86% Percent of Public Sector Organizations Believe Productivity Depends on Network and Application Performance
Riverbed® today launched its expanded ‘Rethink Possible: Visibility and Network Performance – The Pillars of Business Success’’ Study, focused on the public sector. The study revealed that 89% of IT decision makers (ITDMs) and 82% of business decision makers (BDMs) in the public sector believe productivity is reliant on effective network and application performance. In addition, three-quarters of those surveyed (72% ITDMs and 79% BDMs) agreed that visibility into IT performance is the key to driving business innovation and staff retention.
These and other findings in the study highlight the necessity for public sector organisations to have effective IT infrastructure in order to be successfully productive, innovative and drive their growth. These are key considerations given the critical challenges public sector organisations are facing to maintain infrastructure, policing, health, and political balance in today’s environment.
Poor visibility and outdated systems proving to be a hindrance
Decision makers within the public sector recognise that improved visibility into network and application performance will have a direct, positive impact on their organisations’ development. In fact, over three-quarters of ITDMs (77%) think that having more visibility into their organisation’s systems will help to mitigate risk and ensure productivity. Both of which are essential factors in improving efficiency, driving employee engagement, and developing projects within public sector organisations. However, a clear conflict exists in the public sector between the visibility experienced by the IT teams and business decision makers. More than half of ITDMs (54%) state that they do not have enough visibility into the performance of their networks, applications, or infrastructure, compared to 76% of BDMs who believe IT has a comprehensive overview of applications. This disconnect may be why 75% of public sector leaders surveyed felt frustrated by their current network performance (74% of BDMs and 76% of ITDMs). Ensuring ITDMs and BDMs see eye-to-eye is paramount to helping them recognise the need for new technology that will improve visibility and performance, overcoming this frustration.
Productivity and organisational growth need the right IT infrastructure
As the recent global pandemic has shown, the public sector needs technology that evolves with the increasing demands placed on national services. In fact, over 90% of IT decision makers in the public sector believe future success hinges on their organisations’ ability to innovate and break boundaries. It is therefore encouraging to see that over 85% of both ITDMs (89%) and BDMs (86%) in the public sector believe there should be more investment in technology solutions that enhance overall IT visibility. With more than three quarters (78%) of public sector leaders agreeing that investment in next-generation technology is vital, organisations need to act quickly or they risk not only diminishing productivity levels from employees but also failing to keep up with customer needs and expectations.
Commenting on the research findings, Mena Migally, Senior Director, MENA at Riverbed, said: “Strong IT infrastructure is essential for any business but in the public sector – where ineffective systems cause major disruptions for national government departments, non-departmental public bodies such as the NHS, and service delivery – it is crucial. Especially during these unprecedented times, it is really positive to see that both IT and business decision makers in the public sector recognise the need to invest in the right technology to optimise their IT infrastructure – for both employees in the office and those working remotely – and successfully achieve business growth, now and in the future.
Migally, continued, “At Riverbed, we want to encourage public sector leaders to work together in order to identify and overcome the IT challenges they may be facing, from the lack of visibility, to poor network performance and inefficiencies due to outdated infrastructure. We fundamentally believe that in finding a solution to these problems, ITDMs and BDMs can unlock the capability to evolve their business, drive innovation, boost productivity and ultimately, achieve success in the public sector.”
Rethink Possible: Evolving the Digital Experience
Over 80% of all public sector leaders (87% of ITDMs and 81% of BDMs) agree that organisations must rethink what is possible to gain true success in today’s fast-moving world. Technology has to be the enabler in the process. Riverbed’s portfolio of next-generation solutions is giving customers in the public sector across the globe the visibility, acceleration, optimisation and connectivity that maximizes performance and visibility for networks and applications.
To find out more, download the full ‘Rethink Possible: Visibility and Network Performance – The Pillars of Business Success’ report by visiting here, and join in the conversation here.
About Riverbed
Riverbed enables organizations to maximize performance and visibility for networks and applications, so they can overcome complexity and fully capitalize on their digital and cloud investments. The Riverbed Network and Application Performance Platform enables organizations to visualize, optimize, remediate, and accelerate the performance of any network for any application. The platform addresses performance and visibility holistically with best-in-class WAN optimization, network performance management (NPM), application acceleration (including Office 365, SaaS, client, and cloud acceleration), and enterprise-grade SD-WAN. Riverbed’s 30,000+ customers include 99% of the Fortune 100. Learn more at riverbed.com.
Riverbed and any Riverbed product or service name or logo used herein are trademarks of Riverbed Technology, Inc. All other trademarks used herein belong to their respective owners.
Rethink Possible: Visibility and Network Performance – Research Methodology
The research was conducted by independent research firm Sapio, based in the United Kingdom, on behalf of Riverbed. Riverbed surveyed 1,726 decision makers (those with a final say over budget spend of technology implementations), comprised of 204 C-level decision makers, 758 business decision makers and 764 IT decision makers. Respondents were from the following countries: UK (467), France (454), Germany (451), Netherlands (121), Switzerland (108) and the Middle East (125). All respondents worked in organisations with 500+ employees.
