That’s according to the network monitoring company Paessler, which compared and contrasted the views and opinions of 2000 IT administrators globally. 

According to Paessler, while 59% of Australian IT staff were frustrated by something in the network going wrong unexpectedly, only 49% of Dutch managers felt the same frustration.

Paessler says both markets compared favourably to those in the US, where 68% of IT administrators were frustrated by unexpected network problems.

This compares to 29% of IT administrators in Germany, 26% in the US and 23% in France – and this frustration was most prominent among IT admins in the UK, at 46%.

End users reporting problems before IT knows about them was the second most stated frustration for IT admins at work, with more than half (52%) of Australian IT staff stating this – and less of a frustration for their French and Dutch counterparts, at 45%. 

“Information technology sits at the heart of the modern business, underpinning everything from production and back-office functions to customer interactions and order fulfilment,” says George Wilson, director of Sales Operations – APAC, Paessler. 

“Operating without IT would be like operating without electricity.   IT used to be firmly under the direction and control of a business’s IT department, but increasingly this is no longer the case. Trends such as BYOD, SaaS and cloud storage are allowing staff to source and use their own resources independently of the IT department. 

“This survey suggests that Australian IT staff are feeling a sense of vulnerability with issues potentially originating from the users themselves, many no doubt due to human error.  At the same time, there really does appear to be little appreciation for the work that IT staff do for their business.”

Wilson said the IT administrator’s role is only really made apparent when something goes wrong.

“Indeed, tasked with deploying and managing hardware and software, the traditional view still holds that the IT department is not a group that can provide strategic vision and advice. 

“This situation needs to change if organisations want to thrive. Rather than being predominantly labelled as a cost centre or reactive service provider, the IT department must be given the opportunity to become more innovative, and as a result, better positioned to take the lead role in digital transformation projects. Maybe then we will see frustrations dissipate among IT administrators.”

Paessler said the survey also pointed to the “lucky ones”, with 14% of Australian and UK IT staff claiming to have no frustrations at work, referencing a reliable monitoring solution as the reason for this.

And Austrian and Dutch staff were most likely to say they had no frustrations due to their monitoring software (38% and 33% respectively), the survey revealed.