Action1, a leading provider of autonomous endpoint management (AEM) solutions, has officially published the results from its annual report i.e. Action1 2025 Survey Report i.e. AI Impact on Sysadmins.
Going by the available details, this particular study was designed, from the get go, to explore the evolving perceptions, concerns, and expectations of system administrators (sysadmins), as far as integration of generative AI into their job functions is concerned.
More on the same would reveal how the whole exercise entailed survey of well over 600 sysadmins worldwide. As for the results, they revealed a growing interest in AI integration, but having said so, Action1 also discovered persistent doubt among respondents, along with practical barriers, and a clear demand for structured training.
Talk about the whole report on a slightly deeper level, we begin from the fact that, while AI readiness is surely on the up, it still has to cover a significant ground before achieving universal adoption. For instance 45% of all respondents reported that they now understand how to integrate AI into their roles, up from 34% last year. However, a significant workforce contingent continues to struggle against a lack of clarity on how to use AI effectively.
Almost like an extension of it, Action1 deemed organizational adoption of AI as largely cautious and uneven. We say so because, despite the growing familiarity, the technology is yet to become a standard practice. It happens to be the case because no more than 22% of sysadmins said their organizations require AI use. On the other hand, a majority (73%) still report no such requirement.
Another detail worth a mention relates to how operational use of AI is expanding in select areas. This particular aspect treads up a long distance to showcase that, as per current implementation trends, troubleshooting (41%) and log analysis (35%) lead the way for possible use cases, with notable growth from 2024.
On the flipside, though, more sensitive functions, such as SSO/password management (2%) and file management (5%), were found to remain largely untouched.
Hold on, we still have a couple of bits left to unpack, considering we haven’t yet touched upon the way 70% of sysadmins are actively seeking AI-related training, but at the same time, many still worry about falling behind more AI-savvy peers. Within all this commotion, concerns like AI’s accuracy (79%), security risks (78%), and loss of control (60%) continue to slow adoption.
We also haven’t touched upon how, mirroring its growing popularity, AI’s limitations are also now becoming increasingly evident. The stated limitations have made their presence felt in areas like troubleshooting (30%), log analysis (12%), and support-related tasks. Some of these implementations have even caused operational disruptions (20%).
Founded in 2018, Action1’s rise up the ranks stems from autonomous endpoint management platform which, in case you weren’t aware, is cloud-native, infinitely scalable, and highly secure solution. Making the given platform even more attractive would be its configurability, as it can be configured in 5 minutes. Alongside that, the company also employs a third-party patching facility- AEM’s foundational use case – which comes in handy for patching distribution and real-time vulnerability assessment without needing a VPN.
Certified for SOC 2 and ISO 27001, Action1’s excellence in what it does can be further understood once you consider it is, at the moment, trusted by thousands of enterprises that, on their part, are managing millions of endpoints globally.
“Sysadmins are the unsung heroes of their organizations, ensuring every employee can get their work done,” said Mike Walters, President and Co-founder of Action1. “Our latest survey shows how they are embracing generative AI to automate their routine tasks and give them more time to elevate their value and impact. As much as operational use is expanding, it’s clear that limitations still exist, meaning that human oversight is still essential.”
