Navigating IT Complexity - Research report by IDG

Navigating IT Complexity

Presented by IDG Research Services
Produced for ShoreTel
October, 2010

1 A World of Insights

Research Objectives and Methodology

The primary objective of this research program is to explore IT decision makers’ attitudes toward and acceptance of
technology complexity with a focus on IP telephony solutions. More specifically, the survey was designed to identify the
extent to which companies are struggling with IT complexity as a macro issue, the perceived contributors to IT
complexity, adoption of IP telephony, and attitudes/experiences regarding complexity in IP telephony solutions.

The research was conducted online among the CIO and Network World audiences between September 14, 2010 and
October 4, 2010. Participants were offered the opportunity to enter a drawing for a $250 cash prize at the end of the
survey.

Respondents were screened for title (IT manager and above or LOB executive), core job responsibilities (strategic
focus), company size of 50 or more employees, and for the implementation or planned implementation of IT telephony
solutions. A total of 324 qualified respondents are represented in this summary; 186 respondents are members of the
CIO audience, 138 respondents are members of the Network World audience. The margin of error for a sample size of
324 is +/‐ 5.4 percentage points.


Highlighted Findings

IT Complexity as a Market Dynamic. Respondents were asked a number of questions to help assess general perceptions relating to IT
complexity, not just within their organizations but across the market at large. Survey results show that IT decision makers both
recognize the significance of IT complexity and are resigned to its existence as an inescapable fact.

Over four out of five respondents (85%) strongly agree or agree that IT complexity due to integration issues, incompatible or
proprietary technologies is a significant challenge facing organizations today.

Roughly four out of five respondents (81%) strongly agree or agree that IT complexity is inevitable and that it can not be
eliminated.

Perceived Causes of Business Technology Complexity. IT’s need to support a diverse set of technologies (55%), a lack of standards
across technologies (47%), and conflicting proprietary technologies (44%) are the factors respondents most often identify as
contributors to business technology complexity at organizations today.

The CIO audience was significantly more likely to identify the need to support an increasingly diverse set of technologies as a
key contributor than the Network World audience (60% vs. 49%).

Respondents from organizations with 5,000 or more employees are significantly more likely than smaller organizations to
feel technology complexity arises as a result of vendors too narrowly focusing their solutions (39% vs. 23% incidence for both
500‐4,999 employee and <500 employee companies).

Participants in this survey from midsize companies (500‐4,999 employees) and large enterprises (5000+ employees) are
significantly more likely (48% and 49%, respectively) than participants from small companies (<500 employees, 35%) to report
that integration of legacy technology is contributing to business technology complexity today.



Approaches to Reducing Complexity. Respondents most often (57%) report that having a strategy to replace legacy solutions
with multiple, less complex solutions is the most effective way to reduce IT complexity at organizations today.

Participants whose organizations’ efforts have yielded a reduction in complexity are significantly more likely than those
whose organizations’ efforts have not resulted in less complexity to report that leading vendors must acknowledge
complexity and overhaul legacy offerings (23% vs. 13%) in order to reduce complexity.

IT Complexity at “Home”. Nearly six out of ten respondents (57%) report that IT complexity poses an extreme or significant
challenge for their own organization. These results are fairly consistent across organizations of varying sizes (64% for enterprises
with 5,000+ employees, 59% for companies with 500‐4,999 employees, and 51% for SMBs with <500 employees) as well as
when comparing the CIO audience to the Network World audience (56% vs. 59% respectively).

Organizational Contributors to IT Complexity. Addressing IT security and compliance (51%), aligning technology solutions with
business objectives (47%), and addressing the expectations and demands of users (41%) are the IT areas most frequently
identified by respondents as the biggest contributors to IT complexity within their own organization.

The CIO audience is significantly more likely than the Network World audience to report that integrating information
into business processes is one of the biggest contributors to IT complexity (45% vs. 31%).

Moving to an IP telephony model is identified by respondents as one of the biggest contributors to IT complexity only
12% of the time.


Steps Taken to Reduce Complexity at “Home”. Implementing standards (32%), reducing/limiting/consolidating the number of
technologies in use (14%), and reducing/limiting the number of vendors in place (11%) are the steps respondents are most often
reporting they are taking to manage and reduce IT complexity in their organizations.

CIO respondents are twice as likely to report that they are reducing/limiting/consolidating the number of technologies in use
compared to Network World respondents (18% vs. 9%).

Midsize (500‐4,999 employees) and small (<500 employees) companies are also significantly more likely than enterprise
organizations (5,000+ employees) to report that they are reducing/limiting/consolidating the number of technologies in use in
order to manage or reduce complexity (17% and 18% vs. 5% respectively).

