JumpCloud has announced the findings from its Q2 2022 SME IT Trends Report, IT Evolution: How IT Is Securing the Next Stage of Small and Medium-Sized (SME) Workplace Models. The report provides updated survey results and new findings to its biannual SME IT Trends Report first released in June 2021. Now two years into the transition to hybrid-remote workplaces, IT teams report that employees are becoming better partners in securing company data and their organisations are investing in IT.
JumpCloud commissioned this biannual survey of SME IT admins to gain unique insights into the day-to-day experiences of IT professionals who ably power and secure operations without enterprise-level budget and staff. The most recent survey results highlight that while IT teams are successfully managing hybrid-remote work, they are still burdened with a glut of tools despite a strong preference for more centralised IT management. Under half of employees (43.7%) now require six or more tools just to get their job done, but 74.6% of respondents preferred a single tool.
“From complicated tech stacks to the downstream impact of global events, IT admins are working to secure and simplify workflows in less-than-ideal circumstances,” said Rajat Bhargava, Co-founder and CEO, JumpCloud. “As IT teams sound the alarm about increased threats, SMEs should acknowledge these professionals are needlessly juggling a sprawling tech stack that isn’t efficient or cost-effective and that introduces unnecessary risk. While SMEs look to invest more heavily in IT infrastructure, a platform approach can improve employee experience and productivity and provide safe access to critical applications and data — all for a lower TCO than bespoke point solutions.”
Some key findings include
Business outlook:
- Nearly half of workers are back in the office. Just 47.1% of workers are in the office full time in 2022 versus 40.1% in 2021. Remote workers are 24.8% today versus 22.6% in 2021 and hybrid workers are down to 32.5% compared to 42.5% a year ago.
- World economic issues are impacting business. Over half report (61.4%) that supply chain disruptions or product shortages have hurt their business. More say (57.6%) labour shortages have been an issue for their business.
- Labour shortages impact the US more than the UK. US respondents report that labour shortages have been significant or a serious business limiter versus 25% in the UK reporting the same.
Security:
- Security is the biggest challenge in 2022. Over half (59.4%) said security was their number one challenge, followed by device management (48.1%) and migrating all workers to fully or partially remote (47.8%).
- Majority of organisations require the use of biometrics for employee authentication. Just 55.9% currently require biometrics now. In 2021, only 22.3% of admins reported that biometrics had been implemented.
- Balancing security and user experience is a growing challenge. Over 66.1% agree that adding security measures generally means a more cumbersome user experience, an increase from 58.1% who said the same in 2021.