AI, Data, and Infrastructure: The Top Challenges Keeping Enterprise IT Teams Under Pressure, Sector by Sector

For IT leaders, restful nights are in short supply. Given the latest push toward modernization, the explosion of AI capabilities over the past year, and their existing concerns, it’s no surprise they feel like they can’t sleep.

Rocket’s latest survey, which included global IT leaders from companies with more than 1,000 employees, aimed to better understand the hazards that make IT leaders across industries toss and turn at night.

These demands impact different sectors in unique ways, depending on their specific characteristics and needs. IT experts working in retail, manufacturing, finance, healthcare, and beyond outlined both the challenges they face today and the exciting plans they are launching to boost efficiency and operational performance in the years ahead.

Financial Services: Continuity and Compliance Under Real-Time Pressure

One of the most challenging aspects of the threat surface that IT experts face in finance is navigating it all under a microscope.  

In financial services, continuity and compliance are inseparable. The financial services sector is highly governed, constantly audited, and at high-risk for data theft. It relies on strong on-premises systems with limited cloud use and strict verification to mitigate risk. Enterprises prioritize securing sensitive data to prevent immediate financial or reputational damage from breaches.  

Over a third (36%) of survey respondents lose sleep over process risk and compliance, and for good reason. Financial services IT experts manage sensitive data like Know Your Customer (KYC) processes, social security numbers, credit cards, and financial histories, risking hefty penalties under regulations such as 23 NYCRR 500, DORA, and PCI DSS 4.0.

These concerns are powerful but controlled. When asked how effectively their organization ensures compliance with security regulations and standards, 33% chose “extremely effective” and 49% chose “very effective.” This confidence reflects a deliberate focus on operational resilience, building systems designed to maintain uninterrupted service and withstand regulatory review.

Healthcare: Prioritizing Protecting Data Privacy

Like the finance sector, IT leaders in healthcare understand the importance of data privacy because their work closely relates to what people care about most: their finances and health. Sixty-nine percent cited data security as their top modernization concern, up from 50% in 2023, when Rocket last conducted this survey. Clearly, data security is an enduring priority across industries, with finance near the top of the list.  

In healthcare, trust is of paramount importance because data security directly impacts patient safety. Breaches can delay surgeries, expose private health information, divert ambulances, and disrupt medication deliveries. That’s why 70% of respondents stated that over the next year, their biggest concern for their organization regarding AI adoption is data privacy and security, as it can truly make the difference between heightened efficiency and systemic failure.  

Encouragingly, modernization efforts are gaining traction in strengthening enterprise IT. 51% of those surveyed say their organization doesn't rely on outdated systems for critical operations, a positive step toward maintaining trust through IT improvements. Organizations are thoughtfully evolving their tech stacks by reinforcing stable core architectures, such as mainframes, while layering on modern capabilities to support future growth.

Retail and Manufacturing: Resilience and Investment Choices in the Face of Thin Margins and High Volume

The retail sector rides the predictably unpredictable wave of a shifting economy, particularly during peak holiday shopping seasons and periods of shifting consumer demand. IT leaders in the retail sector are kept on their toes by factors like inflation and volatile supply chains, as even brief disruptions can cost millions. E-commerce outages halt revenue, which immediately affects business continuity, a top concern cited by 36% of leaders. 

Digital platforms compete to optimize performance as retailers serve global users who expect seamless, always-on experiences at every stage of the purchase journey. From browsing and price comparison to checkout and post-purchase confirmations, customers have little tolerance for lag or disruption. That reality raises the stakes for infrastructure resilience, as retailers must ensure their systems can scale and withstand peak demand. Slow performance can lead to abandoned carts and lost sales, so IT must refine operations to prevent them.

In retail, the core fear anchoring resilience efforts is sales stopping; in manufacturing, it’s production. It’s no wonder, then, that 42% of leaders said controlling costs is an issue keeping them up at night. Plants run 24/7, and a production line shutdown results in monumental daily losses. IT leaders are often the ones held accountable, even if they don’t have complete control over plant-floor environments.  

These pressures don’t exist in isolation. Manufacturing sits at the start of the supply chain and retail at its end, so failures at either link affect the whole system. Factory delays cause inventory shortages, and shelves run empty. In a globally connected economy, neither sector can escape disruption on its own.

That interdependence raises the stakes for infrastructure resilience on both sides. When manufacturing systems falter, output stalls; when retail systems falter, revenue stops. Both outcomes ripple outward, affecting suppliers, distributors, logistics providers, and ultimately consumers worldwide. As supply chains grow more digitized and data-driven, the operational continuity of factories and the performance stability of digital storefronts don’t exist in a vacuum; they are interconnected resilience pain points with global consequences.

The Takeaway

Across industries, the common thread is clear: IT leaders are losing sleep over resilience, risk, cost, and performance, and these concerns directly reflect the realities of their sectors. They must balance innovation with stability, growth with governance, and transformation with continuity. From strengthening infrastructure resilience and tightening security postures to optimizing costs and modernizing responsibly, forward-looking teams are building strategies that reflect their industry’s unique risk profile.

To explore the full data and sector-specific insights, download the complete IT Leaders survey report. You can also learn more about the solutions leading organizations are using to cut costs, improve resilience, reduce risk, and prevent compliance failures — or take IDC’s Modernization Index to pinpoint your organization’s custom path to modernization based on where you stand today.