Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2017. Read them in this 9th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Rob Consoli, Chief Revenue Officer, Liaison Technologies
What's in Store for the Enterprise Cloud Ecosystem?
This is an incredibly exciting time
for the enterprise cloud sector, driven by professionals who understand that
data is the new business currency. Fortune 500 companies collect data using
hundreds of apps, gleaning information from a variety of sources, including
social media.
Turning this torrent of data (that
arrives in a variety of disparate formats from a multitude of apps) into
actionable insights is the challenge now, and will continue to be the key to
unlocking innovation in 2017 and beyond. Integration and data management operations
tax enterprise infrastructure and resources, and IT and data professionals need
a new way forward. These five trends will emerge as they grapple with this
challenge:
1.
App-centric
operations will become data-centric: Enterprises currently deploy
hundreds of apps that produce an influx of data in a range of formats. Now
they're realizing that they need a better way to integrate and manage this
disparate data in order to work with the data as a whole, rather than as
discrete application artifacts. When they find that solution and take the next step,
they'll be transformed from app-centric to data-centric enterprises.
2. Enterprises will discover new ways to
handle labor-intensive integration tasks: According to Gartner, the world's leading information
technology research and advisory company, through 2018, 90% of organizations will lack a
postmodern application integration strategy. To combat
this, enterprises will increasingly outsource integration and data management
and refocus internal resources on more strategic tasks.
3.
Synergy
between integration and data management will accelerate insights: Enterprises
will increasingly see the value of synergies established by deploying a single
integration and data management solution. Synergies between integration and data
management will eliminate operational redundancies, improve governance, allow
the enterprise to tackle more advanced data use cases, and accelerate insights.
4.
Enterprises
will find a bridge to the cloud: Many
enterprises are still using legacy middleware systems that predate the cloud.
Over the years, they've invested tens of millions of dollars in these systems,
which handle vital functions. In 2017, expect these enterprises to seek
solutions that preserve the investments they've made in legacy systems while
providing a bridge to the cloud.
5.
iPaaS
will evolve. iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service), despite a recent
surge in adoption for those needing to supplement their on-premises middleware
with cloud integration capabilities, will not stand the test of time. It will need
to mature in ways that offer enterprises improved compliance, data management,
governance, and integration capabilities beyond tedious point-to-point
solutions. Expect new market players or existing companies (such as Liaison) to
improve upon iPaaS to better meet the needs of a rapidly changing market.
If there's one common theme among
these trends, it's the increasing consolidation of data and the operations
performed on data. Over the past decade, enterprises have struggled to capture
the value of exponentially increasing volumes of data with piecemeal solutions.
As the enterprise cloud ecosystem evolves in 2017 and beyond, look for
enterprise leaders to choose solutions that take a more holistic approach to
integration, data management, and data analysis in order to accelerate
insights.
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About the Author
As Chief Revenue Officer for Liaison
Technologies, Rob Consoli is responsible for Liaison's overall revenue strategy
which includes overseeing U.S. Sales and Global Marketing. Since joining the
company in 2010, Rob has held various leadership roles in sales and marketing
and has been instrumental in establishing Liaison as market leader. Prior to
joining Liaison, Rob held key sales leadership roles at I.D. Systems, Visiprise
(acquired by SAP), Jacada, Forte Software, and Programming Research. Rob has
Master of Engineering Management degree from SMU and a Bachelor of Science
degree in Aerospace Engineering from Auburn University.