Survey Highlights Opportunity for Organisations to Show Greater Appreciation Towards IT Professionals

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwired - Aug 27, 2015) - SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable hybrid IT infrastructure management software, today announced it has established the third Tuesday of every September, beginning September 15, 2015, as IT Professionals Day to honour all IT professionals as the unsung heroes of modern business. In connection to IT Professionals Day, SolarWinds also released the findings of its IT Pro Value Surveys*, which not only demonstrate the value Australian IT professionals provide, but also reveals opportunities for business leaders and end users to show greater appreciation towards IT professionals.

The surveys, conducted across both end users and IT professionals themselves, explore user attitudes and opinions about IT professionals and the technology they support, and IT professionals' own perspectives on how valued they feel.

The results reveal that most Australian end users feel IT has a greater impact on their daily work lives than the C-suite, with almost two-thirds (61 percent) agreeing that their company's IT department going on vacation for a month would have a greater impact on their daily work life than if their company's C-suite did.

The study also reveals the value Australian end users place on technology in the workplace over personnel, with more than three in five (62 percent) of Australian end users placing greater importance on the technology supported by IT professionals in the workplace -- such as phones, computers and software -- than they do on personnel (28 percent). Yet more than three in five (62 percent) end users say they do not understand at all, or understand only a little about the role of IT professionals, beyond helping them as an end user resolve their technology issues.

Furthermore, nearly two thirds (65 percent) of Australian end users say it would take them more time to complete a typical day's work without the use of the technology maintained by IT professionals. One third of respondents (33 percent) said one day's work would take an additional business day or longer to complete without said technology and 12 percent said it would not at all be possible to carry out their daily work without it.

From an IT professional perspective:

• Three out of five IT professionals (62 percent) feel at most moderately valued by their employer for their unique contribution to business, with more than one-quarter (27 percent) feeling only slightly valued to not valued at all.
• Four out of five IT professionals (83 percent) feel they are worth more than they are currently compensated, with one-third (35 percent) saying they feel worth at least 21 percent more.
• The majority of IT professionals (61 percent) are concerned about job security, with almost half (42 percent) suggesting that a lack of understanding from company leadership around the importance of IT is a key reason for this.

"The survey results demonstrate that business leaders and end users can do a lot more to show IT pros how appreciative they are of the value they provide to business," said Kevin Thompson, President and Chief Executive Officer, SolarWinds. "The technology we rely on to keep business running smoothly is absolutely critical to success, but the level of recognition and reward IT pros receive for the part they play in enabling and supporting it may not match it. IT Professionals Day is a great way to start levelling that."