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

Contributed by Zvi Guterman, founder and CEO of CloudShare

Multi-cloud Environments, Advanced Analytics and Virtual IT Labs Gain Prominence in 2019

It's easy to get bogged down in details and lose sight of the "big picture" when it comes to predicting the future of IT. Numbers can be represented in various ways to show different views without assessing the true drivers behind technology. That said, there were a few indisputable trends - from multi-cloud adoption to virtual training developments - that increasingly gained strength over the past year.

The following looks at their continued progress in 2019 and how organizations can best leverage these to make gains.

Sales and Analytics Advances

First is the ongoing advancement of analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). When the Big Data era began years ago it was obvious we would have to develop new technology in order to collect, analyze and act on the vast amounts of information organizations generate. Today, sales departments depend on this customer information and algorithms to create a truly personalized customer experience and win business.

This year, advanced analytics will continue making improvements to increase visibility into customer data and the sales process. Specifically, more analytics and the use of new technologies will become part of the proof-of-concept (POC) process. Cloud-based demos, for example, allow sales teams to quickly and securely share complex IT environments online, which help meet the demands and expectations of today's IT buyers.

With the ability to provide prospects with a dedicated, production-grade replica of your product in a virtual demo, potential buyers will receive relevant, insightful hands-on demos that showcase your product correctly. This knowledge can help sales teams provide the best experience possible, even alert them when assistance is needed, enabling the prospect to get the most out of the product.

Specialized Cloud Offerings

Businesses are no longer questioning whether to adopt the cloud but rather to what extent. That means evaluating which services will best suit their workload and application needs. AWS, Google and Microsoft are the 800-pound gorillas and will continue their control over the public cloud space. However, specialized cloud providers will fill the gaps across vertical markets and for advanced regulatory application demands.

While it seems difficult for smaller companies to compete, the very size of these giants presents an opportunity for cloud providers to gain a toehold in the market. The largest providers aren't interested in modifying what they do to suit specific use cases, but industry-specific providers can offer infrastructure and services that are tailor made for clients.

In 2019, more niche cloud services providers will continue to emerge, ones bringing personalized offerings to customers so they can better mitigate risks and have greater compliance oversight.

Avoid Vendor Lock-in with Multi-Cloud

Gartner predicts multi-cloud "will become a common strategy for the majority of enterprises." Most enterprises are already engaging multi-cloud strategies due to distributed IT, diverse workload requirements and departmental user demands. As a result, enterprises will continue to accelerate their multi-cloud and data management strategies.

A multi-cloud approach enables an IT team to avoid vendor lock-in and provide their organizations with the flexibility to create environments tailored specifically to individual needs. A multi-cloud strategy and approach to data management will increasingly come to the forefront of deployment discussion, with vendors looking to provide enterprises with management, cost analytics and data mobility to reduce complexity and costs.

The Next Steps in Virtual Training

With a talent shortage and economy favoring the employee, organizations need to deliver skills and training that enables workers to excel at their jobs and increase their personal satisfaction. Virtual training is a risk-free way to help IT and other employees acquire the knowledge they need to succeed.

Recent developments in virtual training have provided instructors with enhanced tools and powerful new approaches. Leading this list are multi-step classes in which students are guided from level-to-level in a way that's much more logical. With experience being one of the best teachers, simulated, hands-on training based on real-world environments will continue to increase in popularity, too. Another feature that is becoming standard is the ability for instructors to monitor students during training and step in when help is needed.

Ensuring that people have the information they need when and where they need it is a major part of the entire tech industry. It's exciting to think of the advances in 2019 that will continue to support enterprises and what they will lead to down the road.

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About the Author

Zvi Guterman is the founder and CEO of CloudShare.

Zvi co-founded CloudShare in 2007. He previously co-founded and served as CTO at Safend, a leading endpoint security company, and performed as a chief architect in the IP infrastructure group of ECTEL, a leading provider of monitoring solutions for IP, telephony and cellular networks. Zvi is a recognized security expert, lecturing at conferences worldwide, and holds a PhD in Computer Science from Hebrew University.