0 IN FOCUS @ 2016's Top trends THE GREAT 2016 CRYSTAL BALL ClOs from across South Africa predict what trends will dominate the year. by Tamsin Oxford photography Karolina Komendera engagements? According to Gartner, igitisation, hot onde wil dfn the ctins and pendof the South Arcan C1 athe hesdint 2016 What stasis nd numbers VV eis es ier ey asi eet et cnsaton and gl leaderhp oe vel ols tock ne ary C1 renal ant asems tet those nthe now re tne wih the eng emarcher views ere ae some ofthe top ond for 2016s predicted by South Arian ClO 1> Agility is everything Jan Jansan van Rensburg, senior Systems Engineering manager at VMWare Souther ‘Arica, says: “IT agilly remains atthe top of, the Ist of challenges for C10s. As the need ‘grows forthe faster roout of customer-cen- tric and business applications, the IT engine needs tobe able to support and enable the ‘deployment of these apps, Or be the reason that innovation is stunted.” PricewaterhouseCoopers agrees. In its latest report that examines building enter prise agiity, the organisation is under im- ‘mene pressure to accurately sense chang- fs in the markets and the ‘whims of ever more demanding customers and respond ‘uickly and appropriately. brainstorm February 2016 “As technology is increasingly user-ariv- en, the IT organisation is expected to be far ‘moro agile and responsive than it was be- fore,” says Frank Rizzo, Data Analytics lead- erat KPMG, “This demand for galt is also boeing viewed as a competitive advantage, whieh, not haressed quickly enough, wil lose its edge." 2 > Internet of Things ‘The Intemet of Things (loT) has evolved beyond being the super-connected and is. now being channelled into solutions and se cases that are far more dynamic. Ac= cording to Nader Henein, BlackBerry Se- curity director “loT and mobile technology are creating new ways for businesses toi tract with customers and streamline their processes. We are seeing more focus fon the customer experience, enabled by digital touchpoints and rich analytics data, for personalisation. With digital techno! ‘ogy taking such a central ole in business, ClOs have an opportunity to play a more strategic part in the enterprise.” EB ecu) It’s the new world of Everything as a Service (KeaS) and everything software-defined wil replace the traditional way we consume IT serviees. This is according to Muggie Van Staden, MD at Obsidian Systems. He be- lleves that 2016 will throw the CIO some significant challenges: “The CIO has toRob Sussman, Integr82 provide IT in this consumption model for the business to consume. The terminol- ‘ogy is really around cloud computing and the extensive variety of services and ap: plications that wil now be available for us- fer8, on-demand and subseription models based on consumption. eee Cis Willemse, CEO at DAC Systems, high= lights one of the biggest issues facing the iO in South Africa - skis. “The skills shortages in niche areas in South Africa are stil a major concern.” he says, "Technical skils as wel as functional skills in the following product lines: Dy- namics ERP skils, Dynamics CRM skills, senior SharePoint skills, senior PPM skills This impacts the CIO because if no new blood comes into the market, the existing recourses will just cost more. The ch lenge for the vendors s to grow skils wile stil kesping costs manageable, Eig akameld The age-old term has never been truer, with ‘most ClOs saying that any business that cannot shift, change and adapt will nt exist in the next ten to 15 years. Market dynam- ics are too demanding and volatile to expect anything less, ‘Most highly respected market experts such as McKinsey and S&P have predicted that the speed of market changes Is now doubling and that somewhere around 30 percent of all organisations in a sector wil Not exist in the next ten years, due mainly brainstorm February 2016 ESR e Mle cea Can) e then to add Rese arc ae Pee a) G The skills shortages in niche areas in South Africa are still a major concern. Chris Willemse, DAC Systems tozan inability to adapt to market dynamics," says Khutso Jason Dover, director, Product Line Management, Kemp Technologies. Gare) Content may well be overthrown for now, ‘overtaken in importance by the value of data