IT proficiency has become synonymous with how much a company is worth. Companies such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Amazon are world leaders because of their competent IT departments. Not every company is so lucky — they don’t have access to the same caliber of IT talent and expertise that these companies do. This isn’t just a problem for startups — large corporations face and struggle with this issue too.
The top 5 IT challenges faced by almost every large company are:
- The need for a more agile and flexible infrastructure to meet the needs of digital transformation
- The need for a more comprehensive security strategy
- The need for better and more reliable data management
- A lack of skilled IT professionals to handle the workload
- A lack of tools or resources to address these challenges
How can these challenges be addressed?
To address these challenges, large companies must embrace cloud-based platforms. Furthermore, any cloud solution needs to have a level of automation to free up the time of a struggling IT department. Companies such as AvePoint are supporting small and large companies to implement good IT governance.
Agile and Flexible Infrastructure
Some large companies have been able to build highly efficient distributed and agile digital infrastructures, but they’re usually not very flexible and tend to be quite complex. This means that they can be difficult to maintain and manage, which may hinder their ability to survive in an ever-changing business environment. For this reason, these companies are probably not as agile as the startups in their industries — yes, even those startups with 10x engineers taking up 100x the space.
Comprehensive Security Strategy
A comprehensive security strategy shouldn’t just focus on technology. It should also focus on processes. An analyst might randomly check their computer for malware, but even if they find something, that doesn’t stop the hackers in their tracks. To have any real effect against the threat of cybercrime, a company needs a highly effective and comprehensive security process.
Better and More Reliable Data Management
Many companies rely on large amounts of data to run their business — they need it to provide products or services or just to sell their stuff. This data is usually stored in some sort of database, which has historically been quite difficult and expensive to manage. Reliable databases are essential for the success of many large companies — especially those that rely on massive amounts of data for sales operations, financial transactions and calculations, or online activity.
A lack of skilled IT professionals
One of the largest IT challenges facing large companies is finding enough skilled professionals to handle their workload. Well-trained and experienced IT professionals are essential for any well-performing IT department. An insufficient number of these professionals can lead to an inability to respond quickly and effectively to external threats — which means that the business will suffer in the long run.
A lack of tools or resources
Large companies usually have all the necessary tools and technology at their disposal, but they lack the right people in place to make use of them. This is why, despite having some of the best IT infrastructures in the world, many large companies are still failing to meet their digital transformation goals. They can’t seem to catch up with their competitors who are using agile and flexible infrastructure platforms that can provide more comprehensive security strategies and better data management solutions.
The IT challenges facing large companies will only become more pressing as the world continues to advance and change. To ensure their success, these companies will have to revamp and update their strategies. However, there are plenty of tools, resources, and solutions available — they just need to be implemented in the right way.
