IT maturity improves in small and medium sized businesses

A new study by IT management specialist Kaseya looks at IT department practices and for the second year in a row finds a growing level of maturity in SMBs and mid-market companies.

Kaseya uses an IT Management Maturity Model that divides companies into five levels, from the lowest 'Reactive' through 'Efficient', 'Proactive' and 'Aligned' up to the highest 'Strategic'.

While 83 percent of respondents classify their IT organization as being at one of the first three, less mature levels on the model; Reactive, Efficient, or Proactive, at the other end of the scale, when compared a survey in 2016, the number of high maturity companies has increased by three percent to 17 percent.

"One of the most important findings in our annual survey of SMB and midmarket enterprises and their IT practices is a significant year-over-year increase in the number of what we call 'mature' organizations. As companies of all sizes embrace modern tactics and leverage strategic new technology, such as the cloud, predictive analytics and advanced security, they become more 'mature' as an IT organization as a result," says Taunia Kipp, global senior vice president of marketing for Kaseya. "The IT Operations Benchmark Survey is seen as a key resource for organizations across all levels of the maturity model to gauge their success against others, as well as offer insight into what makes the more mature organizations successful. This survey 'opens the curtains' offering visibility into the inner-workings of a variety of IT organizations -- a strategic advantage to any sized company that would like to learn why some IT organizations succeed while others are more reactive."

Part of what drives this added maturity is having formal benchmarks for success, 46 percent of companies with higher maturity levels (Strategic and Aligned) have formal service-level agreements (SLAs) in place. By contrast, only 21 percent of all respondents have SLAs in place, and less than 10 percent of Reactive companies have them. This trend continues when comparing companies that measure Mean Time to Recover (MTTR). Nearly 60 percent of the companies with higher maturity levels measure MTTR, but only 34 percent of all respondents and 22 percent of Reactive companies do so.

You can read more about the findings in the full report which is available from the Kaseya website.

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