A recent survey conducted by Atrion listed out their top five IT challenges of 2017, as identified by IT leaders attending their second annual AlwaysOn technology symposium. What we like about the list is that, a) it's simple and b) doesn't try to impress with a lot of futuristic concepts that may or may not actually hit the market.

It's not surprising to see cyber security ranked #1 on the list. If you are anywhere near IT these days, you know the ongoing battle being waged against the cyber-attacks and data breaches; the fallout from today's virtually unrestricted access to the internet. Between BYOD laptops, notebooks and smart phones, this is a challenge that will be finding its place on lists for a while. It's no wonder that the cyber security market is expected to grow from $75.4 billion in 2015 to $170 billion by 2020.

The other major issue, in the making for a few years, now, is that lack of adequately trained support personnel to deal with the complexity of new era security challenges, as well as finding ways to corral and tame the data emanating from IoT applications. And, when you do run across those rising stars, budgetary constraints may prevent you from bringing them on board.

Sound familiar? It seems like ours has been a strapped industry for years, now. Only with cloud computing, BYOD and IoT have C level executives been forced to take a second look at who they have on deck to manage it all.

What is your plan to tackle these challenges? There is still time to get some professional insight and help with these and other issues.

Let us know what's on your list for 2017 and how we can help.