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Digital transformation is a work in progress for most organisations, with privacy, security concerns, AI adoption and the complexity of integrating new systems remaining key barriers
LONDON, February 20, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolarWinds (NYSE:SWI), a leading provider of simple, powerful, and secure IT management software, today announced its Next-Gen Government IT: AI and Observability Insights Report, identifying the challenges faced by public sector IT professionals and the sources of IT security threats. For UK respondents, key findings include budget constraints as the most significant obstacle to maintaining or improving IT security (23%) and the main source of IT security threats being careless/untrained insiders (56%).
Surveying 100 IT decision-makers and influencers from the public sector including local and central government, the report found that for most organisations, digital transformation is a work in progress, with privacy, security concerns, and the complexity of integrating new systems remaining key barriers.
Few respondents (6%) report having fully completed their digital transformation journey while most indicate they are somewhere along the journey, with efforts either well underway (42%) or beginning implementation in some areas with limited progress (40%).
The most pressing security challenges today include vulnerabilities in monitoring systems and the critical need to safeguard sensitive information from cyber threats. The survey found that 55% of the general hacking community and 56% of careless/untrained insiders are the top-ranked security threats, emphasising the need for stronger security awareness training, enhanced tools, and better access control mechanisms.
While AI adoption is gaining momentum, with predictive analytics and issue detection as top benefits, concerns still linger. Over 23% of respondents leverage AI to automate tasks related to IT operations and enhance IT observability, with many more planning to adopt it soon. Yet almost three in 10 (29%) of respondents are extremely or very concerned about potential risks associated with adopting AI, such as data privacy and compliance, making full-scale implementation a cautious process.
"It’s clear that UK public sector organisations are shifting operations and workloads to the cloud and embracing hybrid IT environments now more than ever," said Richard Giblin, SolarWinds Head of UK Public Sector and Defence. "But this evolution, along with increased AI adoption, brings added complexity in maintaining data security and regulatory compliance, all while navigating increasingly tight budgets. SolarWinds remains committed to identifying key trends and solutions, helping those that work for organisations like the MoD, our schools and the NHS.