ASG Technologies, a leading provider of solutions for the information-powered enterprise, has unveiled a new report, What’s Slowing Modernisation? Barriers Hindering Enterprise IT Systems and Content Management. Based on findings from a survey of approximately 250 professionals who manage content and enterprise IT systems, the report highlights the importance of a clear path toward modernisation that prioritises content governance and hybrid infrastructure that supports digital acceleration.
While we live in a modern age, surprisingly few enterprises have completely modernised their technology infrastructure. Many have taken on digital transformation projects or leveraged leading-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, however much of their content management and IT systems still operate on decades-old principles. Increasing remote work and the complexities of an ever-changing regulatory environment now demand modernisation of information rich processes and the systems they run upon. Organisations can accelerate their modernisation efforts by prioritising content governance and hybrid infrastructures spanning mainframe to cloud.
The key findings of the report show:
- The Value of Content Remains Unrealised – Organisations today know that information is their most valuable asset, but the majority – 56% – are struggling to realise the full value of their content. Much of this has to do with the amount of unstructured data organisations own – three-quarters (75%) of survey respondents stated that at least some of their organisation’s data is unstructured, with 44% responding that unstructured data makes up half or more of their organisation’s information.
- Thirty percent of respondents note that most, if not all, of their data is “dark,” which means that it has been collected, processed and stored, but not classified and contextualised for use.
- Only 26% of respondents noted that their content is managed in a repository, while 32% reported that content still exists in paper files.
- Content Governance Will be a Key to Success –Despite the importance of realising the full value of information, two-thirds (66%) of respondents reported that their organisation does not have modern content governance processes. With the move to remote work, modern content governance has become even more important for organisations, but is often a struggle to put into practice, as showcased by the top barriers to implementation, which include employees saving content on shared/personal drives (41%) and migrating to the cloud (38%).
- The accelerated shift to remote work exacerbated many of the issues organisations were facing, with more than one-third struggling with storing content for too long (37%), limiting control and access to the right people (35%) and retaining redundant/unnecessary information (35%).
- Three in ten respondents identified risk of non-compliance with industry regulations and 26% identified risk of non-compliance with privacy regulations as a key concern related to content governance.
- The Mainframe is Still Modern – While many organisations are prioritising cloud, the mainframe is still the backbone of many industries, with 49% of respondents noting that most, if not all, of their core business functions still run on the mainframe. As such, modernising the mainframe is critical – and many have already begun the process.
- Fifty-eight percent of respondents say that their organisation has already adopted DevOps on the mainframe, and another 30% want to.
- Thirty-five percent of respondents believe the biggest challenge with their mainframe performance/optimisation is increasing workloads on the mainframe due to increased engagement from distributed and cloud systems, while more than one-quarter (27%) of respondents say the skills gap is the biggest challenge with their mainframe performance.
- Hybrid Infrastructure Becomes Mainstream –Mainframe is still at the core of many organisations’ core business functions, but hybrid cloud has emerged as the IT infrastructure of the future, with 67% of respondents noting that they have a hybrid cloud infrastructure. Fifty-two percent of respondents say their organisations have a hybrid cloud ecosystem that includes the mainframe, and another 34% want one that does.
- Hybrid cloud has allowed more than two-thirds (68%) of organisations to move most, if not all, of their commodity workloads and applications from the mainframe to the cloud, while keeping systems of records that provide a competitive advantage – like customer data and business IP – on the mainframe.
- Seventy-five percent of respondents replied that capacity flexibility is the reason they are moving workloads to the cloud, while other respondents note that it is because the cloud offers better performance for certain workloads that aren’t as mission-critical (70%) or better access with remote work (43%).
“The COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst for digital transformation for many enterprises,” said Kyle McNabb, senior vice president, product marketing at ASG. “Organisations were forced to quickly invest in tools that would allow them to enable and support remote teams, which sped up investments in solutions like hybrid cloud and team collaboration by years. The unintended consequence is it also introduced new business and technology challenges and risks that cannot be overlooked. Leaders of firms, and CIOs in particular, must accelerate their modernisation efforts to embrace new ways of working, complex privacy and regulatory demands, and infrastructures spanning mainframe to cloud.”
For more details on these findings, please download the complete What’s Slowing Modernisation? Barriers Hindering Enterprise IT Systems and Content Management survey here. You can also check out this video, which highlights key data points.
About ASG Technologies
ASG Technologies is an award-winning, industry-recognized and analyst-verified global software company providing the only integrated platform and flexible end-to-end solution for the information-powered enterprise. ASG’s Information Management solutions capture, manage, govern and enable companies to understand and support all types of information assets (structured and unstructured) and stay compliant. ASG’s IT Systems Management solutions ensure that the systems and infrastructure supporting that information lifecycle are always available and performing as expected. ASG has over 3,500 customers worldwide in top vertical markets including Financial Services, Healthcare, Insurance and Government. Visit us at ASG.com, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
