Monthly Archives: November 2017

Gartner’s Guesses—Predictions for IT in 2018

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As another year begins to draw to a close, industry experts are already looking to the future. The IT industry has been dynamic over the past few years, with innovations such as improvements in cloud computing, machine learning, and even IT management propelling it forward. At the recent Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2017 in Orlando, FL, Gartner took a shot at the future of IT, painting a picture of the industry as being more integrated with business than ever. IT is now so central to operations that businesses can no longer afford to isolate their departments, and Gartner knows this.

Since IT is often a means of improving products/services and generating additional revenue, Gartner’s central point was that professionals in the industry will need to have a working grasp of business tactics and company goals. From there, they can set up IT departments that maximize technology usage to meet these goals. CIOs, Gartner believes, will become more integrated than ever into business operations and become important collaborators for the companies they work for.

One trend that Gartner discussed was cryptocurrency. Starting as a technological curiosity, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have since attracted significant interest for their value in facilitating swift and secure transactions. While working cryptocurrency into business models has proved to be slow going, Gartner predicts that over $1 billion in business value will be derived from it by 2020. They were also optimistic about the future of IoT-enabled devices, predicting an upsurge in these products with smartphone integration.

However, there were other trends that Gartner was less bullish about. The aforementioned prediction of IoT devices came with the caveat that that billions of dollars will be necessary for companies to safely harness this technology. IoT devices are almost famously difficult to completely secure given network decentralization, and their usage would divert funds that would otherwise be spent to improve cybersecurity.

The use of AI was also the subject of controversy for Gartner, with the company citing it as a potential contributor toward a future age of digital mistrust. While they praised the ability of AI to help inform business decisions, they also believe that its use on the web will hasten the spread of false information. This has social and financial implications, with Gartner stating that a major fraud as a result of these prolific falsehoods will occur by 2020. Commercial projects to detect and halt fake news have already begun, and a tenfold increase in these projects is predicted in the coming years.

Still, IT is slated to prosper. As its role in business changes and it becomes more integral to operations, the industry is expected to grow, with a predicted 2.3 million jobs being created as opposed to 1.8 eliminated. Early adoption is, as always, important in the IT sector, and one of the latest trends, visual and voice search, may be the next big investment. Both are growing quickly, and large tech companies are expected to invest in improving their visual and voice query offering through the use of AI.

There is a lot on the horizon for IT. While these improvements will undoubtedly be a boon for the companies and individuals that harness them, a level of caution is necessary. Much of this technology is relatively untested, posing security and operational concerns for businesses. Now more than ever, a need for skilled professionals is arising to ensure that companies are able to adopt in an efficient and safe manner.

How To Harness the Hybrid Cloud

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Hybrid cloud models have become even more prominent than ever before, with many companies demonstrating a need for both private and public clouds. As with any other IT solution, making a hybrid cloud viable is a question of integration. In this case, seamlessly transitioning between the two cloud models is the primary challenge. However, existing IT systems must often operate in conjunction with the cloud.

There’s no “one size fits all” solution for any business, but many cloud providers are starting to take the hint and adapt their services accordingly. Azure Stack is one of the newest hybrid offerings, intended to bridge the gap between public and private cloud services. Services such as these lower the barrier to entry for hybrid cloud adoption and may be what is necessary for this model to truly become mainstream.

The advantage of the hybrid cloud is flexibility. With private clouds hosting core applications and sensitive functions, companies can then use scalable public clouds as widely as their needs allow. This is the most efficient solution once implemented, but there’s a high level of logistics necessary to make it work. The data centers that provide the infrastructure necessary for the hybrid cloud will need to be customized in order to function properly. Specialized personnel will need to be on-site to test and reassess the service, and cybersecurity is, as always, paramount.

Service is another issue that needs to be addressed when working with a hybrid cloud. With the massive volume of data that needs to be transitioned between the two clouds, a quick response time from providers and high connectivity are necessary for success. Latency problems continue to be one of the largest issues when it comes to hybrid cloud adoption. Going forward, businesses will need to decide whether they can host this infrastructure on-site or outsource to IaaS organizations. It’s an expensive proposition, and one that many companies lack the funds to handle.

Networking between facilities is another challenge that Microsoft has tackled in the interest of improving their services. ExpressRoute is an interlink touted as a low-latency connection, though it is not available to all facilities. And, as a trunk connection, ExpressRoute does experience some latency issues with the last bit of distance that data must travel. Still, it’s the start of a future of trans-facility marketing. In the near future, as more of these connections become available, the hybrid cloud will become more of a practical option. Multiple connections to each facility and more robust data centers are the key to better hybrid offerings.

The idea of a hybrid cloud continues to become more popular as the need for scalability becomes more pronounced for IT departments. Companies such as Microsoft are now scrambling to meet these new needs, but delivering the necessary level of connectivity has proved difficult. Still, it is not impossible to strive for trans-facility networks that allow for better data delivery and provide organizations with the infrastructure that they need.