Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Australia Face Inadequate Insight in Business Process and Infrastructure Automation

Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Australia Face Inadequate Insight in Business Process and Infrastructure Automation

In a recent study commissioned by ManageEngine and conducted in collaboration with Ecosystem, the digital landscape of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Australia has been under the spotlight. The study, titled 'Digital Intensity in Australia Study,' surveyed over 100 technology leaders, decision-makers, and key business stakeholders from SMEs across the country.

The findings suggest that SMEs in Australia are compelled to innovate and modernize their technology infrastructure, leveraging AI-powered insights and digital engagements to maintain their competitive edge. CEOs and business leaders are driving productivity enhancements through technology optimization, aiming for major change and growth without adding cost or lowering budgets.

The study shows that SMEs are embracing IT observability over traditional monitoring to enhance security, power resilience, maximize productivity, and reduce cost. In fact, 48% of respondents are adopting additional data prioritization and filtering methods to differentiate critical alerts from noise.

However, despite using IT monitoring tools/platforms, technology leaders continue to face challenges such as limited visibility (30%) and alert fatigue (25%). Tim Sheedy, principal advisor at Ecosystm, emphasizes that IT observability involves understanding systems, not just monitoring them, to proactively pinpoint root causes, spot anomalies, and keep systems resilient.

The expanding technology architecture, characterized by a proliferation of applications and diverse cloud usage, has increased the demand for IT support. To address this, 90% of Australian organizations expect to implement up to 60 new applications, tools, or platforms in their infrastructure over the next 12 months.

The survey reveals that most SMEs are actively monitoring their servers (75%) and networks (70%), but there is a lack of comprehensive visibility and control over their technology environment. This issue is further highlighted by low rates of end-to-end business process (14%) and infrastructure automation (18%) monitoring, revealing worrying visibility gaps.

More than half of the technology leaders, decision-makers, and key business stakeholders surveyed identified infrastructure modernization as the primary focus of the organization's tech modernization strategy. Srinivasa Raghavan Santhanam, from ManageEngine, stated that there's a strong push for data-driven decision-making to provide actionable insights for maximizing productivity and powering resilience.

The key concern for 52% of the organizations is cost reductions, identified as the top business priority for the next 12 months. Despite investments in cloud and AI, most Australian SMEs consider themselves in the early stages of their digital transformation journeys.

However, the study also highlights a positive shift. SMEs in Australia are shifting to modern technology infrastructure to maintain their competitive edge. The study concludes that IT observability allows organizations to deliver consistent digital experiences for customers and empowers teams to confidently explore new technologies. As a result, Australian SMEs are poised to leverage the power of IT observability to drive growth and resilience in the digital age.

Read also:

• Mural at blast site in CDMX commemorates Alicia Matías, sacrificing life for granddaughter's safety
• Is Maruti's reign over the SUV market being challenged by Mahindra's aggressive move to snatch the top spot?
• Social Security Administration Abandons Plan for Electronic Payments: Important Information for Recipients of Benefits
• Increased energy demand counters Trump's pro-fossil fuel strategies, according to APG's infrastructure team.