1. IT Trends Report 2019: Australia
Skills for Tech Pros of Tomorrow
Conducted by C White Consulting
December 2018

2. © 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.
Study Overview
Areas of discussion
How equipped do tech pros feel with their current IT skillset to manage the emerging technologies of tomorrow?
In which areas are tech pros already upskilling today and/or know they should be upskilling today?
How often do tech pros find the time to participate in upskilling (skills training and/or career program development) and from what primary source?
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

3. © 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.
Study Overview
Respondent demographics
22% of respondents were from MSPs/MSSPs
150 technology practitioners, managers, and directors in Australia from public- and private-sector small, mid-size, and enterprise organisations participated in a December 2018 online study
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

4. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pro confidence in having all the necessary skills to successfully manage IT environment for next three to five years
Of tech pros surveyed, 37% are somewhat unconfident or completely unconfident (combined) about having the necessary skills to do so. By business size, a slightly higher percentage of small business tech pros are completely unconfident about possessing ALL the necessary skills to successfully manage their IT environment for the next three to five years compared to their mid-size and enterprise counterparts (respectively).
Tech pros surveyed represent the 84% of all tech pros who are not “completely confident” in having all the necessary skills to successfully manage their IT environment for the next three to five years.
Q: How confident are you that you already have all the necessary skills to successfully manage your IT environment for the next 3-5 years?
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5. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Most important technologies for organisation’s technological transformation over next three to five years
#6 by weighted rank
#5 by weighted rank
#1 by weighted rank
#2 by weighted rank
#3 by weighted rank
“Other” responses (N=4): no noteworthy mentions (ie collaboration, digital transformation tools and processes (1, resp))
By weighted rank, cloud/hybrid IT is also the most important technology, followed by automation and/or orchestration and big data analytics.
By business size, the top three (by weighted rank) remain the same for enterprise tech pros while small business and mid-size tech pros (respectively) have the same number one as overall, followed by SIEM and/or threat intelligence and automation and/or orchestration.
#4 by weighted rank
Over 80% of tech pros surveyed indicate that cloud (public, private, or mix of both) and/or hybrid IT (mix of cloud and on-premises) is one of the top five most important technologies needed for their organisation’s technological transformation over the next three to five years, with 40% listing cloud/hybrid IT as their most important technology.
Q: What are the five most important technologies needed for your organisation’s technological transformation over the next three to five years? [choose up to five in prioritised order]
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6. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Technologies tech pros feel unequipped to successfully implement/manage with current skillset
“Other” responses (N=3): no noteworthy mentions
By business size, enterprise tech pros have the same top three as overall in a slightly differing order while small business tech pros have the same top two as overall, followed by big data analytics as number three. Mid-size tech pros feel most unequipped to successfully implement/manage big data analytics, machine learning and/or deep learning, automation and/or orchestration, SIEM and/or threat intelligence, and microservices.
Almost half of tech pros surveyed indicate that artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the technologies they feel unequipped to successfully implement and/or manage given their current IT skillset, followed by quantum computing and machine learning and/or deep learning (39% and 37%, respectively).
Q: Based on your current IT skillset, which of the following technologies do you feel unequipped to successfully implement and/or manage? (choose all that apply)
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7. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Skills tech pros have worked to develop over past 12 months to better manage daily operations
“Other” responses (N=2): no noteworthy mentions
Only three percent of tech pros did not work to develop a skill over the past 12 months because they feel they already possess ALL needed skills. By business size, a much smaller percentage of small business tech pros worked to develop their hybrid IT skillset when compared to their mid-size and enterprise counterparts (respectively).
Over the past 12 months, nearly half of tech pros surveyed have worked to develop their hybrid IT (mix of cloud and on-premises) deployment, monitoring and management skills to better manage their day-to-day IT environment and its needed disciplines (IT Ops, DevOps, SecOps, and/or outsourced services (MSP/MSSPs)), followed by systems and infrastructure management skills and coding and scripting skills (43%, respectively).
Q: Which of the following skills have you worked to develop over the past 12 months in order to better manage your day-to-day IT environment and its needed disciplines (such as IT Ops, DevOps, SecOps and/or outsourced services (MSP/MSSPs))? (choose all that apply)
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8. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Skills tech pros need to develop over next three to five years to better manage daily operations
“Other” responses (N=2): no noteworthy mentions
By business size, mid-size and enterprise tech pros (respectively) reflect the top overall findings in a slightly differing order (respectively) with mid-size tech pros also including coding and scripting and software-defined network (SDN), storage (SDS) and/or data center (SDDC) skills among their top skills needing to be developed. Small business tech pros reflect the top two overall findings (in reverse order), followed by containers.
Over the next three to five years, 51% of tech pros surveyed need to develop their hybrid IT deployment, monitoring and management skills in order to better manage their day-to-day IT environment and its needed disciplines (IT Ops, DevOps, SecOps, and/or outsourced services (MSP/MSSPs)), followed by security management skills (such as SIEM, policies, compliance) and data science and analytics skillset (47% and 44%, respectively).
Q: Which of the following skills will you need to develop over the next three to five years in order to better manage your day-to-day IT environment and its needed disciplines (such as IT Ops, DevOps, SecOps and/or outsourced services (MSP/MSSPs))? (choose all that apply)
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

9. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Top career development goals for tech pros over next three to five years
#1 by weighted rank
#2 by weighted rank
#5 by weighted rank
#4 by weighted rank
“Other” responses (N=3): no noteworthy mentions (ie infrastructure product administration skills such as Azure, ADFS, VMware (1))
By business size, the top three (by weighted rank) remain the same for enterprise tech pros while small business tech pros rank number one and number two in reverse order, followed by IT security protocol and/or processes. Mid-size tech pros rank IT security protocols and/or processes as the number one, followed by strategic planning and management/leadership skills (people management).
#3 by weighted rank
#6 by weighted rank
Nearly three-fifths of tech pros surveyed indicate that technology innovation is one of their top three career development goals over the next three to five years, with 29% listing it as their number one career development goal. By weighted rank, technology innovation is the number one career development goal, followed by strategic planning and management/leadership skills (people management).
Q: What are your top three career development goals over the next three to five years? [choose up to three in prioritised order]
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10. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Most important technologies needed for tech pro career development/advancement over next three to five years
#6 by weighted rank
#1 by weighted rank
#4 by weighted rank
#2 by weighted rank
#3 by weighted rank
“Other” responses (N=4): no noteworthy mentions (ie product development from concept to customer; collaboration; governance and risk (1, resp))
By weighted rank, cloud/hybrid IT is also the most important technology, followed by automation and/or orchestration and big data analytics. By business size, the top three (by weighted rank) remain the same as overall for enterprise tech pros but with number two and number three in reverse order. Small business and mid-size tech pros (respectively) have the same number one as overall, followed by SIEM and/or threat intelligence and automation and/or orchestration for small business tech pros. Mid-size tech pros rank Internet of Things (IoT) as second and software-defined network (SDN), storage (SDS) and/or data center (SDDC) as third.
#5 by weighted rank
Two-thirds of tech pros surveyed indicate that cloud (public, private, or mix of both) and/or hybrid IT (mix of cloud and on-premises) is one of the top five most important technologies needed for their career development/advancement over the next three to five years, with 30% listing cloud/hybrid IT as their most important technology.
Q: What are the five most important technologies needed for your career development/advancement over the next three to five years? [choose up to five in prioritised order]
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

11. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pros’ primary source of IT skills training/career development
“Other” responses (N=4): no noteworthy mentions (ie MOOC, supplier publications (1, resp))
By business size, small business tech pros turn to vendor training sessions above all other sources, while enterprise tech pros opt for vendor training sessions followed by online communities/forums (such as Slack) more than any other primary source. Mid-size tech pros turn to their organisation and/or co-workers as their primary source of skills training/career development.
Over one-fourth of tech pros surveyed indicate that vendor training sessions is their primary source of IT skills training/career development, followed by online communities/forums (such as Slack) and their organisation and/or co-workers (19% and 17%, respectively).
Q: When it comes to learning about emerging technologies, what is your primary source of IT skills training/career development? (choose only one)
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

12. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pros’ impression after participating in IT skills training/career development at primary source
“Other” responses (N=5): no noteworthy mentions (ie usefulness varies greatly; not always easily recognisable by internal training management systems (1, resp))
After tech pros surveyed participated in IT skills training/career development from their primary source, three-fifths of tech pros considered the training to be informative, one-third considered it engaging/interactive, and one-fifth considered it not long enough.
Q: Overall, how would you describe the IT skills training/career development you have participated in from the primary source you just mentioned? [choose all that apply]
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

13. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pros’ impression by primary source (top four)
Vendor Training Sessions
My Org and/or Co-Workers
Online Communities/Forums (i.e. Slack)
Industry Publications
“Other” responses (N=5): no noteworthy mentions (ie usefulness varies greatly; not always easily recognisable by internal training management systems (1, resp))
By primary source (qualitatively), those opting for training via online communities/forums find it slightly more informative than those opting for training from other sources, and a higher percentage of those opting for training via their organisation and/or co-workers find it not long enough when compared to those opting for training from other sources.
A lower percentage of small business tech pros considered the training to be engaging/interactive compared to mid-size and enterprise tech pros (respectively).
Q: Overall, how would you describe the IT skills training/career development you have participated in from the primary source you just mentioned? [choose all that apply]
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

14. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Frequency that tech pros currently engage in IT skills training/career development programs
By business size, a lower percentage of mid-size IT pros indicate that their IT management tasks “always” extend into the time earmarked for career development when compared with small business and enterprise tech pros (respectively).
Nearly one-fourth of tech pros surveyed indicate that day-to-day IT management tasks “always” extend into the time they set aside for pursuing their career development goals, while half of tech pros state that happens “sometimes” and one-fifth say it happens “rarely.”
Q: How often do your day-to-day IT management tasks extend into the time you set aside for pursuing your career development goals? (choose only one)
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

15. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Frequency that tech pros currently engage in IT skills training/career development programs
By business size, one-third of small business and mid-size tech pros (respectively) engage a few times a year compared with one-fourth of enterprise tech pros. And over one-fifth of small business and enterprise tech pros (respectively) engage weekly compared with six percent of mid-size tech pros.
One-fourth of tech pros surveyed indicate that they currently engage in IT skills training and/or career development programmes a few times a year, while 19% of tech pros engage weekly, followed by monthly and quarterly (16% and 14%, respectively).
Q: How often do you currently engage in IT skills training and/or career development programmes? (choose only one)
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

16. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Frequency that tech pros would commit to IT skills training/career development programs given no schedule/workload restrictions
By business size, a higher percentage of small business and enterprise tech pros (respectively) would commit daily and weekly (respectively) compared to their mid-size counterparts.
Over one-third of tech pros surveyed indicate that given no schedule/workload restrictions, they would commit to IT skills training and/or career development programmes on a weekly basis, while nearly one-fourth of tech pros would commit monthly and 16% (respectively) would commit daily or quarterly.
Q: If you could set your own schedule and workload with no restrictions, how often would you commit to IT skills training and/or career development programmes? (choose only one)
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

17. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pros’ biggest barrier to current ability to participate in IT skills training/career development
“Other” responses (N=0)
100% of tech pros surveyed find training/development programmes useful. By business size, small business tech pros are split evenly between time/availability and cost (respectively) as the biggest barrier while at or near two-thirds of their mid-size and enterprise counterparts (respectively) find time/availability as the biggest barrier to overcome.
Nearly three-fifths of tech pros surveyed indicate that time/availability (for travel, training itself, etc.) is the biggest barrier to their current ability to participate in IT skills training and/or career development programmes, followed by cost (of training programme, travel to tradeshow, etc.) (24%). Seven percent or less of tech pros believe any other barrier is the biggest one to overcome.
Q: What is the biggest barrier to your current ability to participate in IT skills training and/or career development programmes? (choose only one)
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

18. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pros’ ideal delivery format for IT skills training materials for IT ops, SecOps, DevOps, and MSP/MSSPs (overall)
#4 by weighted rank
#2 by weighted rank
#3 by weighted rank
#1 by weighted rank
#5 by weighted rank
#6 by weighted rank
“Other” responses (N=42): no noteworthy mentions (ie podcasts/bite-size modules that can be learnt on the go on any device (2), reading book and practicing (1))
By business size, the top three (by weighted rank) remain the same as overall for small business and mid-size tech pros (respectively) while enterprise tech pros have the same top two as overall, followed by webinars.
One-third of tech pros surveyed indicate that full-day, in-person workshop/user conference is their ideal delivery format for IT skills training materials, followed by webinar and self- guided online course (24% and 19%, respectively). By weighted rank, self-guided online course is the ideal delivery format, followed by full-day, in-person workshop/user conference and half-day, in-person workshop/user conference.
Q: In order of preference, what is your ideal delivery format for IT skills training materials pertaining to IT Ops, SecOps, DevOps, and outsourcing/managed services? [choose 5 in prioritized order]
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