A quarter of SMEs are struggling to manage their IT infrastructure according to research by Censuswide on behalf of essensys.
Of the 350 business decision makers polled a third of board directors believing their IT is too complex.
The research highlighted a number of other IT frustrations with 29% of business decision makers also agreeing that IT is too expensive; 21% find it hard to stay up to date with new technologies; and 27% says the cost of rolling out new IT services is too high. Less than 8% of those surveyed said they didn't have any IT frustrations.
Mark Furness, CEO at essensys, said: "The way people work is changing all the time as we move towards an ever more hyper-connected world.
"However, the fact that our research has highlighted all of these frustrations means that, more often than not, the reality is lagging behind the hype.
"Not because businesses don't want to embrace new technologies, but because they are hindered by complex implementation, cost and a lack of flexibility.
"We believe that businesses should expect more from their IT infrastructure. IT should indeed play a key role in leading change and innovation inside organisations rather than be a barrier and a source of frustration.
"Businesses should therefore no longer accept IT solutions that are reliant on complex management tools, have high maintenance demands and are difficult to scale."
essensys's report sets out how businesses need IT infrastructures that are driven by far greater automation and sophisticated orchestration technology, empowering people to easily self-serve and manage their services.
"IT can really be a main driver of productivity and competitiveness and thankfully, the experience is a lot better than what most people expect," added Furness.