in bulking, driving and transforming the business. Companies need to make sense ofthe data thay have and, given the growth of big data, decision-makers are rapily recognising the importance of extracting its value and using it to drive business. At the recent Gartner Symposium ITxpo, Peter Sondergaard, Gartner Researcher senior \VP, sald: “Data is inherently dumb. It doesn't {0 anything unless you know how to use it “This is where the algoritim economy ‘comes in,” says Warren Olver, regional manager for Southern Africa at Veeam, “The focus has been on getting systems in place that take care of data storage and its management and with people being con- nected to the corporate back-end systems sing a variety of devices from wherever they are; it makes sense to have the building blocks in place. However, this fs no longer {good enough. The pressure is on decision makers to find a balance betwesn manag- ing data, analysing it and shifting strategy to ‘meat the changing demands ofthe market.” This Is probably one of the most exciting {and challenging of the predictions for 2016 ‘a digital disruption cortinues to make itself fat. Organisations that don’ prepare fr thedigital future wail holy bo crusted by the Gorda Fike digital footprints of those that ck This trend is happening i all asties ak a pace that is bot agypoaliny and business loaders” saya Cathy Sint, GM of Cisco uth Arica, "Ey 2020, Gartnor proces that 75 percent of businesios wal he digital bsinosse aring to become o 1, 2016 wal se ais dgination, 108, C10 of BSG, wat Atroan CIOs ar laced yh crown uo to Understand tho impact of icrowsngly mobdle and digitally empowered! consumers ankd convert thi Understanclig ito a waged curstomnor export fence, incorporating greater degrees of control of value chain ancl measurement of business out Ne will soo moro hacktivits executing dost tive attacks by gow) altor cata that can potenti damage their aa’s into.” says Darryn O'Bion unry manager at Trond Micro, *Cybecrininal wil 986 tho anpact of data broaetion on high pro. fie targets ike Sony, Ashloy Madkson and even the Hacking Team, which will ive thew to add data breach methods fo their arsenal of tact The iso of job spec allocated exchisvely to se urity such as data protection officer or cit sk of ficer could weil bo on the 2016 cards as tasinonse Pea Integr6's co-founder Floby Sussman bokewes that the reduction of costa by using machines and al gorithms to take a more active Fok» Kv enhancing human ence A 9 0n0 of tt grat trends. "On top of every company’s agenda is cost. This natural fiers onte the agenda of the CIO, where budgets Hood to be tally controled, while moro vain than the previous yoar needs to be produced, Consider companies have to do liver more vt al tow WOsare now. more than eve buen natomation tearing fa seo! spot that allows CIOs linger overtwacl on xtsting technology monts, whi reducing the meroasing human scan entation rons Hur aeration fc forerssin,” says Sussman, He adds that tino wl wivostod wi teachin technology to dellver a better and faster customer experience, at 1 point to the exc ater: eR RR ur Facts and figures CCE SE ot ee eee ere tant than cost savings (http://www.experienceinfosys.com/cloudstud) Sea ee ce ee Pe eee et) Ore ene etee eet eee eee ee Pee ns One miter eee ed Poe acu nn Oe tea eer ene ker Cer ne erED * Gartner predicts that loT product and service suppliers will generate: Cuca eae ere Eel en) Oe eae eee nea Ce Ir? Cibo # Relative value of growth (RVG) for tech companies will rely on Pe ee et ee eee een eee Rec ne cece teen see eee Prey *# 80% of US companies use cloud services now or plan to introduce Rees Dereon er oe erent ee transformations and driven by cost until 2018, + 90% of enterprise strategies wil include significant digital transfor: ee et Cea tt eit ree eee eae Le] Rete an arte Weare Nain ete sats eee are ana on eet aa ald Se artcsS Sree oe eee ete ee reed cg * The IDC predicts that, in the IoT age, value derived will be based on the successful leverage of date, on ae ee ees eee) * Gartner states - big data is useless without algorithms. Ce id Be teen ee ete Ra Forecast 2014-2019 predicts South African mobile data traffic to Pe ae ac Oates ean eee Ce eA