If your IT employees feel like they’re on a perpetual hamster wheel—working hard but not really moving forward—they’re far from alone: Tech leaders and staffers spend the vast majority of their time “keeping the lights on” instead of innovating, according to a recent survey from Sungard Availability Services. The accompanying “Little Book of IT 2017” reports that modernization requirements are further limiting technology advancements in other areas. At the same time, IT budgets remain flat for a large number of core investment areas, such as the enterprise-wide integration of IT. It helps, however, that most survey respondents feel that the tech department plays an extremely influential role in business strategies. “New business models are driving requirements, while IT leaders leverage new approaches to IT service delivery and renovate legacy systems to prepare for the challenge at hand,” according to the report. “The IT function is looking to build expertise in areas such as security, cloud and mobility, yet it’s never been more vital to maintain a sharp focus on the everyday operations that define the traditional role of IT. … [There’s also] the pain of transformation and modernization headaches. In this age of IT disruption—where digital technologies are transforming how, where and when business gets done—the speed at which we can embrace those technologies determines our ability to compete. Today, remaining relevant means picking up the pace of technology adoption and transformation.” The findings cover a wide range of additional tech topics, including shadow IT and in-house software development, and we’ve included those here. A total of 1,350 global IT professionals and decision-makers took part in the research.