Softcat: End users' IT priorities remain unchanged for 2011

VAR's research reveal the top five IT priorities are the same in 2011 as 2010

Top IT priorities among end users have not changed in the past 12 months, according to the latest research from VAR Softcat.

The firm questioned 1,224 decision makers from UK corporate and public sector organisations to discover their top five IT infrastructure priorities for the year ahead.

Topping the list for the second year running is business continuity/disaster recovery. Server consolidation/virtualisation is in second place, IT support comes third, security is fourth, and Windows 7 migration remains in fifth place.

All five priorities remain unchanged in 2011 from 2010.

It is only after the top five that priorities begin to change and the meteoric rise of cloud computing becomes evident: it rises from 11th place in 2010 to sixth in 2011.

Other priorities in the top ten include storage, Exchange migration, PC refresh and networking upgrades. Centralised computing/VDI/terminal services also rises three places to the 11 spot.

Voice over IP/UC and SAM are in 13th and 14th place, respectively. Other low-ranking priorities include Sharepoint implementation, mobility and remote datacentre.

Interestingly, green IT is in 19th place at the bottom of the priority list, and a new entrant is in 20th place: the consumerisation of IT.

Martin Hellawell, managing director of Softcat, said: "While we agree that business continuity/disaster recovery is a very broad description, this area has been the top priority for our customers in these surveys for the last five years."

Softcat also pledged £5 for each of its survey responses, raising an imporessive £6,120 for Stoke Mandeville Cancer Care unit. This brings its total charitable donations to date to more than £100,000.