Five of the Biggest Challenges Faced by IT Leaders

The modern business place is fast-paced and set in a landscape of constantly evolving technology and challenges. It can feel as though the goal posts are constantly changing for many business professionals as they try to keep up.

This is especially true for those employed in information technology leadership roles where big challenges around data management, security, and technological advances need to be faced and managed constantly.

In addition to this, IT leaders also need to help drive culture and change within an organization – both in their own teams and beyond – as they set examples and precedents for other employees to follow.

These are some of the top challenges that IT leaders face in 2018:

1. Security

2017 was an extremely challenging year for cybersecurity around the world and as a result, security is the top issue most IT leaders are concentrating on this year.

Staying ahead of the pack and being aware of new and evolving cyber threats, ensuring best practice conventions for security are being followed as well as responsibility for a company’s compliance with cyber security regulatory requirements are among the top tasks that IT leaders are charged with.

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2. The rate of technology change

The rapid rate that technology is changing affects many organizations. It can seem that no sooner are you up-to-date and using cutting-edge technology that it is practically obsolete already.

IT leaders need to be across change in technology in a number of fronts, from traditional computer networking to cloud storage to mobile platforms and more.

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3. Hiring talent

Competition for top talent has never been more cut-throat. In the current global environment, the best of the best don’t just go to work for the firm down the street or across town – they move cities, states and even countries as they are poached and head-hunted.

Hiring the right talent – and retaining it – is proving to be very challenging in an extremely competitive market.

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4. Communicating IT priorities internally

IT is the backbone of modern organizations. Without it, most tasks would be almost impossible. Yet it can be extremely difficult to communicate to employees about the importance of IT and issues such as security or to ensure they are following best practices when using software and applications.

Overloaded inboxes and too many communications channels competing for employees’ finite levels of attention add to the difficulty of communicating with staff.

Many IT leaders around the world have recognized an innovative solution, such as DeskAlerts, is needed to cut through the noise and communicate directly with employees by sending critical messages direct to their PC desktops.

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5. Managing and storing data

Businesses have more data in places than ever before, and many IT leaders are struggling with this burden.

Increasingly, IT leaders need to have the necessary skills required to effectively manage the “big data” that their company generates. This involves everything from having the skills to extract and analyze it through to being able to keep it protected, and utilizing technologies such as cloud storage.

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