Automating IT Management a Goal for 63 Percent of Federal IT Pros in 2014 According to SolarWinds Survey

AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwired - Jan 29, 2014) - SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, today announced the results of its survey among IT professionals in the public sector, revealing how the automation of various information technologies has saved government organizations time and money and increased the productivity of IT teams. The 162 IT pros that completed the survey also revealed their plans to continue automation investments in 2014.

Federal IT pros are saving time and money, increasing productivity with automation

• More than 84 percent of survey respondents said the automation of information technology initiatives in their IT infrastructures was a time- and money-saving investment for their teams, and 67 percent of respondents have seen increases in their teams' productivity as a result of investments in automation.

• Of those that have already begun to implement a variety of automation technologies, network configuration management was determined the most valuable tool in terms of time and money saved by over 58 percent of respondents, followed by help desk automation (42 percent), IP address management (39 percent), and application/server provisioning and configuration management (37 percent).

• Help desks, in fact, are already fully automated by 77 percent of federal IT pros.

• Despite growing adoption of IT automation, 53 percent of respondents said their IT departments have not hired any new IT pros in the past two years.

Automation for full IT infrastructure a priority for 2014

• Sixty-three percent of respondents are planning an automation project during 2014

• At least two-thirds of survey respondents said they are already in the process of implementing a variety of technologies including the following (percentages indicating those that have completed or plan to implement the technology in 2014):

  • Help desk management (91 percent)

  • Network configuration management (84 percent)

  • Patch management (83 percent)

  • Log management (82 percent)

  • Application/server management (67 percent)

• Sixty percent of respondents are investing or plan to invest in tools to automate compliance.

So why aren't all government organizations automating IT?
Nearly 54 percent of respondents said the biggest challenge to the successful rollout of automation technologies is budgetary restrictions, and others added that integration with existing tools (49 percent) and lack of training (42 percent) were hindering their automation initiatives.

"Despite tight budgets, lack of training and other impediments, Federal IT pros are continuing to invest in automation technologies because the ROI in terms of time, money and productivity is very tangible when the projects are completed," said Chris LaPoint, VP Product Management, SolarWinds. "However, given that the majority of IT teams aren't growing, it's especially critical that IT management products are easy to evaluate, quick to deploy without expensive consultants, and that they integrate seamlessly so teams don't have to spend time learning new interfaces every time they add functionality."

SolarWinds Solutions for Government
SolarWinds' software provides comprehensive automated monitoring and reporting technology that simplifies an IT pro's job. The company offers IT management solutions to numerous common public sector IT challenges including network operations, compliance, data center consolidation, continuous monitoring, cyber security, cloud computing, mobile workforce and devices, and scaling to the enterprise.

U.S. Government certifications and approvals include Army CoN, Air Force APL and Navy DADMS, and technical requirements include FIPS PUB 140-2 compliance (as specified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology), DISA STIG automated reports, Section 508 VPATs, and previous Common Criteria EAL 2 Certification.

SolarWinds software is available on the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule, Department of Defence ESI and other contract vehicles. Visit SolarWinds' Government Solutions page for more information including fully functional free trials of products or visit SolarWinds' community, thwack, to download 300 free out-of-the-box compliance report templates of major auditing authorities including DISA STIG, FISMA, and NIST.

*From December 9-27, 2013 SolarWinds surveyed 162 IT professionals in federal government, state and local government, public universities and school systems, and contractors and consultants to public sector IT. Full survey results are available upon request.

Additional Resources
Whiteboard blog: Public sector IT survey: Go forth and automate!
SlideShare: Automation in Public Sector IT Systems

About SolarWinds
SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) provides powerful and affordable IT management software to customers worldwide from Fortune 500 enterprises to small businesses. In all of our market areas, our approach is consistent. We focus exclusively on IT Pros and strive to eliminate the complexity that they have been forced to accept from traditional enterprise software vendors. SolarWinds delivers on this commitment with unexpected simplicity through products that are easy to find, buy, use and maintain while providing the power to address any IT management problem on any scale. Our solutions are rooted in our deep connection to our user base, which interacts in our online community, thwack, to solve problems, share technology and best practices, and directly participate in our product development process. Learn more today at http://www.solarwinds.com/.

SolarWinds, SolarWinds.com and thwack are registered trademarks of SolarWinds. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification purposes and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.