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NetEnrich Fall 2017 "State of IT Services" Survey Finds Service Firms Challenged by Growing Number of Tech Options and Stiffer CompetitionSAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 31, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NetEnrich announces the results of its Fall 2017 “State of IT Services” survey, which was completed this month by more than 200 IT professionals working in IT services companies (Managed Service Providers, Value-Added Resellers, Systems Integrators, etc.) with at least 250 employees. In pursuing the survey, NetEnrich sought to understand the market forces that are driving IT service providers, and how these issues are impacting their businesses. A key takeaway from the survey is that IT service provider growth, both in terms of securing new customers and entering new markets, and strengthening existing customer relationships, are the top priorities for this year. Heading into 2018, the top priorities will be securing new customers and focusing on a few vendors and technologies. Meanwhile, the biggest challenge for IT service providers this year is the ever-expanding list of technology options, followed by stiffer competition in the marketplace and difficulty finding and hiring qualified staff. These were the same top challenges in 2016, but looking ahead to next year, stiffer competition in the marketplace is expected to be the top challenge for IT service providers, ahead of ever-expanding technology options. Rounding out next year’s list of top three challenges is the ability of IT firms to scale. As far as services delivered by IT firms, security remains at the top of the list for this year and 2018. The second most requested service this year is software development and testing, followed by infrastructure and application management. Looking ahead to next year, the top three services are expected to be IT security, infrastructure and application managment, and a tie between disaster recovery and backup, and mobile device management. IT security hardware and software is also the top technology requested by service provider customers this year, followed by cloud infrastructure and mobile devices. Those were the same top three in 2016. Interestingly, in 2018, along with security and cloud, artificial intelligence makes it into the top three technologies requested. Perhaps unsurprisingly, IT security is the hardest skill to hire for this year, followed by cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence (tied), and DevOps. The majority of IT firms said their sales and marketing budgets are between $500,000 and $999,000 this year and will increase to $1,000,000 or more next year. The biggest competitive challenges to IT services firms this year: established players adding cloud-centric services; cloud-native providers entering the market; and corporate IT departments canceling partner relationships. These were the same biggest competitive challenges as last year, but in reverse order. Next year’s top competitive challenge is expected to be corporate IT departments canceling partner relationships. A few more noteworthy items from the NetEnrich Fall 2017 “State of IT Services” survey:
“The results of this survey are consistent with what we’re hearing from our customers and partners,” says Justin Crotty, Senior VP & GM – Channel Sales at NetEnrich. “In particular, IT firms are challenged by the emergence of new technology products coming into the market. Firms are being cautious about pursuing the latest ‘shiny object,’ but at the same time, they want to be at the leading edge when it comes to meeting the needs of customers. On the other hand, IT firms are facing new and stiffer competition in the market, especially from service providers offering cloud-centric services. Clearly, the service provider industry is moving in the cloud direction, and the winners will be companies that find and retain top talent.” About NetEnrich Media contact: |