Gartners Top 10 Tech Trends through 2015
Following is a list of what the Gartner Group thinks will be the top 10 trends in technology through 2015. Some of these trends will have impacts in different areas. For example, I believe that Fabric Data Centers will impact enterprise organizations more so than the small and mid market businesses, at least initially.
Many of our clients are already experiencing some of the trends below, as well as the challenges that come with them. With more and more users wanting to bring their own device (BYOD) IT managers are faced with challenges on how to support these various units, apply security practices and determine whether or not to standardize on a common platform.
Another hot trend that is impacting both small and enterprise organizations is mobility. Users are increasingly demanding the freedom and flexibility to work where they want and when they want. This can pose numerous challenges for IT departments. Security, support, platform and usage guide lines are just a few of the challenges that the IT department faces in maintaining mobility options for its users.
The initiatives below are very interesting and should keep IT executives challenged as they game plan for 2013 and the years to come.
Consumerization and the Tablet
Tablets can be used in many ways by businesses to augment office space and tedious processes. Companies also often receive pressure from the top-down to accommodate for whatever devices consumers are using—Gartner calls this “the cool factor.”
To prepare properly for implementing tablet operations, companies need to determine security guidelines and use profiles, build integration timelines (the critical timeframe for tablets being 2012 through 2014) and shop around for critical vendor support if needed.
The Infinite Data Center
Racks are getting denser, performance per kilowatt is increasing, and smaller data centers are able to handle more. This is the premise Gartner establishes for businesses to work with in the next two years, suggesting that “utilization levels and compute-to-energy ratios are paramount by 2013.” The consultancy also emphasizes “logical growth without physical growth,” as a way of retaining an organization’s footprint.
Resource Management
Gartner stresses the increased awareness organizations must have surrounding energy usage, compute-to-consumption ratios and KPI consumption.
This firm also suggests that energy management will become an enterprise-level discipline by 2017, which will be enabled by energy management information systems.
Mobility
A mobile focus requires a change in mindset, which Gartner dubs the “seamless shift between computing and communicating.”
Noted is that mobile devices are not PCs, and though security remains a challenge, the variety of devices users demand platforms on makes building portals more difficult. But personal clouds and shrinking data centers are making it easier to meet the needs of consumers.
Hybrid Clouds
While, through 2013, more than 60 percent of I.T. adoption of the cloud will be to redeploy current applications, a shift will take place beyond that to exploit private and hybrid cloud techniques.
For this, Gartner advises companies to develop only after public services have been integrated with private delivery. The report also emphasizes results, as even at an enterprise-wide level, peer pressure can move projects forward without valid business reason to do so.
Fabric Data Centers
Fabric data centers involve the integration of many I.T. elements that are commonly disaggregated, such as monolithic servers, storage and networks. This enables fast component replacement/substitution and service-driven RTI while optimizing workloads.
Gartner projects things will continue to become increasingly integrated, until beyond fabric-based infrastructures, companies will embark on fabric-based computers, which will enjoy pooled and globally shared resources as well as any-to-any virtual connectivity.
I.T. Complexity
Pointing to Glass’s Law (sourced to Roger Sessions of ObjectWatch), which states that “for every 25 percent increase in functionality of a system, there is a 100 percent increase in the complexity of that system,” Gartner predicts there will be an emphasis on the ability of an enterprise to get the most out of I.T. money spent.
Big Data — Big Problems
Organizations have struggled dealing with Big Data on both fronts: I.T. needs to manage it effectively and the business side needs to know how to use it. This tends to leave Big Data static.
However, Big Data is a problem that only gets worse the longer you ignore it. Gartner asserts that companies should virtualize storage and de-duplication, evaluate all data inputs to get rid of what isn’t necessary, and then segment and prioritize what’s left.
The End of Service Desks
As users expect service in real time and crowdsourcing support is becoming more prevalent, the effectiveness of reactive processes of service desks is dwindling. Gartner suggests companies build transition strategies that enable a proactive business productivity team.
Virtual- and Software-Defined Networks
Virtualization means delivering on many of I.T.’s promises: more automation, separating hardware from software, increased agility, simplified design, policy-based management, network management bonded to broader I.T. workflow systems, etc.
This will bring a lot of change in terms of processes and interaction, between humans, systems and one another.
Jon A. Eyberg, PEI
