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As A Service: IT Decision Makers Struggle To Keep Pace

As-a-Service (aaS) is becoming an increasingly important business model for companies, even as many struggle to keep up with the constantly shifting aaS landscape.

That’s according to a recent report released by HPE that surveyed over 1,000 IT decision makers (ITDMs) at companies of all sizes in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The survey is entitled “2019 As-a-Service: Driving Change Report.” According to its authors, as-a-Service is being viewed as the future for the industry as more IT decision makers become focused on strategic initiatives and revenue growth.

Among the survey’s key findings:

  1. Adoption of as-a-Service is on the rise across organizations: Fully 87% of ITDMs report that their organizations have started to implement aaS solutions or have already completed the process. Furthermore, three-quarters of all ITDMs surveyed expect their organization to move toward full adoption of aaS solutions in less than five years.
  2. As-a-Service is viewed as critical in keeping up with the competition: Executives say they need to modernize IT to support future business growth and competitive advantage. More than half say aaS solutions will be very important for their company’s future (58%), competitiveness (55%) and growth (53%).
  3. Data remains siloed within organizations: Over three-quarters of ITDMs agree that data is siloed between public and private clouds at their organizations while 75 percent say that data silos are a key challenge for their businesses. About two-thirds (66%) agree that data migration to the public cloud is currently stalled at their organization.
  4. Younger ITDMs are more fearful that their jobs will become obsolete due to aaS: The survey shows only about a quarter of ITDMs 55 and older (23%) are concerned that aaS adoption is making their job obsolete, compared to almost two-thirds (60%) of 22-34-year-olds. For both age groups, 67 percent of ITDMs are concerned about new generations of digital natives having an advantage over their experience as it relates to aaS adoption.
  5. Career growth and opportunity for IT professionals is spurred by as-a-Service: Despite the shifting landscape and apprehension from younger ITDMs, about nine-in-ten (87%) of all respondents agree that aaS adoption will advance their career and envision a shift in their roles from day-to-day IT support toward more of a business strategist role. Globally, seven-in-ten ITDMs say aaS adoption will make their role within their organization more important (72%) and give them more control over data (70%) and budget (71%).

Not by coincidence, HPE is striving to offer all of its technologies in an "as a service" consumption model by 2022.