Success Reducing Complexity? Nearly two‐thirds of respondents (63%) report that their efforts to manage IT complexity have resulted
in a measurable reduction in complexity within their organization.

Organizational Attitudes Toward Complexity.
My company is proactive in dealing with IT complexity: 57% rating their company either 5 out of 5 or 4 out of 5 where a rating
of 5 represents an extremely good descriptor (70% among those who have seen a measurable reduction in IT complexity vs.
34% among those who have not reduced IT complexity).
My company is actively addressing IT complexity as a strategic IT priority: 55% (69% among those who have seen a
measurable reduction in IT complexity vs. 31% who have not seen a quantifiable reduction in IT complexity indicating that
efforts are making a difference). The largest companies are most likely to report this is an accurate descriptor of their
organization’s approach to IT complexity.
My company culture encourages adoption of new innovations regardless of the technology complexity they might entail: 51%
Complexity does not get in the way of our getting the most out of our IT investments: 40% (45% among those who have seen
a measurable reduction in IT complexity vs. 30% among those who have not reduced IT complexity).



Perceptions of IP Telephony Complexity. Three out of ten respondents are of the mind that today’s IP telephony solutions are
either extremely or very complex; however, only 14% of respondents feel that IP telephony solutions are not very complex or not
at all complex.

The CIO audience is significantly more likely than the Network World audience to report that they find IP telephony
solutions to be either not very complex or not at all complex (17% vs. 8% respectively).

Interestingly, respondents with the largest IP telephony deployments (either enterprise wide or spanning multiple sites)
tend to have the lowest incidence of finding this technology extremely/very complex.

Challenges with IP Telephony. The inability to implement IP telephony solutions without a high level of involvement from the
vendor (41%), expensive vendor service and support (38%), and challenges integrating IP telephony solutions with business
processes (37%) are the challenges that respondents most frequently experience or expect to experience when dealing with IP
telephony solutions.

Members of the Network World audience are significantly more likely than members of the CIO audience to experience
(or expect to experience) complex management and administration protocols when dealing with IP telephony solutions
(30% vs. 17%).

Respondents from smaller organizations (either <500 employees or 500‐4,999 employees) are significantly more likely
to face (or expect to face) a lengthy learning curve for users than are respondents from larger enterprises (29% vs. 27%
vs. 13% respectively).



Factors Driving IP Telephony Complexity. Respondents most commonly agree with the following statements about today’s IP
telephony solutions:

 Some of the leading IP telephony solutions today are complex because they consist of many different technologies bolted
together (65% strongly or somewhat agree).

 IP telephony vendors are not doing enough to reduce the complexity that characterizes many of their (60% agree with this
statement).

 Some of the IP telephony solutions today are complex because they are older traditional TDM solutions that have only been
enabled for an IP platform (58%).

Similarly 58% of participants believe that complexity could be eliminated from IP telephony solutions, however, vendors are
driven by other interests that discourage this.

Complexity is responsible for much of the overall operating and maintenance costs of IP telephony (57%).



Relevancy of ShoreTel’s IP Telephony Solution. Nearly six out of ten respondents (58%) rate the description of ShoreTel’s IP
telephony solution as either extremely or very relevant to their organization. It is important to note that this rating was made on
an “unbranded offering.” Respondents did not know which vendor’s offering we were describing.

Only about one in ten respondents (12%) rate this solution as being not very relevant or not at all relevant to their
organization.
Roughly seven out of ten respondents (70%) that have not yet deployed an IP telephony solution believe this solution
would be either extremely or very relevant to their organization, this is the highest frequency of any segment of the
sample.

Benefits Expected from Adopting Described Solution. Lower total cost of ownership is the benefit which respondents are most
likely (53%) to expect from adopting ShoreTel’s IP telephony solution.

Having the ability to give users communications and collaboration tools they can do more with is a potential benefit
which Network World respondents are more likely to expect as a by product of adopting ShoreTel’s solution than are
respondents from the CIO audience (54% vs. 42%).

Having the ability to give users communications and collaboration tools they can do more with is a potential benefit
which respondents from midsize companies (500‐4,999 employees) are more likely to expect as a by product of adopting
ShoreTel’s solution than are respondents at small (<500 employees) and large enterprises (5000+ employees) (60% vs.
41% vs. 39% respectively).

Both small (37%) and midsize (36%) companies are significantly more likely to report an improved focus on strategic
projects as a possible by product of adopting ShoreTel’s solutions than enterprise respondents (18%).


