Developing an IT infrastructure that allows for long-term hybrid working is the top objective for the next five years amongst IT decision-makers at SMEs—with the majority (28%) planning to make it their number one priority. That’s according to independent research commissioned by Six Degrees, the secure, integrated cloud services provider. This is followed by increasing automation (27%), harnessing AI and machine learning to support business goals (26%), outsourcing IT operations (26%), and improving diversity and inclusivity within the IT team and wider business (26%).
“The common link between each of these objectives is the desire to improve productivity and empower higher-performing teams,” comments Vince DeLuca, Chief Executive Officer at Six Degrees. “The top four objectives seek to do this by deploying new technology, implementing existing IT in new ways and by leveraging vast amounts of valuable data.”
He continues: “However, improvements to diversity and inclusivity also play a key role in driving productivity, stimulating innovation, and minimising the risk of groupthink. Consciously or not, it’s clear that IT decision-makers at SMEs are laying the groundwork to compete successfully over the long-term in increasingly crowded markets with lower margins.”
Cyber security outside the top five
Cyber security-related objectives are notable by their absence in the respondents’ top five long-term objectives. IT security comes in seventh place with 24% and keeping one step ahead of cybercriminals at 22% in ninth. Vince DeLuca offers some thoughts on these rankings: “When it comes to IT security, many businesses that have migrated to public cloud environments simply install a firewall and intrusion protection services, then leave the systems to run themselves.”
He continues: “Too many organisations still move their IT infrastructure to the cloud and think it will all be protected by default and design. Indeed, when asked directly, 42% of respondents said that cloud adoption has increased their security. However, there remains a high degree of confusion around maintaining security protection and reducing those threats. That’s not going away anytime soon, and businesses need third-party help and advice now more than ever.”
Findings from elsewhere within Six Degrees’ UK SME Cloud Intelligence Report 2024 support this view. Only 38% of respondents say their organisation uses a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution. The data also reveals that only one-third of the UK’s SMEs have SIEM/SOC monitoring in place, while a similarly low percentage make regular backups and use data encryption.
Harnessing AI and machine learning in third place
Harnessing AI and machine learning is a top three priority for IT decision-makers over the next five years. As such, it's important that organisations prepare now by putting in place robust sets of data ingestion and integration capabilities. These will feed a rich and holistic data fabric with the level of information accuracy, and precision, required to successfully power their AI-based applications. Looking specifically at AI deployment opportunities, almost a quarter say they will likely use AI as a cyber security defence, potentially opting for Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions. This rises to 31% among IT managers, making them the most willing to deploy AI in this way.
“In the coming years, we expect the vendor landscape to coalesce around AI-based tools and services that support business outcomes. Microsoft’s work on Copilot is a great example of putting AI tech into a business context to show how it can augment user productivity without organisations making huge financial self-build commitments,” comments Vince DeLuca.
He concludes: “In the meantime, organisations contemplating AI adoption right now would be wise to remember the issues that early cloud adopters experienced—or those who still start their cloud migration without clear goals and objectives attached to business outcomes. Remember, you don’t need AI or cloud for their own sake; you need business applications and outcomes that are enhanced by the technology. In both cases, you need to think about the practicalities of implementation and build a business strategy around them. It’s also important to ensure you have optimal data policies in place.”
