Pocketwatch

Predictions 2015

Longform
(Image: Stockfresh)

15 January 2015

Cloud migration norm
“While it’s clear that the Age of the Customer needs strong management and support from senior executives, the priority needs to be greater collaboration across the existing C-Suite” philip_brady_canon_web
Canon Ireland : Philip Brady

Cloud has slowly become the buzzword of 2014 for efficiency, low cost and the dream of effortless IT infrastructure. In 2015 organisations will be looked on strangely if they don’t have some element of cloud computing in the IT make up.Cloud Will Drive Major Organisational Change: But like any major IT change, organisations need to fully prepare and adjust to the changes that cloud migration will bring. There will be a major change management element required as old IT practices are replaced by trusting cloud providers with your sensitive information or applications.

Like any new system, make sure you vet the supplier and ensure that you are happy with the processes and service level agreements that are put into place. Remember 99.999% reliability means an issue every 100 days. So ensure the cloud service provider is secure, has a solid business continuity plan and can ensure they can deliver connectivity in all but the most extreme of cases.The C-Suite Debate Will Focus On the Most Important C Word, Customer: In 2015, as new technology (not just cloud) makes its presence felt, there will be a fundamental change within the C-Level across all organisations. We have seen the rise of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Marketing Office (CMO). But recently there have many debates about the convergence of these two roles into one as technology and marketing become ever more closely aligned Now we are seeing new roles around the potential need for Chief Data Officers (CDO), Chief Security Officers (CSO) and Chief Social Media Officers (CSMO), as well as the distinction between their roles and responsibilities.

However, departments within organisations now realise the greatest need is to become more closely aligned. The increasing importance of putting the customer at the heart of business strategy will begin to bring many of these divergent C-Suite roles closer together in pursuit of more common goals. For example, the marketing and finance departments collaborating more effectively in order to forecast sales and analyse returns of campaign initiatives, or social media and IT departments will align in order to optimise business processes through real-time customer data.

While it’s clear that the Age of the Customer needs strong management and support from senior executives, the priority needs to be greater collaboration across the existing C-Suite. This, combined with an increasing awareness of the importance of data, security and the influence of social media, is likely to deliver far greater impact than an increase in the number of C-level roles.Don’t be unprepared for the potential benefits cloud computing brings. Cloud migration will fundamentally change organisations and managing this change will need careful management of your cloud service provider, helping encourage change amongst staff and developing the skills to help process the data and the insights cloud migration will bring.
 
 

 
 

2015: the year of Internet of Things
Many are staking their future on IoT as a big bet for 2015” James_Finglas_MJFlood_web MJ Flood Technology : James Finglas, managing director
For those of you who attended the recent Web Summit in Dublin, it won’t have escaped your attention that the ‘Machine Summit’, where Internet of Things (IoT) was the chief topic of discussion, generated some of the highest visitor traffic during the three day event.And it’s not just well-established industry visionaries, respected market analysts and budding entrepreneurs that are excited about the prospect of IoT. Many are staking their future on it as a big bet for 2015.At MJ Flood Technology, we believe that IoT has the potential to fundamentally change the way we consume technology and serve as a game-changing catalyst for new business models, more personalised customer experiences and a better quality of life for all.

In fact, IoT could just be the ultimate disruptive technology.It’s no coincidence that this period of technology disruption is marked by the confluence of technologies such as Big Data, mobility and cloud computing. In many ways, these technologies are laying the ground for IoT and it’s through their convergence that we can connect the unconnected and gather data which can be translated into meaningful intelligence for better business decision making and a better world for everyone.

IoT is all about the three Cs, i.e. communication, control and cost savings. And in the context of 1.5 devices for every human being on the planet and forecasts that more than 50 billion ‘things’ will be connected to the internet by 2020, IoT is going to be on the technology radar for some time to come.

At the recent IoT World Forum in Chicago, I had the pleasure of hearing first hand from industry giants and witnessing many practical applications of IoT across healthcare, manufacturing, utilities, agriculture and smart cities.I saw use cases such as drone technology being employed by firefighters battling forest blazes, police forces using in-car and on-person video to capture public interactions and reduce complaints of assault, traffic light management systems to increase traffic flow and reduce congestion for our citizens. The possibilities for IoT are endless and the only thing holding us back is the boundary of our imagination.

And with Gartner estimating the potential value of the IoT market at a staggering $19 trillion, IoT also represents a great business opportunity for technology providers such as MJ Flood Technology to build innovative, service-based revenue models that deliver new value to clients in an increasingly digital world.But the ability to deliver IoT will be based on a multi-disciplinary approach and service providers will need to combine strands of cutting edge technical expertise in networking, IP and software with strong business consulting skills. That’s why we see the continual investment in the business and technical skills of our staff as a top priority for 2015.In parallel, we will also continue a program of education and knowledge sharing, such as our Executive Briefing series, to help organisations understand how IoT can be applied to their business models and supply chain.
 
 

 
 

Maturing mobility
“Two key areas will drive the evolution to EMM in 2015: hybrid cloud and App Wrapping” Richard_McCabe_web
B-Connected : Richard McCabe
Mobility in Enterprise in 2015: As a niche player for the last 10 years in the MDM space we have seen massive changes in the MDM lifecycle, the requirements to manage a mobile fleet has become more daunting, mobile polices have become more complicated and the requirements to have security beyond the hardware has become critical and extremely time consuming.Whereas traditional MDM is providing a layer of much needed protection companies are looking to Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) suites to enhance the security and management needs. At B-Connected we see EMM as involving three main core functions, it is the combination of traditional MDM, Mobile Application Management (MAM) and Mobile Content Management (MCM).

As the only true agnostic MDM player in Ireland, AirWatch platinum, BlackBerry Strategic, Samsung and Microsoft partners in Ireland we have seen this evolution first hand with our clients, the solutions we provide are evolving to include hardware and application inventory, OS configuration management, mobile application deployment, updating and removal along with app configuration and policy management, the MDM solution has developed to include much more that remote wipe and policy management and we see 2015 as the year in which EMM platforms will be adopted widely.

Two key areas will drive this evolution to EMM in 2015: Hybrid cloud and App Wrapping.Hybrid cloud will enable MAM and MCM delivery by managing work-loads on-premise (such as user identity with on-premise active directory) but provide access to these services via cloud platforms such as the Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS). Microsoft EMS enables identity and rights access to be managed on-premise but by linking these services to the Azure cloud enables mobile clients such as phones, tablets and laptops to be centrally managed, authenticated and access the required resources from the cloud but with direct integration with the existing enterprise Active directory structures and local rights management. Further to this app wrapping brings the containerisation of apps and direct integration of the MDM platform and associate extra security and management features with the app leveraging on hybrid services. We have been working on these containerised solutions throughout 2014 and we expect to see this as a growth area with mature products like Samsung Knox driving this area and providing a hardened security solution to bring Android to the enterprise through a combination of hybrid cloud and app wrapping.

We have been implementing MDM solutions since Blackberry first implemented its BES server technology, we have been at the coalface of this technology for over 10 years. During this time we have developed a full end to end Managed Service and Device Staging solutions that have been crucial to clients in all types of business. In 2014 we experienced huge growth in this area and we predict 2015 will be the year when enterprise looks to outsource mobile device configuration and logistics to companies who specialise in this area, this will help free up its already overburdened and stretched MIS teams.
 
 

Read More:


Back to Top ↑

TechCentral.ie