An uncertain economy is impacting network and security team investments, but CIOs, CISOs and IT leaders are doubling down on investment in the cloud, according to the Enterprise Network Transformation report from Aryaka.
Other trends uncovered by report include:
■ The rapid shift to cloud services and the complexity of a now hybrid workforce has changed how modern IT leaders view network and security, likely forever.
■ Network and security leaders are no longer able to choose between investing in application performance or security, they need it all.
■ Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), the continued decline of multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), and a need to consolidate a sprawling vendor stack is forcing legacy telcos to lose their longtime stranglehold on the enterprise network.
■ NaaS is not only emerging, it is exploding on the scene as one of the only viable solutions for IT leaders to solve the growing complexity of an anytime, anywhere world.
Significantly, 98% of those surveyed indicated they plan to increase their investment in cloud services, despite ongoing economic uncertainty. This counters the narrative of a "technology slowdown," instead indicating that IT leaders are shifting from traditional IT to the cloud, which is aligned with the workforce's adoption of hybrid and remote models along with the continued need for networks to connect people, applications and enterprises to datacenters, edge devices and cloud infrastructure.
Furthermore, 94% of respondents believe SASE will play a larger role in their networking and security plans, while 62% plan to eliminate MPLS from their operations.
"In this current era of uncertainty, chaos and unprecedented times, one of the consistencies we are seeing is that businesses need to be flexible, adaptable and ready for anything," said Matt Carter, Aryaka CEO. "Our report indicates that the vast majority of CIOs, CISOs and IT leaders are preparing for this uncertainty by investing in and adopting architecture, policies and technologies that converge networking and security, as these disciplines are critical to business success."
The findings underline that enterprise leaders see networking and security as vital to their organizations' long-term success, with 47% of survey respondents indicating they plan to accelerate cloud and network services adoption despite current economic conditions. These executives recognize the critical need for ongoing cloud investments, hybrid work and better application performance and security, while anticipating the decline of MPLS and the arrival of NaaS as a key long-term investment.
Methodology: The report was compiled from a survey of more than 230 C-level, vice president and director-level leaders at global enterprises in network and security roles.
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