According to a Brocade-commissioned survey of UK-based IT Decision Makers (ITDMs), the top IT department priority for 2015 is increasing efficiency, as organisations demand to get more value out of their spending.

The survey reveals 53% of IT leaders see increasing efficiency as their top priority. Why? Mainly budget restrictions, as only 31% of organisations expect an increase in their IT capital spending for the coming year, while 69% predict budgets will either stay flat or decrease.

However a demand for change remains-- just 31% of surveyed ITDMs are "very confident" their current network infrastructure can handle the demands likely to be placed on it on the next 12 months. 33% are prioritising the improvement of existing infrastructure, while 32% are focusing to simply keep existing infrastructure up and running for another year.

Brocade says the immediate future should see an increase in reliance on cloud services, as 65% of survey respondents say the cloud will likely impact their business the most on 2015. Server virtualisation and Big Data (19% each) are also seen as significant, as is 3D printing (20%). Wearable technology, on the other, is seen as not too big a deal as only it is mentioned by only 12% of respondents.

“Given the focus on efficiency, it is not surprising that many organisations expect to be increasingly reliant on cloud services in the coming year, as this is potentially a great way for IT departments to deliver more value without increasing capital expenditure,” the company comments. “Cloud computing-- in conjunction with pervasive mobility and the Internet of Things-- will also have a major impact on the role of the New IP. These are all network-centric computing models and so will only add to the need for fast, flexible, and reliable connectivity. It is therefore vital that the network is fit-for-purpose so it can enable, rather than inhibit, the expected growth of cloud services.”

On the long term IT leaders are looking into more innovative networking approaches, including moving to New IP, SDN and Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV). However many admit a lack of knowledge in the potential benefits of such technologies (35% of survey respondents do not fully understand SDN, and 45% say the same on NFV), marking an opportunity in education as well as sales.

Go Tight IT Budgets to Drive Efficiency Demands in 2015, Brocade Reveals