UK IT professionals are the most confident in Europe about their department’s readiness for the future of strengthened cybersecurity and AI implementation.
A Europe-wide survey of 6,000 IT professionals from firms with more than 25 employees found 45% in the UK believe their IT department is fully future-proofed, compared with 43% in Switzerland, 40% in Austria, 37% in Germany and 35% in Belgium.
The research, conducted by ITSM leader TOPdesk, found IT professionals in Europe, including the UK, see AI as vital, but have run into difficulties over its implementation.
In the UK specifically, 49% say using AI for everything from repetitive tasks like ticket categorisation, to advanced insights such as data analysis, is a key element of future-proofing. Yet while AI adoption is underway, only 36% regard their organisation’s use of AI as advanced or mature. This is where the technology is fully embedded across the organisation, delivers measurable value and supports strategic objectives.
Other barriers remain too. More than a quarter of UK IT pros still see the shortage of skills (28%) and lack of investment (27%) as primary blockers to future-proofing. A fifth (20%) can see that the inability to integrate with business systems is a still problem.
Hannah Salt, Head of Customer Enablement, TOPdesk, says: “It’s great to see confidence in future-readiness is so high among UK IT departments and that AI is increasingly removing the more routine burdens for IT. But there is still a long way to go for most UK organisations and even where confidence is high, barriers remain to true future-readiness. UK organisations need to invest in strong processes, clear roles and close cooperation with other departments. Only when that foundation is in place can they benefit from the full advantages of AI.”
