Big data and analytics among top IT trends
By Lackshmindra Fernando
With new technology emerging and dominating the way organisations and
the workforce function, businesses can no longer afford to remain behind
the curve.
As we receive feedback from customers in Sri Lanka and the
Asia-Pacific and the Japanese (APJ) region, we continue to be impressed
by how they use technology to drive businesses forward. The past year
has seen greater adoption of trends like big data, cloud computing and
BYOD.
Harnessing the benefits of big data will still be at the centre of
most organisations' IT strategy. Analyst group IDC is projecting big
data spending to grow 34.7 percent in the Asia Pacific (excl. Japan) in
2015.
On top of the big data jigsaw, security, mobility, private cloud
adoption and IT modernisation are the other top IT trends to look out
for in APJ in the new year.
Benefits
Big data is at a stage where everyone has already acknowledged the
opportunities it can offer, but not as many know how to get the most out
of it. Today, through investments in Hadoop or other big data platforms,
the infrastructure needed to handle big data is largely in place.
Users expect more insights. Enterprises will have to either ensure
they have strong, viable analytics in place, or deal with any fallout as
users give up on IT's promises and turn to software as a service (SaaS)
offerings.
Organisations that are the most effective in deriving business
insights from big data are, just as with cloud and mobility adopters,
seeing much higher growth rates than those that are not.
This year will be all about leveraging analytics to deliver real ROI
to businesses. For example, IT leaders will shift from thinking about
the possibility of making investments in big data platforms to thinking
about how to get more out of the investments already made - applying
advanced analytics to derive actual business value from data.
Last year it was about getting the infrastructure in place. This year
will be about leveraging it through analytics to deliver real ROI to the
business.
Business intelligence, visualisation, dash boarding and ad-hoc query
tools - currently marketed and sold as separate product categories -
will begin to merge as these are all means through which predictive and
prescriptive analytics are delivered.
To fully realise the benefits of big data, enterprises in APJ must
first overcome the biggest barrier to big data adoption - security.
Security
According to the Global Technology Adoption Index (GTAI) , about 35
percent of IT decision-makers worldwide, including in APJ, have yet to
leverage the potential of big data as a result of concerns over security
issues.
Data from the study shows that organisations feel less confident
about security due to a lack of readily available information about
potential security threats.
Across the board, organisations claim they do not have access to the
insights they need, with only under a third of respondents from Asia
Pacific saying that they have the right information to mitigate against
security risks.
While the IT security market is currently highly fragmented, with
dozens of 'best-of-breed' solutions addressing narrow aspects of
security, this year will see more integration of security platforms to
protect the full IT spectrum, from the endpoint to the network.
To streamline operations and avoid security gaps, companies will turn
towards integrated and consolidated security platforms that protect all
aspects of the infrastructure.
Expanding mobility
Data from Dell's Global Evolving Workforce Study highlights that
employees find efficiency and productivity as the two biggest mobility
benefits. According to the study, employees in emerging markets such as
China and India show higher preference for using mobile devices to do
work, given the mobile-first environment in these markets.
However, for the enterprise, security concerns top the list of
challenges with mobility. To bridge the gap between employees' demands
for mobility and IT's responsibility to protect critical data, BYOD
policies will have to become more comprehensive to cover more scenarios
where employees work outside the office, and yet stay within the
corporate firewall.
Data loss prevention strategies such as remote wiping of a lost or
stolen device will also become more common.
On the devices front, end-users can expect products that can do more
with less. The PC market will continue to generate momentum as PCs
continue to be thinner and lighter based on commercial customer demand
with devices having even longer battery lives.
The 2015 release of Windows 10 will be sure to excite customers and
will span numerous devices. Additionally, these new devices will pack
all the security features that fit the enterprise IT needs.
Private cloud
As more organisations in APJ better understand the value of cloud
computing, private clouds will continue to be the most popular initial
cloud adoption platform in 2015.
Agility will be a highlight for private cloud's continued success.
The rise of converged infrastructure technologies and increased
flexibility in customising private clouds should make this type of cloud
an even more attractive option for CIOs looking to reap the other
benefits of cloud computing.
Infrastructure
Customers across APJ who are still running their business on legacy
platforms are experiencing several pain points including -
• Increased costs due to running legacy assets compared to
distributed assets
• Limited availability of skilled resources compared to those found
in the distributed market, making it difficult to grow
• Business agility issues and delayed ability to address business
needs.
This year more companies will opt for a more modern infrastructure
that transforms and improves their business. Potential benefits could
include lower operating costs, better response times and increased
manageability, availability, reliability and scalability.
Organisations will see more clearly how application modernisation and
services can help them harness the power of apps to deliver time and
cost saving functions. Initial rounds of modernisation often lead to
further opportunities for infrastructure cost reductions through
streamlining operations and re-hosting to more modern mainframes.
Digital divide
This year, businesses in APJ, including Sri Lanka, that take
advantage of digital technology and services will outpace their
competitors.
There will be a clear divide between those who aggressively invest in
digital transformation focusing on social, analytics, cloud and mobile
technologies and those who don't will lag behind.
The writer is the Country Manager at a leading IT company.
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