State of the Data Center: Overworked and Underfunded

Survey finds 75% of data center managers' workloads are increasing, yet cutting costs is their top priority this year.

A survey of 1,600 IT managers and executives, released today by Symantec, confirms that data center managers at large firms are coping with more demanding user expectations (75% said this) alongside the need to reduce costs — the key objective cited by the group. The three efforts these managers plan to make to cut costs are: increase automation of routine tasks, cross-train IT staff and consolidate and virtualize servers.

For its second annual State of the Data Center report, Symantec surveyed managers and executives at 1,600 large (more than 5,000 employees) companies around the world.

More than a third (37%) of survey respondents say they are understaffed; 48% say finding qualified applicants is a big or huge problem. Companies plan to resolve these staffing issues through the use of outsourcing (65% already outsource some tasks) and training — 80% expect training budgets to rise or stay constant over the next two years.

Almost nine out of ten (87%) are pursuing server consolidation, with about half in discussion/planning stages and 40% in trials or implementing.

To read more of the findings of the report, you can download it here.