% of IT decision makers said that IT automation must be used in new ways to achieve digital business objectives, according to a new survey from BMC Software.

2. Further, 73% of IT decision makers said they believe that businesses that do not embrace IT automation in digital transformation strategies within the next five years will no longer exist in 10 years.

3. Half of respondents said that digital transformation is the largest item on IT's agenda, and 45% said it represents the largest investment of any IT program.

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89% of tech pros say IT automation is necessary for digital transformation - TechRepublic