Remote Everything, Edge and Hybrid Will Accelerate Digital Transformation

By Phil Brace, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations, Veritas

The pandemic accelerated the digital transformation efforts of many businesses in 2020. And according to IDC, this transformation is unlikely to slow down. Investments in digital transformation are expected to increase over the next several years, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15.5% until they approach $6.8 trillion by 2023.

As digital transformation continues to be a focus in 2021, a few key trends will impact the year ahead. Here's what I believe companies need to keep in mind as they navigate "the new normal" and manage the data that is at the heart of their digital transformations.

The shift to remote everything will forever alter how business is done

One of the longest-lasting technology impacts of the pandemic will be a "remote everything" mindset. From the growth of data and cloud to everyone working from home, there's been a fundamental shift in how companies do business. And it appears there's no going back. 

I was recently part of a two-hour virtual meeting with a customer on the other side of the world that was as effective and productive as any in-person meeting I've had. Why? Well, for one, there was no need for travel or complex logistics. Whereas a face-to-face meeting would have added four days of travel and potentially delayed decision-making, working virtually let us drive results more quickly and start executing. We were also able to connect the customer with the right people at Veritas - regardless of their location - to answer their questions, work through their challenges, and address their needs. While I'm sure we'll all travel again for business, I anticipate we'll be much more deliberate about it. Organizations will want to redefine how they conduct business and find new ways to operate more efficiently - whether in-person, virtually or both.

The shift to remote work will also open up organizations and their employees to more security risks. As companies look at new ways of doing businesses, it will be imperative for them to ensure that critical work applications, cloud-based productivity apps and next-gen collaboration tools are always available and properly backed up. A clear data protection strategy will be more important than ever for companies to avoid downtime and lost revenue.

The edge will be critical to real-time operations

Last year, I predicted that edge computing would become the next important shift in IT infrastructure. We've seen that begin to happen in 2020, driven by technologies such as mobility, 5G and AI-enabled applications. Looking ahead, the edge will become even more important across industries as varied as manufacturing and healthcare, enabling organizations to do more, faster, from anywhere.

The edge is critical for businesses that need to operate in real-time, that's why organizations will want to maintain and sustain data protection at the edge. One of the ways in which Veritas makes this possible today is by enabling organizations to capture data where it is created - in the apps they use the most - and ensuring it is always available. The edge will increase in importance in 2021 as more data is created outside the traditional data center.

Accelerated adoption of hybrid cloud infrastructures

Alongside the rise of the edge, the emergence of 5G and advances in networking will accelerate the adoption of hybrid cloud infrastructures. Hybrid clouds provide organizations with greater flexibility as their costs and computing needs change, but they also make it easier to move data between on-premises and cloud environments. This enables organizations to physically separate data to better protect it and, as networks get faster and latency gets lower, organizations will be able to access this data almost instantly, no matter where it lives.

It's important to understand, however, that because hybrid cloud solutions are more complex, they are harder to protect. In fact, according to a recent report from Veritas, companies with complex cloud environments took longer to recover from ransomware attacks and were more likely to pay ransoms. That's why organizations need to take a holistic view of data protection, and seek out solutions that can simplify the protection of all their workloads and applications.

While 2021 will bring new challenges and opportunities, data protection will remain critical for businesses to succeed. By adopting a remote first mentality, prioritizing the edge, and reducing IT complexity, businesses will be able to continue accelerating their digital transformations in the year to come. 

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About the Author

Phil Brace is Executive Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations at Veritas.

Phil Brace is the Executive Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations at Veritas. In this role, he is responsible for leading all aspects of Sales, Channels, and Sales Operations for new business.

Phil is an accomplished sales and technology leader with more than 25 years of experience in general management, engineering, and product roles. Most recently, Phil led the Appliances and Software-defined Storage (SDS) Business Unit at Veritas and was responsible for defining and delivering product strategy and execution across Veritas' NetBackup Appliances, InfoScale Software-defined Storage, and InfoStudio Data Intelligence products.

Previously, he was President of the Cloud Systems and Silicon Group at Seagate Technologies responsible for Seagate's Storage Systems Business and solid-state drive (SSD) product divisions. Prior to that, Phil was Executive Vice President of Seagate's Electronic Solutions business where he led strategy, development, and marketing for SSD businesses.

Phil also spent nine years at LSI Corporation in various leadership positions, including leading LSI's Storage Solutions Group as Executive Vice President in his final two years at LSI. Phil started his technology journey at Intel, where he spent twelve years, ultimately as General Manager of Server Product Marketing.

Phil holds a bachelor's degree in Applied Science from the University of Waterloo, and a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from California State University-Sacramento.