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IT trends that will rule enterprises in 2015

2014 has given us a clear idea of what to expect in this year, and here are some winners and some concerns

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Soma Tah
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Subramanian Gopalaratnam

Subramanian Gopalaratnam

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The proliferation of smartphones in enterprises has resulted in organisations reworking on their mobility strategy and adopting a ‘mobile first’ approach. This has also driven the investment in ‘cloud computing’ from an organisational standpoint. While the Cloud has always been important, the emphasis on mobile first has reinforced the importance of Cloud and Cloud based services.

While cloud computing facilitates data collation, mining its relevance and contextualisation is equally important. Organisations are mining data collected from consumers and leveraging Big Data to determine patterns. As a result, analytics has made inroads into organisational strategy, helping businesses stay ahead of competition. 2014 has given us a clear idea of what to expect in this year, and here are some winners and some concerns:

Think cloud, think long-term

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In a software-defined age, the adoption of cloud computing and services is an absolute must. Today companies who don’t build a cloud ecosystem are either not willing to expand operations or are wasting floor space with physical servers that add to maintenance costs. With a growing number of organisations adopting a mobile first approach, Cloud servers will have to be in place in 2015 to support the growth of the mobile ecosystem. Companies are already gearing up for more disruption from software defined businesses, and cloud will act as the platform to springboard innovation.

Data Scientists are in demand

In the last decade alone, we’ve processed more data than the sum total of all the preceding years combined. While mobile adoption rises and cloud servers collect data, the real battle is being fought by the data scientists who mine data, identify patterns, help companies read meaning out of petabytes of information. They enable enterprises to identify present trends to determine future growth. No surprise then that in 2015, data scientists will be in demand and the most important and the highest paying roles will belong to them. They will be the rock stars and companies will do everything to keep them engaged.

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Data security, everyone is vulnerable

Some of the biggest industry names have had to pay a heavy price for breach of data security. . With sophisticated technology at their disposal, enterprises need to think a step ahead by being predictive in combating these new age crimes. Therefore, implementing a robust security framework is the first step in mitigating these attacks. And considering that 88% of global mobile phone sales by 2018 will be smartphones  (according to Gartner), security concerns at an enterprise level are also heightened predictably. We need to enhance our understanding of the kind of tools these lawbreakers have and how they can be mitigated.

Additive manufacturing – simplifying problems

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With the help of 3D printing tools, we can now cut costs and save time by exploring a range of product lines. Additive manufacturing has been transformative in so many ways this year. We’re making cutting edge tools that replicate diagrams to perfection. The possibilities are endless, and in 2015 we’re going to see how 3D printers can reach the end-consumer. We’ll also have to keep an eye on how 3D printing and intellectual property rights are balanced, not to mention the ‘kind’ of products that can be printed with ease – like guns for example.

Connecting the dots – IoT

There will be almost 5 billion connected devices and by the end of 2015, and nearly 25 billion connected devices by 2020, according to Gartner. In 2014, we have warmed to the idea of Internet of Things (IoT), but in 2015 we will see increased adoption and utilisation at the enterprise level. Factories will stand to benefit when machines communicate to each other, giving us real time visibility into the supply chain and machine depreciation. However, I believe that it is going to take more time to refine IoT related solutions for the end-consumer.

The author is Global Head of Innovation, Xchanging

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