EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

It’s no news that IT teams are struggling to retain talent. The number of vacant positions in the sector far outstrips the number of qualified IT professionals available to fill them.

A recent study published in partnership with the Poneman Institute reports that 73% of U.S. based teams consider themselves to be understaffed, with 70% and 67% understaffed in the UK and APAC regions, respectively. Fifty-three percent of organizations reported that they do not have enough staff to monitor systems 24/7.

Are companies willing to pivot towards automation to fill in the gaps?

As it turns out, 29% of companies surveyed state that they already use automation, while 38% report that they wish to jump on that bandwagon within the next year.

“Contrary to the popular belief that the rise of automation will threaten the job market, organizations now feel that these technologies will help ease the current strain on resources, and offer the potential to promote job security for highly skilled staff, while strengthening cyber security defenses,” commented Larry Poneman, chairman and founder of The Poneman Institute.

Nonetheless, as The Nation points out, AI only offers a partial solution. While it will enable professionals to offload time consuming, non-cost effective tasks, it will also force companies to hire an influx of highly skilled individuals to manage the automation. So, does automation really change the equation?

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