Detailed Findings – IT Complexity Perceptions

Q: Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements.
IT complexity is inevitable. It can be managed but not eliminated.

Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree

Total 41% 40% 8% 7% 4%
CIO 42% 40% 5% 9% 4%
Network World 40% 39% *13% 5% 3%

IT complexity due to integration issues, incompatible, and proprietary technologies is
a significant challenge for organizations today.
Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree

Total 36% 49% 4% 10% 2%
CIO 32% 53% 3% 10% 1%
Network World 41% 43% 4% 9% 2%

* Represents a statistically significant difference between Network World respondents and CIO respondents
Bases: 324 Total respondents, 186 CIO respondents, 138 Network World respondents


Detailed Findings – Perceived Causes of Technology Complexity

Q: What factors do you believe are contributing most actively to business technology
complexity today?
Total CIO Network World
55% *60%
  Needing to support an increasingly diverse set of technologies 49%
47%49%
  Lack of standards across technologies 43%
44%
43%
  Conflicting proprietary technologies 46%
43%
  Difficulty integrating legacy technology 41% 45%
36%
34%38%
  Vendors not making enough effort to simplify their solutions
35%
35%
  Vendors leveraging complexity to create co‐dependency with customers 35%
34%
  Needing to keep pace with end user expectations 30% 37%
32%
31%
  Vendors using complexity to generate revenue from service & support 34%
32%
30% 35%
  Vendors protecting their complex legacy technologies or acquisitions
31%
31%
  Lacking the appropriate internal skill sets/knowledge re: technology 30%
30%
31%
  Technology being inherently complex 28%
28%
26% 30%
  Vendors focusing too narrowly on their solutions to win market share
3%
  Other 1% 4%



Detailed Findings – Approaches to Reducing Complexity

Q: Which of the following approaches do you feel is or would be most effective at
helping reduce or remove IT complexity at organizations today?

Coming up with a strategy to trim or replace complex legacy solutions and move to multiple less complex solutions
For today's leading vendors to acknowledge complexity and overhaul their legacy solutions
Working with support teams of legacy vendors to steadily reign in/manage complexity
Not sure

57% 19% 13% 10%
Total

60% 22% 9% 10%
CIO

53% 17% *19% 12%
Network World



Detailed Findings – Severity of Challenge Posed by Complexity

Q: To what extent is IT complexity a challenge for your own organization?

Extreme Challenge Significant Challenge Average Challenge Not Really a Challenge Not a Challenge At All

9% 48% 37% 5% 1%
Total

6% 49% 37% 6% 1%
CIO

12% 47% 38% 4% 0%
Network World



Detailed Findings – Organizational Contributors to IT Complexity

Q: In your organization, which areas of IT are the biggest
contributors to IT complexity?
51%
  Addressing IT security and compliance 53%
49%
47%
  Aligning technology solutions with business objectives 48%
45%
41%
  Addressing the expectations and demands of users 44%
38%
39%
  Integrating information into business processes *45%
31%
37%
  Integrating communications/collaboration tools into business processes 40%
33%
36%
  Integration of technology in general 40%
32%
35%
  Managing remote and mobile users 33%
37%
19%
  Implementing unified communications successfully 16%
23%
17%
  Ongoing networking‐related issues 16%
19%
12%
  Moving to an IP telephony model 9%
*17%
4%
  Other 4%
3%



Detailed Findings – Steps Taken to Reduce Complexity
Q: What steps is your company taking to manage or
reduce IT complexity? (open‐end)

  Implementing standards 32%
33%
29%
  Reducing/limiting/consolidating number of technologies in use 14% 18%
9%
11%
  Reducing/limiting number of vendors 10%12%
  Reviewing legacy apps or systems for replacement or retirement 10%
11%
8%
  Working with business users to define technology roadmap to support IT‐… 8%
7% 10%
7%
  Reviewing, refreshing, upgrading technology 5% 8%
  Leveraging next generation technologies such as the cloud, SOA, and… 7%
7%
7%
  Investing in training/developing specific skill sets 7%
6% 9%
  Leveraging vendor expertise/support 6%
5% 8%
  Outsourcing IT services 3% 5% 8%
  Seeking/implementing simplified solutions that are easy to integrate 4%
4%
4%
  Application consolidation/software portfolio rationalization 3%
4%
1%
  Using out‐of‐box/packaged solutions 3%
3%
2%
  Other 17%
17%
17%
Don't know 1%
0% 2%
N/A/None 1%
1%
1%



Detailed Findings – Success Reducing Complexity

Q: Have your company’s efforts to manage IT complexity resulted in a measurable
reduction in complexity within your organization?

