NTT DATA, a global IT infrastructure and services company, has found that 80% of organisations agree that inadequate or outdated technology is holding back organisational progress and innovation efforts, with 94% of C-suite executives believe legacy infrastructure is greatly hindering their business agility.
These findings come from NTT DATA’s inaugural Lifecycle Management Report. The report, which leverages 25 years of data-led insights from NTT DATA, explores the challenges and opportunities that exist for organisations as they navigate infrastructure lifecycle management. The research was conducted over 2022 and 2023, gathering data from over 248 million active assets across 130 countries and supported with responses from up to 1,400 senior technology decision makers.
Lifecycle management is a critical enabler of business success. Unfortunately, rapid modernisation, and the proliferation of technology consumption models, coupled with an increasingly complicated and fragmented supplier ecosystem, make it difficult for many organisations to adequately maintain their technology infrastructure in a way that fosters business agility and innovation. Compounding issues, the report finds 69% of currently active hardware (with scheduled last day of support) will no longer be supported by 2027.
According to the report, just 51% of enterprises have fully aligned their technology approach to their business strategy needs, while 71% say their network assets are mostly ageing or obsolete. Unfortunately, lifecycle management can also have an even more direct impact on operations. Misaligned lifecycle patterns can result in inappropriate coverage levels, labour-intensive renewals, extended incident resolution times, security breaches, and even costly license violations and compliance issues.
“Infrastructure lifecycles are a critical part of the IT management process,” said Gary Middleton, vice president of networking GTM at NTT DATA, Inc. “They represent an opportunity and a challenge for leadership, as effective lifecycles can result in huge business benefits – from increased efficiency to fostering greater innovation.
“However, inefficient lifecycle management can equally be a meaningful operational blocker, posing numerous risks to security and business continuity. Through the Lifecycle Management Report, our aim is to help organisations enhance their infrastructure lifecycle processes and unlock the huge benefits doing so presents.”