16 May 2017

Legacy technology is holding back their organisation’s digital strategy, according to many of the network managers questioned.

Many network managers believe that their organisation’s network doesn’t fully meet the needs of the business and say major improvements must be made if companies want to improve their customers’ experiences.

According to ICT solutions specialist Axians UK, customer experience is crucial to long-term business success and many firms are achieving this through a digital strategy.

But in a recent survey of 250 network managers, it found that while 67 per cent of network managers agreed that a digital strategy is important to reduce commercial threat from competitors, almost half added that legacy technology is still holding back the organisation. 

Furthermore, 44 per cent said their company struggles to find the IT skills or talent in areas that can’t be automated, and 27 per cent questioned whether their company has enough bandwidth to achieve its digital strategy.

To successfully implement a digital strategy, respondents identified the following top eight factors: network management; security; network visibility; trained staff; flexibility/agility; application performance; scalability; and automation.

Axians UK MD Russell Crampin believes a change of mindset and education is critical for long-term success: “Organisations are currently risking reputation and can’t always obtain the adequate skills in the network, causing disparity between the long-term vision of the business, and the reality of the here and now for network managers.”

He adds that CIOs must look beyond software and focus on utilising people internally and externally to address the digital strategy and secure long-term success.