Digital Transformation Is Top IT Priority in 2019, TechTarget Reports

Nearly 70% of businesses have digital transformation as their top IT priority in 2019, according to the 2019 TechTarget IT Priorities survey.

But what does that mean?

Digital transformation is a loose term, used by different people in different ways, to encompass the initiatives businesses undertake to modernize their IT operations. To clarify what those initiatives will look like this year, the survey uncovered IT teams’ two main motives: 47% of businesses hope to boost internal efficiency, and 47% hope to improve employee performance.

Digging even deeper, TechTarget reveals the four main tactics IT teams will use to fuel those two ambitions.

“Our survey respondents picked increasing their investment in [technologies] that improve employee experience and productivity (39%) as the leading transformation activity. Stepping up their use of cloud services was the number-two activity (38%),” says TechTarget.

The third and fourth most targeted IT activities for 2019 are “modernizing legacy applications and refreshing or upgrading on-premises IT infrastructure. Clearly for many companies, transformation starts with propping up aging IT foundations.”

All in all, the survey suggests many businesses are investing their money and time into a very broad range of IT activities in the coming months to achieve digital transformation. Adding even more to the to-do list, the report highlighted a second area of focus for businesses in 2019.

The importance of network management

As more applications and data shift to the cloud, the network becomes the gateway to everything businesses need to function. That could be why, for the second year in a row, better network monitoring and management is top of mind for businesses.

In addition to improving the reliability of employees’ connection to the all-important cloud, investing in better network management can help drive the tactics and motivations at the core of digital transformation..

For more on the most popular areas IT teams are investing in this year, see this TechTarget article summarizing the survey findings.