Key Points:
- Cybersecurity remains the top concern shaping IT budgets and investment plans. Remote work for IT engineers is on the decline. Businesses are eager to roll out generative AI, but they're hampered by staffing shortages and lack of staff expertise.
- In a nutshell, those statements highlight some of the most salient trends revealed by ITPro Today's 2024 IT Priorities Survey, which queried IT professionals about a range of topics that impact the industry.
- From budget planning, to cybersecurity, to infrastructure investment and beyond, the data presented in the following pages offers deep insight into what the typical IT organization is doing today and how it expects its operations to evolve over the coming year.
You already know that every day at ITPro Today is about helping IT Pros learn about, assess, and manage the acquisition of next-gen technology that drives business innovation.
That means original reporting from our team of journalists and unique commentary you won’t see anywhere else! But in case you missed them, here are some of our other must-read favorites from this week:
Inside Cloud Unit Economics
Key Points:
- The companies and systems that built commercial software are now trying to catch up with the tools, practices, and cultures necessary to ensure profitable growth in the cloud.
- The industry needs to move to a system that programmatically, actionably, and objectively tracks cloud spending. This will align cloud cost management with the many ways people track and measure the GTM side of these same businesses.
- Cloud unit economics refers to using objective measures to maximize the profitability of cloud-driven businesses. These objective measures are both granular and actionable — detailed and targeted enough to be relevant to anyone interacting with the cloud at any level of an organization.
- You can't understand the profitability of the cloud without understanding the marginal cost of your cloud infrastructure. Unit cost metrics are a straightforward way to calculate marginal cloud costs.
Beware of Deepfakes
Key Points:
- Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) was contacted via email last week by someone posing as Dmytro Kuleba, the former Ukrainian foreign minister, to have a conversation over Zoom.
- “After immediately becoming clear that the individual I was engaging with was not who they claimed to be, I ended the call and my office took swift action, alerting the relevant authorities. This matter is now in the hands of law enforcement, and a comprehensive investigation is underway,” Cardin said in a statement.
- Earlier this year, then-U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced that he had participated in a fake video call from someone pretending to be Petro Poroshenko, the former president of Ukraine. The mayors of several European cities were also lured into a video call with someone pretending to be the mayor of Kyiv, the Guardian reported at the time.
- U.S. officials have warned that foreign actors are using deepfake technology to sow discord and misinformation. At the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a deepfake of President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared online telling Ukrainians to surrender.
Key Points:
- While AI and machine learning saw 80% growth, other critical tech skills, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), outpaced AI, with a massive 550% rise in demand. Requests for IT systems strategy skills, meanwhile, surged by 240%, while customer relationship management (CRM) skills saw a 100% increase.
- As technological change accelerates, certifications offer a structured, efficient, and credible way for IT professionals to stay relevant, build expertise, and validate their competencies.
-
Amir K.
, CEO at
Alkira, Inc.
, said with the increasing demand for technology and systems implementation skills, IT professionals should consider certifications that enhance their expertise in cloud and network management.
- By focusing on certifications that address both current and emerging technologies, IT professionals can effectively navigate and implement solutions across diverse and dynamic tech landscapes, aligning their skills with industry needs.
Linux Tips
Key Points:
- Are you a
Linux
user who has grown tired of having to replace all of the user-specific files and settings every time you reinstall your operating system? If so, there's a simple solution: creating a separate /home partition for Linux.
- On virtually all Linux-based operating systems, /home is a directory that stores users' personal files and settings. This means that most documents, photos, videos, and so on live in /home.
- In addition, /home hosts application configurations for individual users — so a user's browser history and preferences, for example, are stored in the /home partition, as are the settings that determine what the user's desktop background and interface look like.
- The process for setting up a separate /home partition varies depending on which Linux distribution you're using. But it's usually pretty simple. Here are the main steps. We'll use Ubuntu as an example, but the process should be more or less the same on any modern, mainstream Linux distribution.
[Root] Access: Column of the Week
If you need advice on IT issues, careers, or workplace concerns,?[Root] Access?is?ITPro?Today’s?dedicated advice column.?Submit your questions here.?Please include “Root Access” in the subject line. Note that questions may be edited for publication.
Latest Major Tech Layoff Announcements
Original Story by Jessica C. Davis, Updated by Brandon Taylor
Key Points:
- As COVID drove everyone online, tech companies hired like crazy. Now we are hitting the COVID tech bust as tech giants shed jobs by the thousands.
- Updated September 28, 2024 with layoff announcements from Northvolt, Drata, Moov, and IBM.
- Check back regularly for updates to InformationWeek's IT job layoffs tracker.
WATCH ON-DEMAND!
“Generative AI: From Bleeding Edge to Mainstream, How It's Shaping Enterprise IT”
An archived LIVE virtual event from August 22:
The next wave of AI is here and if your machine isn’t learning, it’s already behind.
This virtual event looks at how generative AI will help us reinvent our businesses and organizations in a safe and sane – and profitable – manner.
In this event we’ll discuss:
? Potential for Generative AI
? Key preparations to building and incorporate AI
? How to be prepared to use AI responsibly
Our featured keynote speakers were:
Our featured panelists were:
This virtual event was moderated by:
- Steven Hill - Independent Analyst - Data Center Technologies at ToneCurve Technology, LLC
Request Your Free Survey Report Now:
ITPro Today 2024 IT Salary Survey Report
The IT professional landscape is showing signs of stabilization. Even with recent tech layoffs, the value of IT roles remains high, with a focus on long-term careers over quick personal wins.
Based on data from ITPro Today’s 2024 IT Salary Survey, which sampled 455 IT professionals, the following trends have emerged:
- In an uncertain economy, find out why IT pros prioritize stability.
- Understand the importance of compensation and benefits satisfaction.
- How workplace preferences are shifting.
- The opportunity to have access to mental health support.
- Professional growth and skills for the future.
Despite the dynamic shifts in the IT industry, particularly with the rise of AI, certain trends remain consistent. It’s evident that IT professionals highly value career stability, seek meaningful support for well-being, and are keen to develop future-facing skills, all amidst changing compensation and workplace dynamics.
If you are an IT professional or their manager, this 2024 salary survey report is a valuable resource to help you assess how you stack up against your peers and, for IT managers, how you can incentivize IT workers to join or remain with your team.
This is just a taste of what’s going on. If you want the whole scoop, then register for one of our email newsletters,?but only if you’re going to read it.?We want to improve the sustainability of editorial operations, so we don’t want to send you newsletters that are just going to sit there unopened. If you're a subscriber already, please make sure Mimecast and other inbox bouncers know that we’re cool and they should let us through.
Our bi-weekly LinkedIn newsletters arrive on Saturdays, so keep your eyes peeled for the top stories you may have missed between now and then.
