NEW YORK — Buckling under the weight of their high-tech to-do lists, an alarming number of people working in information technology (IT) are reportedly reaching the breaking point. Specifically, 58 percent of IT professionals across the United States, United Kingdom, and India confess to feeling overwhelmed by their daily workload, revealing a startling crisis of burnout in the tech industry.
The international poll of 1,000 U.S.-based, 250 U.K.-based, and 250 India-based IT decision-makers finds nearly six in 10 regularly feel overwhelmed. That includes 78 percent of IT professionals in India, 60 percent in the U.K., and 53 percent in the U.S.
On any given day, the average IT worker only has the capacity to support 85 percent of the customer support tickets they receive. While roughly half are easy for IT teams to troubleshoot (50% in the U.S., 48% in the U.K., and 46% in India), nearly one-third of tickets (29%) are considered difficult to resolve.
IT workers also noted that they are frequently responsible for a range of additional tasks within their organization, which may contribute to feeling overwhelmed. Respondents said they are responsible for addressing cybersecurity issues (39%), internal security issues (26%), and budget issues (25%).
According to the study commissioned by GoTo and conducted by OnePoll, however, artificial intelligence is increasingly coming to the rescue of IT teams and is likely to continue changing the way they work in the years ahead. A large majority of respondents (92%) would consider the use of AI beneficial for their work, and 94 percent say they would be willing to delegate simple tasks to AI. Seventy-three percent would even be willing to delegate complex tasks to the technology.
On average, IT workers believe delegating tasks to AI could save them more than two hours of work during any given day.
Over four in five (83%) believe it would be easy for them to offload their simpler tasks to AI. In fact, the potential of AI is pushing 93 percent of IT leaders to consider upskilling in order to leverage the technology in their day-to-day tasks. The most commonly reported tasks IT teams are looking to offload to AI include monitoring network performance (44%), basic device troubleshooting (42%), and remediating basic problems (40%).
“Despite many feeling overwhelmed, we’re excited to see how IT decision-makers are seeing AI as a beneficial tool that they can use to make IT easier to manage,” says Olga Lagunova, Chief Product and Technology Officer at GoTo, in a statement. “Many people see AI as this scary entity, capable of taking their jobs. But what this data tells us is that there are many people in this industry across the globe who see it as a way to make their own workloads easier.”
The survey also revealed that 73 percent of IT teams already use AI, and 61 percent of those who don’t are planning to adopt it in their organizations within the next 12 months. Sixty-five percent said their team is directly responsible for deciding if their organization will use AI in the future.
In adopting AI, many shared how they believe their roles will be affected over the next 10 years. A large portion believes they’ll have more time to focus on higher-priority tasks (48%), more efficient ticketing workflows (43%), and additional IT team responsibilities (41%).
If AI were able to manage certain tasks on their behalf, respondents would spend more time working on improving their organization’s IT infrastructure (55%), focus on more difficult tickets (46%), or improve their organization’s security (42%).
In the United States, 44 percent would aim to improve their organization’s security. Meanwhile, many in India (48%) and in the U.K. (36%) would take the time to focus on their professional development.
“There’s no denying that there’s still a lot for us to learn about AI and what it can do,” Lagunova continues. “What’s important to keep in mind is how people in the IT industry are keeping themselves properly up to date and informed on the best practices of AI in their workflow. And we believe that it’s going well.”
Survey methodology:
This random double-opt-in survey of 1,000 U.S.-based IT decision makers, 250 U.K.-based IT decision makers, and 250 India-based IT decision makers was commissioned by GoTo between Feb. 28 and Mar. 8, 2024. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).