Top Resolutions for IT Teams in 2016

As 2015 draws to an end, IT teams look ahead to identify the issues that will prohibit them from innovating and keeping their organizations on the leading edge. A recent report, which surveyed 2,685 IT professionals, found that the top challenges included security related to compliance and file transfer processes, ensuring continuous IT infrastructure and application performance and the ability to select, manage and deploy new technologies. Therefore, IT teams should expect the following resolutions to be at the top of their lists for 2016:

Spotlight on security and privacy. Despite the mind-numbing dollars being thrown at the problem, it’s hard to say with any degree of certainty as to whether the IT industry is safer than we were a year ago or even five years ago. The harsh reality is that as an industry we are not doing a good enough job in keeping pace with cyber criminals working to create vulnerabilities within company networks and steal sensitive data. In 2016, IT teams need to address security needs and be prepared to mitigate potential risks, ensure secure data transfers and stay up-to-date on regulatory and compliance guidelines. For many companies, the ability to manage vulnerabilities will be the difference between becoming a victim of a cyber-attack or the outlier that takes the steps necessary to protect its network.

Enable 24/7 performance and availability of IT infrastructure. Ensuring continuous performance of applications on the network will be an important resolution for IT teams as they need to be concerned with around the clock availability of all aspects of the infrastructure (including apps, servers, virtual environments and network connected devices). Application performance management is incredibly important because every company relies on an application on a network, and an interruption in performance means a stop to business. To add to the complexity and pressure IT teams face, the workforce has become increasingly more diverse and demanding in terms of remote access and 24/7 availability. In 2016, IT teams will have to adapt their own expectations to in order to keep up with workforce demands while also balancing company requirements of continuous performance.

Keep up with new technology updates and tools. In order to ensure business continuity, determining which areas of a company’s IT infrastructure to update and when can be one of the most important strategic decisions an organization can make. As offerings are varied and far reaching, the ability to select and deploy new tools has become more complicated than ever before and there are thousands of considerations that come into play. Staying up-to-date on new versions of technology and innovative tools will be an important resolution for IT teams in 2016 as it will allow them to better manage the process of deployment as well as increasing overall productivity and bottom line.

These three resolutions will help IT teams to be prepared for what’s to come in the New Year. Since a successful IT team is often the difference between success and failure for any organization, it is important to identify priorities that will ultimately help in keeping infrastructure running at peak performance. While problems are certain to arise, the better prepared an IT team is the more quickly problems are resolved.

About the Author

Aaron Kelly is the vice president of Product Management at Ipswitch (News - Alert). Aaron is also on the Open Design Alliance board of directors. Prior to Ipswitch, Aaron worked at SolidWorks (now part of Dassault Systèmes) for more than 20 years, and most recently served as the firm’s vice president of User Experience and Product Portfolio Management.