All Respondents
Yes No

37%

63%

Roughly two‐thirds (67%) of About six in ten (59%) respondents
respondents from CIO’s audience from the Network World audience
report they have achieved a report they have achieved a
measurable reduction in complexity measurable reduction in complexity
within their organization. within their organization.



Detailed Findings – Organizational Attitude Toward Complexity

Q: How well do each of the following statements describe your company?
My company is actively addressing IT complexity as a strategic IT priority
5‐ Describes my company extremely well 4 3 2 1‐ Does not describe my company at all

Total 20% 35% 23% 15% 6%

CIO 19% 34% 26% 15% 5%

Network World 20% 36% 20% 16% 8%

My company culture encourages adoption of new innovations regardless of the
technology complexity they might entail

Total 17% 34% 26% 18% 5%
CIO 15% 33% 26% 20% 5%
Network World 20% 34% 26% 14% 5%



Detailed Findings – Organizational Attitude Toward Complexity cont.

Q: How well do each of the following statements describe your company?
My company is proactive in dealing with IT complexity

Total 16% 41% 30% 9% 5%

CIO 15% 42% 30% 8% 5%

Network World 17% 39% 30% 9% 4%

Complexity does not get in the way of our getting the most of our IT investments

Total 11% 29% 32% 22% 6%

CIO 9% 30% 37% 21% 4%

Network World 14% 28% 26% 22% *10%



Detailed Findings – Perceptions of IP Telephony Complexity

Q: In your opinion how complex are today’s IP telephony solutions?

Extremely Complex Very Complex Somewhat Complex Not Very Complex Not at all Complex

3% 27% 56% 12% 2%
Total

3%
2% 26% 55% 15%
CIO

0%
6% 28% 58% 8%
Network World



Detailed Findings – Experienced/Expected Challenges with IP Telephony

Q: Which of the following have you experienced, or do you expect to experience with
IP telephony solutions?
41%44%
  Inability to implement without vendor assistance 38%
38%
37% 40%
  Expensive vendor service and support
37%
37%
  Business process integration challenges 38%
32%
32%
  Lengthy learning curve for administrators 32%
27% 30%
  Need for significant support resources 34%
24% 28%
  Hard for users to get the most out of the solution 33%
23% 26%
  Expensive operating and maintenance costs 31%
20% 24%
  Lengthy learning curve for users 29%
23%
22%
  Downtime during installation 24%
17% 22%
  Complex management and administration protocols *30%
22%
20% 24%
  Problems stemming from not being truly native IP solution
15%
15%
  Difficult to scale the same given solution up or down 14%
14%
13%
  Cumbersome to do MACs (moves, adds and changes) 15%



Detailed Findings – Causes of IP Telephony Complexity

Q: Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements.

Some of the leading IP telephony solutions today are complex 65%
65%
because they consist of many different technologies bolted together 65%

IP telephony vendors are not doing enough to reduce the complexity 60%
55%
that characterizes many of their solutions *67%

Complexity could be eliminated from IP telephony solutions, however, 58%
55%
vendors are driven by other interests that discourage this 62%
Some of the IP telephony solutions today are complex because they 58%
are older traditional TDM solutions that have only been enabled for 54%
an IP platform 63%

Complexity is responsible for much of the overall operating and 57%
52%
maintenance costs of IP telephony *65%

Complexity is unavoidable in IP telephony solutions because it is 39%
34%
inherent to the technology/process *46%
Solving the problem of complexity in IP telephony solutions is likely to 37%
come from a new provider, rather than from one of the leading 35%
vendors today 40%

Percentages based on the number of respondents who strongly agree/somewhat agree with each statement


Detailed Findings – Relevancy of ShoreTel’s IP telephony Solution

Q: In your experience, how relevant would the following IP telephony solution be for
your organization?
A purpose‐built, native‐IP solution consisting of an open architecture with an all‐in‐one IP phone system with integrated unified
communications and contact center capabilities. Because of the open architecture your company’s important business and
productivity applications integrate seamlessly with the solution’s communications interface. Unlike legacy PBX solutions that are
only IP‐enabled or solutions made up of bolted‐together technologies, this solution is built from the ground up for IP telephony
with no compromises. Moreover, it is appliance‐, as opposed to server‐based, making it scale modularly to any size company with
any number of sites. Moreover, without the moving parts server‐based solutions have, it is fundamentally more reliable.

