Spiceworks Ziff Davis (SWZD) surveyed more than 1,400 IT professionals from North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America to determine how recent economic events and inflation are impacting organizational plans to invest in technology in the upcoming year. The results of that research formed the 2023 State of IT report. Credit: iStock In this report, the news about technology investments was surprisingly upbeat. Despite national news about increased costs, economic uncertainty, and more reports of technology firm layoffs, respondents indicated that they were planning to spend more IT budget in 2023, not less. A notable 51% of respondents said that their IT budgets would increase, compared with 38% who said their budgets would remain the same, and only 6% who said their IT budgets would decrease. In examining where IT budgets would be spent, managed services was the only category that continued to increase in projections from 2021 through 2023. As a percentage of total IT spending, managed services increased from 16% to 18% in that two-year projection period. In that same projection period, hardware inched down from 31% to 30%; software decreased from 29% to 28%; and hosted/cloud-based services decreased from 24% to 23%. One contributing factor to managed services’ ongoing growth as a percentage of IT budgets is finding and keeping the right IT talent. The 2023 State of IT report stated that 59% of all respondents find it somewhat challenging or very challenging to find skilled IT talent. Given the momentum of IT spending in 2023 and the trend toward finding managed services solutions, what is holding companies back from increasing their IT spending even more in this category? One trend could be related to the pain points experienced by organizations that have pursued a relationship with a managed services provider (MSP) in the past. They include: Insufficient response times An MSP’s lack of technical knowledge An inability to understand clients’ IT environments An MSP’s understaffed technical resources Poor customer support/communication Inadequate security monitoring Fortunately, these areas of concern are strengths for Rimini Street and our Rimini Manage™ offerings. Rimini Support™ and Rimini Manage™ offerings are built with our clients at the center, with the goal of providing superior levels of service and responsiveness. Proof that we are achieving our goal comes from our client satisfaction ratings that average 4.9 out of 5.0 in thousands of surveys. Rimini Street is structured to deliver ultra-responsive, expert-level support to our global clients from a service delivery team of nearly 1,000 FTEs working across 17 countries in a true 24x7x365 “follow-the-sun” operation. And our Global Security Services teams are staffed with product specialists and senior security professionals who have extensive experience in enterprise software security. Learn more about our Rimini Manage suite of managed services for applications and databases, including our unlimited ticket model, broad catalog of services, industry-leading SLAs, and global team of highly skilled engineers. Let’s discuss how outsourcing the day-to-day operations of your enterprise applications and databases to Rimini Street would be a smart line item in your 2023 IT budget. To learn more, visit us here. Related content brandpost Sponsored by Rimini Street Dear Oracle Cloud…I need my own space Access results from a recent Rimini Street survey about why enterprises are rethinking their Oracle relationship and cloud strategy. By Tanya O’Hara Nov 28, 2023 5 mins Cloud Computing brandpost Sponsored by Rimini Street How to evolve IT systems into innovation engines Today’s IT leaders are more than eager to modernize with best-fit cloud solutions that drive innovation and rapid business impact, but they need to do so with ROI-based solutions. By Tanya O’Hara Nov 28, 2023 4 mins IT Leadership brandpost Sponsored by Rimini Street Survey: Are you digitally ready for AI-enhanced ERP? Many businesses are eyeing the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to transform ERP. A recent IDC report sponsored by Rimini Street, AI and ERP discusses the topic and brings valuable data and insights. By Tanya O’Hara Nov 15, 2023 4 mins Artificial Intelligence brandpost Sponsored by Rimini Street Survey: Why CIOs and CTOs want a new model for IT support and services Respondents voiced broad dissatisfaction with their support services and models, including issues with support capabilities, lack of accountability, and lack of personalized expertise. By Tanya O’Hara Oct 18, 2023 3 mins IT Leadership PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe