
Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2014. Read them in this VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed article by Mark Settle, CIO, BMC Software
Consumerization of IT Driving Significant Change
The continued consumerization of IT is presenting countless
challenges and opportunities for IT. BYOD, data integration and cloud computing
are just a few. As we look to 2014, here are some of the changes I see
developing throughout the year.
Enterprise App Stores: The Candy Crush
Model
As companies increasingly implement enterprise app stores to
support employees on tablet and mobile devices, they must determine their
policies for developing, securing and provisioning this content. As you might
expect, many companies implement a top-down approach for delivering apps they
believe employees will find useful. However this approach carries the risk of
offering content that lacks the stickiness to drive maximum
usage.
As more employees become adept at application development, I
believe a sandbox approach to offering apps is the best way forward. When
companies offer an enterprise store to which anyone can post apps that meet a
certain criteria, the most relevant and useful will become adopted, thereby
creating a Candy Crush model that fosters maximum usage.
With that in mind, I believe that 2014 will see companies
loosen the reins on their app policies, delivering tools that help employees
better perform.
Big Data: Data Gets Some
Integrity
2014 will show that the database
analysts were right all along. The proliferation of platforms, devices and
applications offer tremendous big data opportunities and still, confounding
challenges. Delivering customer, employee and company data to, and securing
information from users in the field, both accurately and effectively remains a
huge opportunity for most companies. Having the ability to intelligently and
accurately analyze this abundance of data: the Holy Grail.
As IT continues to put a great
deal of emphasis around the end-user experience, the database analysts, who have
been espousing the fundamentals of integrity for decades, will rule the day,
making 2014 the year of data integrity.
Cloud Innovation Skeptics. You Ain't Seen Nothin'
Yet
Let's face it. The Cloud has taken
a lot of heat lately. While some still espouse the power of the Cloud as an epic
panacea, others deride with talk of cloud-washing, security problems and service
outages. So what's next for the Cloud, amongst those who predict Cloud is dead
and those who believe it will change the world?
While the Cloud may not be perfect
today, I am hard-pressed to think of a technology that is. And at the same time,
a new flock of developers are currently becoming masters at design and filling
the cloud skills gap. Today, more applications than ever are being
written as native cloud apps from the onset. Further, as platform-as-a-service
becomes the new normal, platform developers will come more cloud savvy, and
platform engineering will become more sophisticated.
So if you're someone who thinks we
are seeing a cloud innovation plateau today, I believe it will soon be
interrupted by an influx of sophisticated offerings, making 2014 a year of great
cloud progress and adoption. In short, the best for Cloud is yet to
come.
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About the Author
Mark Settle joined BMC Software in June 2008. He has
served as the CIO of four Fortune 300 companies: Corporate Express, Arrow
Electronics, Visa International, and Occidental Petroleum. Settle has worked in
a variety of industries including consumer products, high tech distribution,
financial services, and oil and gas. During the early stages of his career, he
was the director of a systems integration business unit within Hughes Aircraft
Company. Settle's formal training is in the Geological Sciences. He received his
Bachelor's and Master's degrees from MIT and a PhD from Brown University. Settle
is a former Air Force officer and NASA Program Scientist.