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2014 IT Predictions that will help Enterprise Channels to drive profitability and competitive advantage. IT has become a utility; one that’s equally available to large and small and IT-as-a-service, cloud and consumptive models – with companies like VMware, Apple and Facebook leading the technology disruption.
The ICT marketplace is abuzz with talk of a number of disruptive forces set to come into play in the year ahead. Dimension Data’s CTO, Ettienne Reinecke & Group Executive – End-user computing, shares some practical insights on how these trends are playing out in the business context.
1. Cloud and consumption-based models – the great equaliser
ICT budgets will remain under sustained pressure throughout 2014. A lack of internal resources and the need to reduce risk are other strong drivers – many businesses no longer have the skills to operate their ICT estates and would rather hand over the management of certain workloads to a cloud provider. Thus, organisations will move towards consumption-based models across different areas of their ICT estates. Agility is also fuelling the growing interest in cloud; IT teams need to be able to respond quickly to the demands of internal business units for IT services that enable projects which will sharpen their competitive edge. Much of the interest in consumption-based models is that it is financially driven.
This model also holds exciting potential for organisations to revolutionise their business models and go-to-market approaches, generate new revenue streams, and serve their customers in ways never before imagined! We predict that this shift will represent the ‘great equaliser’ in many industries. For the last few decades, only large organisations with deep pockets could afford the most sophisticated IT applications and hardware. Today, with every business able to access the same systems, it’s no longer technology that will provide you with differentiation – it’s what you do with it that matters.
We believe that the trend towards cloud and consumption-based models is accelerating. Importantly, it’s starting to extend beyond the data centre into other workloads, for example into Microsoft environments, Web tiers, and, more recently, business applications and ERP systems. Collaboration is another example: voice has always been a consumption-based service – you pay for what you use by the minute. Now our clients are looking to consume other communication and collaboration services on the same pay-per-use basis.
2. Making sense of the connected world
Thanks to the Internet, aspects of life and business are becoming more connected. This trend is being driven by the fact that high levels of intelligence can create competitive advantage in business. Today, and increasingly into the future, we’ll be connecting more ‘things’ to networks – just think of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, which are getting connected by the millions every month. All these devices have a multitude of ‘sensors’ built into them, such as a GPS, cameras, a gyro to detect movement and many additional options , each of which has the potential to capture datapoints. Looking ahead, the notion of gathering information via sensors in devices will be extended to a micro level, beyond what today we think is possible – in cars, consumer goods, agriculture, medical systems, clothing, agriculture, manufacturing, etc. The huge volume of datapoints that these sensors produce will be processed into intelligence that can be used to make real-time decisions – creating a world we can’t yet imagine, enriching experiences and opening the door to massive opportunities for businesses.
Retailers and mall operators are already making great early strides into the connected world. They use data collected by sensors to track shoppers’ movements and behaviours. By processing these datapoints they can pinpoint where and when customers spend the most time and money and plan and adapt their merchandising strategies accordingly. In retail outlets, this has financial impact, as retailers can levy a premium for retail space based on consumer traffic, even by the aisle inside the store.
3. SDN – Next-generation networking
With the dawn of a revolution in the world of networking, spearheaded by the rise of software-defined networking (SDN) that delivers high levels of abstraction and allows networks’ data and control panes to be decoupled. Services are no longer embedded in monolithic switches and routers … and in the future it’s possible that a large percentage of network services will be software-invoked. This changes the face of networking fundamentally; suddenly the scope of what it’s possible to do with your network expands exponentially. Networks will become more agile and better support other technology advances. With SDN, businesses will require different – and fewer – skills to operate their networks, which will make them less costly to run.
We believe that the network is the last bastion of the last era of technology – and the time is right for this change. SDN isn’t a fad … it’s a game changer and it’s going to gain traction more quickly than many believe. Interestingly, some of the larger vendors have been somewhat slow off the mark and as a result, we expect to see start-up companies emerging and possibly causing disruption to the incumbent network heavyweights. We’re heading for a turbulent but exciting new chapter in networking!
Dimension Data has been in the networking space for 30 years – we have a significant skills base and set of loyal clients – and we have an exciting opportunity to lead our clients on their SDN journeys.
4. Mobility to user-centric computing & Evolution of CYOD
As more smart devices enter the workplace, businesses are starting to feel that they’ve lost control. Most appreciate the potential of these devices to improve productivity and customer service but many report that bring your own device (BYOD) programmes have failed. While BYOD sounds good in theory, it’s difficult to implement. For example, if you tell employees that their personal data will be wiped from their devices remotely along with corporate data if the device is lost or stolen, few are likely to sign up for the programme.
Whereas the evolution of CYOD or choose your own device concept is set to introduce new standards of device management. Owing to the ease of use and better manageability, a number of factors will push CYOD to become the primary adoption model for the enterprise. This process usually involves the enterprise allowing users to select from a small pool of approved company issued devices, usually based on an operating system or two.
5. Social media meets business
While social media pervades many individuals’ personal lives, it’s hasn’t penetrated business to the extent that was anticipated a few years ago. However, our clients are telling us that they believe the importance of social media to their businesses will increase, particularly as older employees retire and the younger generation begins to represent a larger percentage of the workforce. The up-and-coming professionals entering the workplace today favour social media channels over channels such as email and instant messaging. On the other hand, if a company’s target market is focused on Gen-X, Y and Z – it is inevitable that a go-to-market model will have to include social media channels.
Our recent conversations with clients have uncovered a number of interesting social media projects, some involving crowdsourcing (the practice of obtaining services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers) or crowdfunding (the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organisations).
We believe that the integration of social frameworks into a business needs to be carefully planned and executed. There’s more involved than just setting up Facebook and Twitter accounts; there are also elements such as wikis, through which employees can collaborate and share information. You need to understand the larger social framework, or even embedding the social media functions in the business process itself.
Enterprise Channels should help clients to integrate social media platforms into their core systems, voice, and video channels, as well as their mobile devices.
6. A brave new world
In the IT industry, decades are defined by clear shifts − and shorter periods of 2-3 years − by disruptive technology related to a select few vendors. In this context, we can reflect on the 1980s as the dawn of the personal computer (enabled by Microsoft), the 1990s as the shift to client-server models and networking (enabled by companies such as Microsoft, Cisco and a few others). In the 2000s the shift was epitomised by the Internet with companies like Amazon and Google playing a key role. Now in the 2010 era, we’re seeing a shift towards the point where IT becomes a utility; one that’s equally available to large and small and IT-as-a-service, cloud and consumptive models – with companies like VMware, Apple and Facebook leading the technology disruption. I also believe that the current period will be more disruptive than any of the previous periods due to the macro-economic drivers that now demand and fuel the technology disruption and vice versa.
