The year 2022 was tough, with shortages, inflation, and supply chain issues plaguing many companies. And now, 2023 is shaping up to be even more challenging, with GDP growth expected to plummet to a mere 0.3% across the EU.[1] We’re staring down the barrel of stagflation, a combination of low growth and high inflation, exacerbated by record-high employment levels.
While we can’t change the course of the economy as individuals, we can certainly make a difference as IT leaders. In this blog post, we’ll explore how IT functions can drive innovation, foster agility, and boost employee engagement to set their organizations up for success in 2023.
Innovation
In a time when Europe’s economies are stagnant, fostering innovation within your organization is key to future success. According to Forrester[3], companies with advanced technology-driven innovation practices grow three to four times faster than the industry average. There are countless ways to drive innovation, but all require a deliberate effort, investment of time and resources, and a willingness to embrace new ways of doing things.
Encouraging innovation in your organization starts with ensuring your IT environment supports experimentation. SolarWinds offers solutions that are quick to deploy and free to use during the trial period, making them ideal for test environments. And if your innovation proves successful and needs to scale, SolarWinds has solutions designed for scalability, such as network monitoring for up to one million network elements.
Agility
In addition to embracing innovation, European organizations must become more agile in responding to unforeseen changes to succeed in 2023. McKinsey reports that successful agile transformation can improve financial performance by 20% to 30%. Yet, most organizations are still in the early stages of adopting agile practices.
You can help your organization become more agile by ensuring your technology function can rapidly respond to new needs or incidents. SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability aims to provide a clear view of your environment, while SolarWinds ITSM enables software automation to accelerate responses.
Employee Engagement
Connecting with and retaining current staff is another crucial element for success in 2023, yet it remains a challenge. European organizations are under pressure as employees demand better compensation, working conditions, flexibility, and career development. This is especially true for tech teams, where only 29% of IT workers intend to stay with their current employer.
A positive workplace experience is essential for retaining staff, and for remote workers, visibility of performance across networks, infrastructure, and applications is key. SolarWinds observability products can help improve engagement across your IT teams, fostering collaboration and breaking down silos between specialisms.
Conclusion
As IT professionals, our focus on optimizing and improving technology can have a significant impact on the business. By accelerating the adoption of new ideas, enabling rapid responses, and promoting employee engagement, we can help our organizations not just survive, but thrive in 2023. Consider incorporating modern observability solutions into your strategy to navigate the challenges of the next twelve months.
[1] The European Commission. Autumn 2022 Economic Forecast. (2022, November). Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_6782
[2] Hansard. House of Commons Debate. (1965, November 17). Retrieved from https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1965-11-17/debates/06338c6d-ebdd-4876-a782-59cbd531a28a/EconomicAffairs
[3] Forrester Research. Forrester Blog. Retrieved from https://www.forrester.com/blogs/category/technology-driven-innovation/
[4] McKinsey & Co. (2020, March). Enterprise agility: Buzz or business impact? Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/enterprise-agility-buzz-or-business-impact
[5] McKinsey & Co. (2021, May). The impact of agility: How to shape your organization to compete. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-impact-of-agility-how-to-shape-your-organization-to-compete
[6] IDC. (2022, May). Status of Employee Retention in Europe. Retrieved from https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=EUR149048922
[7] FutureCIO. (2022, March). CIOs face growing IT talent retention issues. Retrieved from https://futurecio.tech/cios-face-growing-it-talent-retention-issues/
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Revised sentence: “Around the house, the mouse was chased by the cat.”
