By Grant Bennett, country manager for SUSE South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
There are some big things set for 2019. Customer expectations continue to evolve, new technologies are developed to push the envelope and all of that leads to continuous transformation of our business, our people, our processes and, of course, the technology and infrastructure. So, what is to come over the next twelve months and how should IT teams be preparing for any incoming changes?
- The rise of Partner Eco-systems: With the uncertain political and economic market right now, the vendor ecosystem will become crucial to business success in 2019. While we can’t quite predict where the political sphere may end up, we can control the technology that business use. Understanding that they can’t be the jack of all trades, companies will need to develop a strong and compliant vendor network to ensure they are able to remain relevant in a constantly changing market, as well as to deliver the right solutions to their customers. Identifying the right partner can be a complicated task, with many identical offerings in an increasingly saturated market. Discovering a route into new geographic regions or new verticals through partnerships will help businesses to continue to grow, while supporting their own partners in a symbiotic relationship.
- Businesses will need to focus on skills: The need for skilled developers continues to be a challenge for many companies. In 2019, vendors will start to partner with more foundations as a way to attract new talent. Open source vendors are looking for developers that are invested in the larger community and have contributed to a variety of projects. By tapping into a foundation, they can find individuals that are engaged and devoted to the open source philosophy and strengthen their overall networks. To retain talent, companies must give developers the opportunity to expand their knowledge, achieve certifications and gain vital experience in new technologies (especially around IoT and security).
- Data explosion will continue to drive new storage models: Industrial IoT, smart cities and wearables are bringing together and producing more sophisticated data than ever before. While the proliferation of data is nothing new, the volume of unstructured data and the way in which it is managed is. Additionally, many enterprise IT teams are moving to hybrid-environments that have on-prem systems and cloud environments, creating additional challenges for these teams. In 2019, more companies will adopt software-defined storage (SDS) to address the performance and availability challenges caused by the data explosion. One of the biggest advantages of SDS is automation which self-manage themselves. This system sends professionals alerts when a change (both good and bad) occurs in the environment.
- More Security Breaches: Serious data hacks seem to be coming thick and fast. If businesses don’t have a strong security plan and measures in place – it may already be too late. The security landscape is continuously changing and evolving as cybercriminals continue to find new ways to steal what’s most valuable to them: data. Storage professionals must now toe the line between IT and security, ensuring they have a mix of skills and an understanding of what both departments need to be successful. As IT and security grow closer, new jobs are developing and roles are being created specifically to oversee data governance and policy. In addition to job creation, the marriage of security and IT may result in policy changes as well.
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