FEATURE : 2021 OUTLOOK
Transformation journey , the pandemic forced them to overhaul their IT and at speed . “ In the process , many companies over rotated in their technology choices , opting for infrastructure beyond their needs and choosing expensive solutions with vast capacity . In the long term , these choices may prove unsustainable and in 2021 businesses will need to refocus on the medium-term , rebalance and opt for the solutions that fit their needs whilst remaining agile ,” he said . “ In 2021 the CTO ’ s role will need to adapt to being the ‘ renegotiator ’ – finding the best tuned systems for streamlined budgets .” and align closely with business leaders to provide a secure environment that fuels innovation and growth .
“ There are lessons to be learned today that can help shape a better tomorrow . Just like work , cyberattacks can happen anywhere , anytime . And in order to successfully protect the systems and information people need to get things done , wherever they happen to be , security organisations need to become more intelligent and flexible . In doing so , they can create the secure environments needed to keep employees engaged and productive and fuel innovation and business growth .”
IF 2020 HAS TAUGHT US ANYTHING , IT IS THAT A BUSINESS IS ONLY AS AGILE AS ITS INFRASTRUCTURE , PROVING HOW MUCH WE DEPEND ON CLOUD- NATIVE TECHNOLOGIES .
Alberto Pan , Chief Technical Officer , Denodo , said : “ The COVID pandemic has made evident the need to accelerate the delivery of useful and trusted data to business decision makers . That is why many companies are turning to more agile data integration technologies like data virtualisation which can shorten these times drastically .
“ In 2021 we will see how this trend is consolidated as a comprehensive data strategy . Many companies will implement the concept of data fabric – an architectural pattern which ensures agility and the delivery of trusted , real-time data to a business . In addition , AI technology will be further incorporated in data fabric architectures to automate steps such as data discovery , performance optimisation and workload management . This will further increase automation and agility by leveraging the maturity reached by AI technology in the last years .”
At Citrix , Fermin Serna , CISO , believes that : “ Companies are rapidly moving to simplify and shift things to the cloud . And CISOs are adapting to secure the new environment . But five years from now , there will be something else . CISOs will become more agile in adapting to changes as technology evolves in 2021
Paul Farrington , EMEA CTO , Veracode , said : “ If 2020 has taught us anything , it is that a business is only as agile as its infrastructure , proving how much we depend on cloud-native technologies . With infrastructure becoming increasingly immutable , I predict we ’ ll see the impact of this specifically as it relates to the rise of cloudnative technologies and infrastructure as code . Both of these trends offer major business benefits in terms of automation , cost , scale , and security .
“ As companies continue to outsource their infrastructure to third parties and pivot their focus to consuming services , they will need to focus less on the security of the operating system and runtime environment and more on the application layer . Furthermore , as infrastructure turns into code , the better ‘ choke point ’ to scan for infrastructure vulnerabilities becomes the code rather than servers in production .”
Ty Amell , CTO , AppDynamics , said 2020 was a year that will go down in history as one of the most challenging , tragic and complex years of modern times . “ And yet , amid all of the loss and hardship of 2020 , it has also shown how resilient and strong human beings can be when we work together toward a common goal . In the technology industry , we watched IT leaders become the overnight superheroes of their organisations . They enabled entire workforces to shift to working remotely , supporting the IT needs and their entire businesses to be set up and supported while working from home . They accelerated Digital Transformation projects , delivering in weeks what would normally have taken months , empowering their organisations to deliver flawless customer experiences as businesses shifted to a digitalfirst approach ,” he said . “ Technologists have never been more critical to the success of the businesses they support and I see 2021 as being the year they have the biggest opportunity to elevate their careers and truly change the perception of the IT industry and its impact on meaningful business outcomes .”
Hamilton Ratshefola , Country General Manager , IBM Southern Africa , said IBM has already built three enduring platforms – mainframe , middleware and
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