New HPE multi-national survey shows that 86 percent of IT leaders embrace adoption of as-a-Service

Nearly nine-in-ten (87 percent) IT decision makers (ITDMs) report that their organizations have started to implement as-a-Service (aaS) solutions or have already completed the process, yet seven in ten (71 percent) ITDMs are concerned about keeping up with the changing aaS landscape, according to the HPE “2019 As-a-Service: Driving Change Report”. Furthermore, three-quarters (75 percent) of all ITDMs surveyed expect their organization to move toward full adoption of aaS solutions in less than five years.

The report surveyed over 1,000 ITDMs at companies of all sizes (from 50 employees to 10,000+) across the U.S., Germany and the UK to explore the future opportunities and impact of aaS consumption models. 

“Businesses of all sizes are embracing as-a-Service models to unlock innovation and agility and lead disruption rather than become a victim of it,” said Phil Davis, president of hybrid IT for Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “As-a-Service elevates the role of IT decision makers, allowing them to become true service brokers who focus on strategic initiatives and revenue growth. As this survey data shows, the market clearly views as-a-Service as the future but are looking for a new and better approach to realize a consistent cloud experience, across public, private and the edge.”

Executives recognize the critical need to modernize IT to support future business growth and competitive advantage. aaS solutions will be very important for their company’s future (58 percent), competitiveness (55 percent) and growth (53 percent).

Three quarters of ITDMs agree that at their organization, data is siloed between public and private clouds (77 percent) and admit that data silos are a key challenge (75 percent) for their businesses. About two-thirds (66 percent) state they agree that data migration to the public cloud is currently stalled at their organization.

Younger ITDMs are more fearful that their jobs will become obsolete due to aaS. The survey findings show only about a quarter of ITDMs 55 and older (23 percent) are concerned that aaS adoption is making their job obsolete, compared to almost two-thirds (60 percent) of 22-34-year-olds. For both age groups, many (67 percent) ITDMs are concerned about new generations of digital natives having an advantage over their experience as it relates to aaS adoption.

Despite the changes ahead and apprehension from younger ITDMs, about nine-in-ten (87 percent) of all respondents agree that aaS adoption will advance their career and envision a shift in their roles from day-to-day IT support toward more of a business strategist role. Globally, seven-in-ten ITDMs say aaS adoption will make their role within their organization more important (72 percent) and give them more control over data (70 percent) and budget (71 percent).

Forrester releases 2020 predictions, with recessionary fears and global sociopolitical uncertainty making it to the list

Forrester’s 2020 predictions identify key market dynamics that will impact companies’ growth in the coming year. 2020 will be the year that moves leaders’ attention to adaptability: the ability to understand and anticipate market dynamics — and rapidly exploit opportunities, both big and small.

Factors including heightened values-based consumer activism; the lack of clarity around Brexit; automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics moving deeper into the organization; and recessionary fears due to sociopolitical uncertainty will make 2020 a raucous year, forcing leaders to embrace adaptability.

In 2020, Forrester predicts that consumers will search for deeper meaning. Companies will pay careful attention to authenticity, both in the values they choose to express and how they express them. CMOs will rally around customer value. To establish a successful ecosystem, CMOs will thread the needle between employee experience, customer experience, brand purpose, creative, and technology, imbuing all these crucial areas with customer obsession.

The year ahead will see CIOs focusing on people. Smart CIOs will become a trusted advisor and partner to employee experience and HR teams to help with changing workforce dynamics, including working with new emerging technologies or interacting with robots. Immersive, adaptive IT will take hold. IT will follow the broader organizational future of matrixed, shape-shifting organizations that form and morph to changing priorities.

2020 will see customer experience continuing to bifurcate. Firms that have made the least headway will cut their programs in frustration. Meanwhile, companies that have started realizing the benefits of CX will double-down, simultaneously shoring up their fundamentals and innovating. Advanced firms will double their data strategy budget. 2020 will be a wake-up year for many, as the total cost of getting data wrong will become apparent. Data and AI will get weaponized. In 2020, ransomware incidents will grow as attackers learn that holding data hostage is a quick path to monetization.

Group-targeted experiences will supplant personalization. Marketers will move away from laborious and often-unwanted personalization efforts. Instead, they’ll seek to authentically connect with customers through group-targeted experiences. Automation will reshape the workforce. Automation will change the composition of the job market and raise global economic issues of income distribution and wage stagnation.

Regulation will make and break markets. Regulatory bodies will gain steam — impacting and shaping markets, in a very real way, in 2020. For VCs, profitability will become the new unicorn. In 2020, venture capitalists will increase their scrutiny of startups.

FireMon’s 2019 State of the Firewall report shows lack of automation as underlying security challenge in digital transformation initiatives

FireMon released its 2019 State of the Firewall report, the annual benchmark of current issues in firewall management. The latest report finds that enterprises are slow to abandon manual processes — despite being short staffed — and that the lack of automation, increasing network complexity, and limited visibility contribute to costly misconfigurations and increased risk. 

The 2019 State of the Firewall report features feedback from nearly 600 respondents, including nearly 20 percent from the executive ranks, detailing their enterprise firewall operations in the spectrum of digital transformation initiatives. With this analysis, FireMon maps the latest industry trends to reveal the pulse of the changing security policy management landscape. 

Technology initiatives –micro-segmentation, zero trust, containers, SDN, cloudetc. all fall under the same boardroom theme: Digital Transformation. Whether the goal is to be more agile, competitive or to super-charge the supply chain, digital transformation is the glue driving the mission to be more responsive while closing the gap on security.

The sixth annual State of the Firewall Report for 2019 shows the impact that hybrid cloud is having on firewalls and firewall security, looks at key issues in automation, compliance, the influence of digital transformation, and much more, including six out of 10 enterprises have firewalls deployed in the cloud, but only three out of 10 have at least 80 percent of real-time visibility into network security risks and compliance. 

Three out of 10 respondents manage more than 100 firewalls and over half use three or more different vendors for enforcement points on their network, while 95 percent of respondents said that the firewall will be as critical or more critical than ever in the next five years.

Highlighting this scenario, the 2019 State of the Firewall report reveals that cloud adoption is up significantly – 72 percent of respondents are managing some form of hybrid cloud environment today, compared to the 53% cited in the 2018 report.

The 2019 State of the Firewall report’s findings on the lack of automation being used across the industry highlight the need to deploy this missing solution. Finding the correct approach of security automation for each enterprise helps to improve real-time visibility and control over network security processes and to comply with regulations. 

The best approach to automation will enable an organization to minimize human error, increase efficiency and close the gap between driving transformation initiatives and maximizing security resources and agility.