Businesses will need to invest in new technology.
Improved data analytics, better infrastructure intelligence, cloud service growth and the importance of securing networks amid an increase in unauthorised employee Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) use are all priorities for enterprises this year, according to IT service provider Advanced.
A report commissioned by the company identified the five transformative technology trends and recommends steps businesses need to take to utilise these to remain ahead of the curve.
Neil Cross, managing director, Advanced, said: "The breadth and depth of technology advancements has never had the impact on our lives that it does now. Developments are impacting all touch points of the value and supply chains, with consumer empowerment, mobile, social, data and cloud capabilities all redrawing the business environment in profound ways.
"Data analytics, for instance, is increasingly important as organisations in every industry seek to make sense of massive volumes of data and deploy platforms that translate this information into meaningful business intelligence."
He added: “There are many business technologies that are developing rapidly, however, our top five trends recognise those where we are seeing the most interest from our clients across the private, public and not for profit sectors."
The five technology trends are:
1. Network security and the growth of BYOD
With 81% of workers admitting to using their own devices to access their employer's network - without their employer's knowledge or permission - businesses need to focus on improving security. Safeguarding networks is a must and requires the implementation of BYOD usage guidelines alongside technical controls that physically allow or prevent access.
2. Infrastructure intelligence
By 2020 it is estimated there will be 4 billion people online using 50 trillion gigabytes of data. The increase in data volume is being driven by the rise in use of business critical apps, mobile devices and the cloud. With storage growing at 20-40% each year, businesses need to improve their intelligence and implement an infrastructure to store such vast quantities of data.
3. Data analytics
If businesses are to harness big data and use this to drive their commercial strategies, they need to invest in state-of-the-art data analytics and business intelligence systems. Continued growth in the volumes of enterprise data available to businesses is only valuable if they obtain cross-functional buy-in in order to break down the many data and organisational silos that still exist within organisations.
4. The rise of the cloud
Ninety per cent of UK businesses expect to move some of their applications to the cloud by 2017. Many IT managers anticipate that the rise of cloud-based applications will have a major impact on the way in which they manage their data centre and enterprise infrastructures. Businesses need to manage these changes and their impact on IT personnel. Business processes must evolve in tandem with cloud adoption if organisations are to achieve the full potential of their cloud investments.
5. 24/7 business connectivity
The social and business implications of 24/7 connectivity are only just beginning to emerge. In order to service the demand for round-the-clock access to goods and services, business will need to invest in new technology and rework their working processes accordingly.
Other technologies that are rapidly evolving and gaining mainstream acceptance in the near future, suggests Advanced, include 3D printing – an industry predicted to be worth $5.2bn by 2020.
Augmented reality, which provides users with a real-time view of the environment enhanced by digital data such as text, sound, graphics and navigation, is already available via smartphones.
The use of wearable technologies such as bionic lenses and Google Glass type products look likely to become increasingly widespread.
The 'gamification' of commercial websites, where businesses add game-like features to their commercial applications and websites that reward customers is also increasing in popularity. The industry is predicted to be worth £1.75bn by 2016.
Cross concluded: "The technologies identified are the future and will be key to helping organisations maintain their competitive edge. Businesses which fail to embrace the latest technologies run the risk of being left behind."
The Advanced report is available here.
Source from: http://www.link2portal.com