Extremely Relevant Very Relevant Somewhat Relevant Not Very Relevant Not at all Relevant

18% 40% 30% 10% 2%
Total

17% 39% 32% 9% 3%
CIO

18% 42% 28% 11% 1%
Network World



Detailed Findings – Benefits Expected from Adopting ShoreTel’s Solution

Q: What benefits do you believe your organization might experience from adopting
the type of IP telephony solution just described?

53%
  Lower total cost of ownership 56%
49%
47%
  Giving users communications and collaboration tools to do more with 42%
*54%
47%
  Reducing complexity from my company's environment 48%
45%
42%
  Better alignment of communications workforce and business direction 43%
41%
39%
  Technology adapts to your company's work environment/culture 40%
38%
33%
  Easily integrates with your company's critical business processes 36%
28%
32%
  Providing my company with tools to compete more effectively 28%
37%
31%
  Being able to focus energies away from telephony to strategic projects 30%
33%
8%
  Other 9%
7%



Respondent Profile – Job Title

Q: Which of the following best describes your job title or function?

94%
(NET) IT Management 95%
93%
20%
  CIO *29%
9%
6%
  CTO 6%
4%
10%
  Executive VP/Sr. VP/VP of IS/IT or related function *12%
6%
4%
  Chief IT Architect 2%
7%
27%
  Director of IS/IT or related function *32%
20%
28%
  Manager/supervisor of IS/IT or related function 13%
*48%
6%
(NET) Business Management 5%
7%
2%
  CEO/President 1%
4%
4%
  Line of Business Technology Executive 4%
3%



Respondent Profile – Deployment of IP telephony systems

Q: How would you describe your company's current IP telephony deployment?

29%
  Enterprise‐wide to all sites and employees 31%
27%

22%
  Large deployment to multiple sites 23%
21%

20%
  Deployment limited to one or a small number of 19%
branches/departments 20%

14%
  Not yet deployed but plan to deploy in the next 12‐24 months 12%
16%

9%
  Focused on connecting between offices 9%
9%

6%
  Limited to call center or remote employees 6%
7%



Respondent Profile – Areas of Responsibility

Q: Which of the following statements describes your role/responsibilities at work?

59%
  I am a senior IT decision‐maker in my company *66%
50%

36%
  My primary focus is to drive the IT direction of my company *40%
30%

31%
  I am involved more in the strategic management of IT 33%
30%

10%
  My primary role is to evaluate technologies for IT executives 0%
*24%

9%
  My focus is primarily on the administration of IT matters in my company 0%
*21%

7%
  In my company I fulfill all the roles of an IT manager 5%
10%

7%
  My primary focus is giving support to users with their day‐to‐day IT issues 0%
*17%



Respondent Profile – Industry

Q: Which of the following best describes your organization's industry or function?
  Financial services/Real estate/Insurance 14%15%
12%
9%
  Business/Professional services 8% 10%
  Healthcare 8%8% 9%
  Other public sector/Nonprofit (including Education) 8%
8% 9%
  Hardware/Software/Networking 6% 8% 10%
  Auto/Industrial/Manufacturing 8% *10%
4%
  Wholesale/Retail trade 6% 8%
4%
  Telecommunications 4% 6% 8%
  Government: State or Local 4% 6% 8%
  Chemicals/Energy/Utilities 4%5%
3%
  Media/Entertainment/Travel/Leisure 4%
4%
4%
  Transportation/Warehousing 3% 4%
1%
2%
  Pharmaceuticals/Biotechnology/Life sciences 1% 3%
  Aerospace/Defense 2%
2% 3%
  Food/Beverages/Consumer packaged goods 2%
2%2%
  Construction 2%
2%
1%
  Government: Federal 1%
1% 2%
  Other 6% 7% 9%



Respondent Profile – Company Size

Q: Approximately how many people are employed in your entire organization or
enterprise?
Network World CIO Total

32%
30%
28%

24%
22%

18%
17%
15% 14%
13% 13%
11% 12%

8% 8%
7%
6% 7% 6%
6%
4%

0% 0% 0%

20,000 or 10,000 ‐ 5,000 ‐ 9,999 1,000 ‐ 4,999 500 ‐ 999 100 ‐ 499 50 ‐ 99 Less than 50
more 19,999



IDG Research Services specializes in marketing and media‐related research for technology
marketers. As a division of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading technology
media, research, and event company, IDG Research Services brings the resources and
experience of a large, global company to its clients in the form of a small, customer‐focused
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Janet King
GM/Vice President
Office: 207‐847‐9377
Fax: 207‐847‐9373
Email: janet_king@idgresearch.com


Navigating IT Complexity - Research report by IDG

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