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Security Training Adoption and Best Practices 2021
Security training is a business best practice that involves the training of all IT and user personnel in a company’s security policies, procedures, and best practices to increase awareness and ensure compliance. It is a highly advisable practice for every organization. Many companies report the existence of security training, yet there is ample room for improvement. This report begins by defining security training and summarizing the main types of training available. We next study the adoption and practice levels and examine those by organization size and sector. We conclude with best-practice recommendations.
April, 2021
IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks 2020-2021: Full Study
Our IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks study for 2020/2021 provides a comprehensive view of the current state of IT budgeting and staffing levels for business and governmental organizations in the U.S. and Canada, based on our 31st annual survey. Detailed metrics are provided by organization size and by industry sector.
July, 2020
The Mandate for Growing IT Spending in the Insurance Industry
Insurance providers are at a crossroads. Many have large, complex legacy systems deeply embedded in back-end processes. These require legions of IT personnel to keep them responsive to changing market needs. Now, these established players face new competitive threats from upstarts, unencumbered by legacy systems, able to rethink how insurance services can be delivered to customers in new ways. At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown a monkey wrench into strategic planning in the insurance industry.
October, 2021
Technology Trends 2021
This major study provides insight into the customer experience and adoption rates for 15 technologies that are top-of-mind for IT leaders worldwide. The study also delves into the satisfaction level of the customer experience and the specific types of solutions under consideration. With this information business leaders are in a better position to assess the potential risks and rewards of each of these technologies. They also can gain insight into just how aggressively competitors and peers are making these investments. Looking forward, we also explore 18 future and early adopter technologies (138 pp., 111 figs.)
March, 2021
Worldwide IT Spending and Staffing Outlook for 2021
Despite the chaos of 2020, the outlook for 2021 is surprisingly positive. IT organizations are expecting budget growth. They also plan to consolidate the changes made in the past turbulent year. This report, based on our Q4 2020 survey, provides worldwide trends for IT spending and staffing in 2021. This year, our report assesses IT operational and capital spending plans, executive priorities for IT investment, and plans for hiring and outsourcing for IT organizations worldwide. (21 pp., 11 fig.)
February, 2021
IoT Adoption Trends and Customer Experience 2021
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a maturing technology, and for many years it has promised benefits such as lower labor costs and better tracking of assets. But investments in IoT projects are stuck at a relatively low rate. This report provides an overview of IoT adoption and investment trends, providing data on how many organizations have the technology in place, how many are in the process of implementation, and how many are expanding implementations. We also look at the return on investment experience, total cost of ownership experience, and considered or planned uses for new IoT investment. We conclude with important principles to apply in planning and implementing IoT systems.
March, 2021
Communications System Support Staffing Ratios 2021
Corporate communications systems have become more complex, although the number of IT specialists who support these systems has stabilized in the past few years. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, IT organizations can benefit from a periodic assessment of their communications system support staffing levels. This study uses three metrics to make that assessment: support staff as a percentage of the IT staff, percentage of support staff in relation to organization size, and support staff spending per user. We provide benchmarks for the composite sample, by organization size, and by sector.
January, 2021
Application Developer Staffing Ratios 2021
The way that enterprise applications are internally developed and maintained has changed. With these changes, the need for application developers is in flux, and IT organizations can benefit from a periodic assessment of their staffing levels. This report uses three metrics to make that assessment: developers as a percentage of the IT staff, users per developer, and applications per developer. We provide benchmarks for the composite sample, by organization size and by sector. We also provide a benchmark for the larger Application Group, which includes personnel engaged in web development and support, quality assurance, data management, and business systems analysis.
February, 2021
Encryption Adoption and Best Practices 2021
Encryption is a best practice for protecting sensitive or confidential information, both in storage and in transit. Data encryption software and algorithms translate data into another form, or code, so that only someone with access to a secret key—a decryption key—can read it. It has a high maturity rating, but there is ample room for improvement. This report begins with a definition of encryption. We next study the adoption and practice levels and examine those by organization size and sector. We conclude with best-practice recommendations.
February, 2021
ERP Support Staffing Ratios 2021
For many IT organizations, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are at the center of the application portfolio. In this report, we analyze ERP support requirements in several ways. First, we look at the ERP support staffing ratio, which is the number of ERP users divided by the number of ERP support personnel. We then assess this ratio by the size of the ERP installation. We also examine the data to determine the ratios by vendor. We examine the ratio by sector, age of installation, years since last upgrade, extent of modification, and type of deployment (on-premises, cloud, or hosted) as well. Finally, we provide recommendations on optimizing ERP staffing levels. (20 pp., 10 fig.)
January, 2021
Help Desk Staffing Ratios 2020
The help desk not only plays a key role in maintaining user productivity, it also serves as the day-to-day face of the IT organization. This report provides staffing benchmarks for the help desk (service desk), which took a significant jump this year. We look at the trend in help desk staffing over a five-year period and provide four benchmarks by organization size and sector: help desk staff as a percentage of the IT staff, users per help desk staff member, applications per help desk staff member, and first-call resolution rate.
January, 2020
Web/E-Commerce Staffing Ratios 2020
Web/e-commerce support personnel play a critical role in organizations, and that has become even more clear in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the coronavirus, the percentage of the IT staff dedicated to web/e-commerce functions rose in 2019, spiking to the highest percentage in five years. In this report, we provide benchmarks for staffing functions related to web and e-commerce development and operations. We benchmark web staffing with two ratios: web/e-commerce staff as a percentage of the IT staff and users per web/e-commerce staff member. Benchmarks are provided by organization size. We also assess the influence of sector on web/e-commerce staffing. (21pp., 8 fig.)
April, 2020
Two-Factor Authentication Adoption and Best Practices 2020
Two-factor authentication is an IT security best practice that provides an extra layer of protection for system access. It is a highly advisable security measure, but our annual survey of IT management best practices shows that not enough companies use it formally and consistently. This report begins with a brief explanation of two-factor authentication.
February, 2020
Desktop Support Staffing Ratios 2020
When viewed as a percentage of the total IT staff, the percentage of desktop support personnel has now reached a three-year low. We expect this metric to stay flat or decline further in the near future for several reasons. In this study, we use four metrics for benchmarking: desktop support staff as a percentage of the IT staff, PCs per desktop support staff member, applications per desktop support staff member, and users per support staff member.
February, 2020
IT Security Staffing Ratios 2020
IT security staffing has finally increased to match increases in IT spending. In this report, we present the five-year trend in IT security staffing and provide benchmarks for understanding IT security staff head count: as a percentage of the IT staff and as a percentage of the Network and Communications Group. We also analyze IT security staffing in terms of the number of applications, users, and network devices.
November, 2020