New research from Pwc noted that CIOs are much less likely to say that the IT function is prepared for reinvention, compared to 2023. The decline is considerable: 20 percentage points in just 12 months indicate a significant loss of confidence that it is ready to modernize.
But modernization projects are growing forward: in the same PWC survey, 81% of CIOs said they have prioritized cloud -based architecture as a positive and tangible step to improve preparation for the management of future challenges . The question that remains is: can this be done with the funding available in 2025?
The doubts of the IOC on the preparation recognize that the “same old way” of doing things will simply not adapt to today’s needs, not to mention tomorrow. Cost is an essential concern; Budgets should increase by around 10%, but inflation will probably leave DSIs with – at best, the same spending power as in previous years. This fact moves the conversation not only to one of the investments, but also a king: what are the right investments to do, in what technologies and how do teams know that they get total commercial value?
The return on investment of modern security and networking
In separate research at the end of last year, Forrester Consulting concluded that the advantages of the cloud -based EDGE services are important for infrastructure and operations (I&O), networking and security. The advantages were improving efficiency and efficiency in finishing cost savings; In short, these architectural changes could indeed support “reinvention” – efforts with future reading – in budgetary parameters.
Forrester researchers have specifically examined the security service (SSE) – the category that describes the convergence of the network and the data security services of the cloud – from Netskope. The study was used to assess the commercial value and the advantages of the re -chitecture, and the researchers discovered that the three main advantages of the value of the hard dollar came from consolidation, improvement of availability and more operations effective.
- Consolidated network security infrastructure Generated $ 5.4 million in cost reductions over three years for the average “composite” organization on which researchers based their calculations. This amounts to infrastructure cost savings of 10%. These savings were found by data centers inherited from downgrading, physical equipment and equipment, including DLP tools inherited from Sunnseing, SWG technology, firewalls and related equipment and circuits. A real world customer who participated in the data collection reported the elimination of 30 firewalls and the consolidation of passing ports of more than 1,800 to less than 500. Customers also recorded on the workforce ‘Internal and external work, equipment management, support and maintenance.
- Improved network availability, performance and productivity of users Down $ 2.4 million in cost reduction over three years for the composite organization of researchers. Customers of the real world involved in the data collection reported a reduction in the number of hours during which network services were effectively offline, which resulted in a 10% increase in the availability of central network services. This allowed customers to mitigate the breakdowns and the impact of downtime and reduce latency.
- Increased network and safety efficiency was responsible for $ 1.5 million in cost savings. Operational resources were 30% to 35% more productive, network operations were rationalized (including faster provisioning of users) and real test customers were able to allocate resources to engineering activities greater value data. Customers have also reduced engineering workforce by more than 75% and have decreased the SLA patch for weeks to operate effectively on demand. SSE Automated Workflows and reduces the administrative load for critical security processes (including compliance checking, the push of updates of fixes and the investigation into false positives). This led to labor reductions of fewer permanent problems, a reduction in retouching and a reduction of 80% of the persistent problems for networking and safety teams.
The conclusion of the Forrester study was that the composite organization using Netskope One SSE experienced a recovery period of less than 6 months, with a return on investment of 109% over 3 years. Researchers also noted an additional reduction in service tickets (80%) and the average time to resolve problems dropped by 50%.
Looking back to PWC research and the concerns expressed by CIOs concerning their lack of preparation for organizational reinvention, some of the anecdotal evidence within Forrester research take a new resonance. Accelerated value delay reports for mergers and acquisitions are obvious, as well as resolutions for ineffective processes and references to improvements in the organization’s capacity to respond to market pressures.
2025 should become a year when reinvention and agility will bring an important advantage. Organizations that have the courage to reinvent inherited approaches will see the best yields. And it seems that it is possible to advance without spending more.
To find out more, visit Netskope website.