
Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2018. Read them in this 10th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Lawrence Schwartz, CMO, SoftwareONE
The need for agile IT drives changes in the cloud
As we discovered last year -- the demand for agile IT solutions
is here to stay. In 2017, many companies took a good, long, hard look at their
initial cloud deployment strategies and examined how they're operating
alongside the typical on-premises corporate IT infrastructure. I think this
drove many organizations to pivot their strategies, and those changes will manifest
in the coming year. We'll see SaaS grow, cloud management strategies shift and
the way we train our employees evolve.
Prediction
1: SaaS maturity drives governance
In the year ahead, Software as a Service
(SaaS) applications will continue to grow, further defining themselves in the
enterprise space. However, SaaS will not serve as a replacement for other
leading enterprise business applications. Instead, it will be in addition to
the current model, carving out a space for it to expand. As business-driven
SaaS becomes more pervasive, I think it will organically push IT toward a
different approach to governance. Due to the fact that some SaaS applications
are used across an organization, while others are deployed on a much smaller
scale (think department level, or even individual level), they cannot all be
governed the same way. Each application needs to be evaluated against business
goals, and governed in a way that allows the IT team to stay both agile and
secure. I expect that this will also push our customers to search for a single
provider to support their multiple SaaS applications, ensuring a seamless
experience across the organization and helping bring Shadow IT operations into
the light.
Prediction
2: Cloud deployment strategies will continue to evolve
Everyone knows at this point that the cloud
isn't going anywhere. But, I do think deployment models will continue to
evolve. In addition to the rise of SaaS, my four biggest predictions for the
cloud are:
1)
Hyperconvergence will take its
place as the default stack for building scalable, hybrid cloud solutions.
2)
Network Functions Virtualization
(NFV) and management of NFV will become seamless between the public and private
cloud.
3)
Cloud spend on un-managed
applications will continue to rise. I predict that this year this cost will
actually outpace the money organizations spend on non-compliance software
audits.
4)
For the foreseeable future, there
will be a new focus on the management, automation and security of microservices
as architecture styles continue to evolve.
Prediction
3: Employee training will be integral to adopting emerging technologies
Back in the day, employee training might have
been a yearly activity, or just something that happened on your first day of
work. However, with the rate that enterprise technology is evolving, that
approach is no longer an option. If employees do not understand new
technologies, they will likely resist adoption. To combat this, ongoing
employee education and training will become a priority for organizations and will
ultimately come to define their company culture. Ensuring that every employee
has access to the newest technology and is using it correctly will become
paramount, setting the tone for employee (and customer) satisfaction. On the
flip side, training is also crucial to helping employees curb outdated
technology habits. If they do not adapt to new technologies, it can become a
serious security risk for organizations, opening the door to data leaks and
ransomware. While some employees may be resistant at first to new protocol, striking
a balance between technology adoption and best practices starts with effective
training, which will lead companies down the path towards employee
satisfaction.
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About the Author
Lawrence Schwartz has focused his career on growing companies and
building world-class marketing organizations. Lawrence joined SoftwareONE last year as CMO and oversees the company's
worldwide marketing strategy and operations. With 20 years of experience in data
and information systems, Lawrence has been a featured speaker at leading
conferences, and has been quoted in numerous industry publications. He holds a
Master in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, as well as a
Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.