Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2019.  Read them in this 11th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

Contributed by Gijsbert Janssen van Doorn, Technology Evangelist at Zerto

A New Approach to Data Management Driven by Converging Infrastructure, Cloud, Backup and Security

Throughout 2018, we saw headlines dominated by data - whether it was in the context of privacy, breaches or the fundamental infrastructure that shapes how it is stored, managed and protected. In 2019, this will continue, however a few specific themes will become the focus for enterprise IT. These themes will center on taking a more resilient approach to data infrastructure - with less point solutions coming together to do more when it comes to data.

• We will see a new meaning for the word "convergence." In 2018 we saw hardware vendors trying to converge the software layer into their product offering. However, all they've really created is a new era of vendor lock-in - a hyper-lock-in in many ways. In 2019 organizations will rethink what converged solutions mean, and as IT professionals increasingly look for out-of-the-box ready solutions to simplify operations, we'll see technology vendors work together to bring more vendor-agnostic, comprehensive converged systems to market.
• More businesses will begin to make the dream of hybrid cloud a reality. Protecting workloads once they're in a public or multi-cloud environment can often be a big challenge that people just don't think about. It's easy to assume that once your data is out there, it's already safe, and the platform won't go down. However, this simply isn't the case. Businesses need to be actively looking to protect and monitor data wherever it is and understand what role mobility can play. As workloads' needs change, businesses will need to make sure they have a way to move data to, from and between different infrastructures without interruption to ensure the organization is able to seamlessly adapt and protect itself.
• More business leaders will opt for technologies that provide assurances. All workloads, data and applications need to be protected, no matter where they reside, where they are moved to or what outside influences impact them. It is important not to make downtime vulnerability an 'acceptable' risk, in order to focus on continuous development, speed and performance. Achieving this, without slowing the pace of business transformation, is the great technology challenge that business leaders will overcome in 2019.'
• Backup will evolve in 2019. In 2018, it became clear that current backup solutions are no longer fit for purpose with nearly half of all businesses experiencing an unrecoverable data event in the last three years. However, preventing data loss requires constant, second by second backup. The big challenge for backup vendors with this is how to minimize the impact such frequent backups can have on production. Some hardware vendors have worked hard to try to minimize the impact but have created more of an evolution to backup technology rather than revolution. The race is still on to find a way to eliminate the impact entirely. To solve this, the absolute fundamentals of backup are going to have to change. Organizations want real convergence of solutions with fast recovery and more granularity - 24/7 - without the negative impact on compute or network bandwidth.
• Organizations will need to work to power through the ransomware fatigue. 2018 became the year of ransomware fatigue as attack after attack seemed to be hitting the headlines. In 2019, as these attacks get bigger and more dangerous, it's crucial that businesses don't let this fatigue overwhelm them but continue to do everything they can to prepare. If as much time went into ransomware protection and recovery as people spend talking about the dangers of attacks, businesses would find themselves much better prepared overall!
  

In order to stay protected and competitive, organizations need to focus on remaining 'always on' - weathering the disruption and getting back online within seconds. With this sort of reliable data availability, businesses can finally rest and let concerns about data protection, security and backup take a back seat to a more positive focus on digital transformation.

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About the Author

Gijsbert Janssen van Doorn is a Technology Evangelist at Zerto. In this role, Gijsbert is responsible for exciting audiences about the potential of Zerto, acting as an advocate for the technology that will shape the future of IT resilience. Gijsbert comes from a technical engineering background - originally starting at Zerto in 2015 as a solutions engineer. Prior to Zerto, Gijsbert worked as a Sales Engineer at Nexenta Systems, and a Consultant for Datacenter Services at CSN Group. He has been in his current role for just over a year.

Gijsbert describes himself as a passionate technologist, whose professional motto is: "Never stop learning and never stop having fun."