Mark van Vuuren

Mobility and cloud computing are the top two locally predicted trends

This year is all about cloud and mobility, according to the industry. Other notable local trends set to take centre stage this year include green IT, security, and big data and analytics. Here is an overview of the coming year as predicted by the local IT industry.

“High performing global companies are achieving business objectives through investment strategies that capitalise on the convergence of technologies in social media, mobile computing, analytics and cloud to transform customer transactions into digital interactions,” Suren Govender, MD of information and data strategy at Accenture

MOBILITY

“Cloud and mobile will definitely continue to play a big role in 2014 because they remain exciting, transformative business process enablers. However a blended business and technical approach is necessary for cloud and mobile strategies to ensure an increase in business efficiencies, market agility and improved business performance.” Patrick Evans, CEO of Advanced Cloud Technologies

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Graham Vorster" />“Blackberry will continue to lose market share and in my opinion so will Apple, but not as fast. Tablets will continue to thrive, whilst cars will start to arrive in SA with mobile Internet.” Mohammad Patel, chairperson of the Wireless Access Providers’ Association (WAPA)

“Mobility and the drive towards everything that is mobile will be hugely influential in the next year. There is a continual and on-going shift from a reliance on fixed-line infrastructure towards a reliance on mobile networks, and a growing need for people to be productive all the time. The use of mobile applications designed to make businesses more productive, as well as an increasing move towards greater acceptance of mobility, will be driving factors in 2014.” Mark van Vuuren, COO of the Jasco Group

Patrick Evans

“ZiNG360, from Blazing Chilli, is the ideal, low-cost, effective communication platform, and the answer to many citizens’ and municipalities’ prayers. Using mobile technology solutions such as ZiNG360 will create a highly collaborative, responsible community spirit.” Patrick Evans, CEO of Advanced Cloud Technologies

“Mobility – consumers are driving the evolution of new digital business models through their demands for instant gratification and Always-On mobile connectivity. Personal mobile devices are now used to access data and services within the corporation.” Suren Govender, MD of information and data strategy at Accenture

Suren Govender

“SA is poised to grow its Internet interests in 2014 and needs more Android applications which benefit the country and ensures collaboration between schools. Government is also already investigating the implementation of certain smartphone apps to allow, for example, the payment of council bills and traffic fines.” Mohammad Patel, chairperson of WAPA

“Mobile handset and tablet usage is rapidly increasing as more users realise the value that these devices bring to both their professional and personal lives. The changing landscape of the working world requires constant connectivity, and mobile devices enable users to work and access relevant data easily and remotely.” Paul Stafford, regional GM at Mimecast

Paul Stafford

“Mobility and the mobile consumption of data is poised to see massive growth in SA in the coming year. This is driven by ever-increasing costs of transport, with regard not only to the petrol price but also the increased cost of motorists using roads. This is creating demand for a mobile and remote workforce, to minimise the cost of travel while maximising productivity.” Graham Vorster, head of emerging technologies and alliances at T-Systems

“Global telecommunications are definitely focused on enabling the mobile workforce. Mobility, including the need for employees to conduct their duties via mobile and video enabled devices, has been the driving force behind new business behaviours such as the need for corporate managed Wi-Fi, Bring Your Own Device policies and videoconferencing. The reduction in local bandwidth costs will enforce the trend in 2014.” Jacques du Toit, CEO of Vox Telecom

CLOUD

Mohammad Patel

“In 2014, mobile and cloud providers will have to be more cognisant of the emergence of a trust revolution amongst organisations and their customers. Cloud providers should be more than just a data storage company. They should also be customer-focused and help organisations to bridge connections with people through every digital channel imaginable.” Patrick Evans, CEO of Advanced Cloud Technologies

“Everything is moving into the cloud, and Software as a Service (SaaS), as well as Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas) are gaining traction. This move is being seen across both traditional IT and ICT, with everything from data centre to hosted ERP and even entire service desk solutions moving into the cloud.” Mark van Vuuren, COO of the Jasco Group

GREEN IT

Jacques du Toit

“Although not unique to SA, energy optimisation has become a hot topic in the country, perhaps driven harder locally due to spiralling energy costs. The impact that IT can have on energy consumption and its optimisation, and the ways in which organisations can improve their energy efficiency, will only become more important in the coming year.” Mark van Vuuren, COO of the Jasco Group

“Because of the energy challenges that we face in SA, smart energy solutions will begin to play a bigger role through 2014 and into 2015. These solutions will be used to not only predict energy utilisation levels, but also assist in flattening out existing peaks and troughs in energy consumption to create more predictable demand.” Graham Vorster, head of emerging technologies and alliances at T-Systems

THE INTERNET OF EVERYTHING

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Anthony Laing" />“Smart machines and the ‘Internet of things’ are coming, but wide-scale adoption will be slow.” Mohammad Patel, Chairperson at WAPA

“The ‘Internet of everything’ is one of the biggest global trends that is starting to affect SA, as we prepare our networks, infrastructure and delivery mechanisms for this future reality. As the machine, sensor and social Internet is beginning to emerge, then compliment and then overtake the Internet of people, we can expect to see the accelerated adoption of cloud, big data and mobility services that mirror this longer-term trend.” Graham Vorster, head of emerging technologies and alliances at T-Systems

BIG DATA & ANALYTICS

“With the rise of digitisation and digitalisation, established enterprises have amassed terabytes of information,which offers a way to help meet the evolving needs of customers and spot trends. Yet, South African businesses are still reluctant to exploit the benefits of data analytics.” Suren Govender, MD of information and data strategy at Accenture

“New data migration tools - which aid organisations with the export and conversion of their big data to a proprietary format which can be imported by the cloud service provider will be incredible influential in 2014.” Paul Stafford, regional GM at Mimecast

DIGITAL BUSINESS

“We will see the emergence of a subscription economy, enabling businesses to use software based on usage or monthly subscription. The digitisation of services will continue fuelling this in 2014.” Patrick Evans, CEO of Advanced Cloud Technologies

“SA will also in 2014 start to see a mix of local startups and best of breed from overseas starting to compete head to head in areas like mobile payments and it is going to be quite interesting to see what gets adopted.” Mohammad Patel, chairperson at WAPA

“I think the biggest trend will be the shift that mobile operators will have to make from voice to data. Today, the network is everything and the ability to get bandwidth and throughput is paramount. Mobile operators will need to start working with data services and specifically relating them to the services their customers actually want to access over the network if they truly want to remain competitive and stand out in a saturated and contested market. The shift to data is already happening if you look at the trends from the research companies like World Wide Worx locally, so it’s a forgone conclusion that the business models will have to follow where consumers and businesses lead.” Anthony Laing, GM of networking at XON

“With the consumerisation of technology, it is not the CIOs pushing the digital agenda, but rather the market prescribing the trend. Therefore, there is a requirement for all organisations, globally and in SA, to evolve into digital businesses.” Suren Govender, MD of information and data strategy at Accenture.

SECURITY ISSUES

“Any technology that has to do with securing the transfer of information or the business network itself will be extremely important. New legislation such as the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act and increased regulation has meant that companies have to re-evaluate the measures they are taking to secure sensitive data, as well as the way it travels through their organisation.” Jacques du Toit, CEO of Vox Telecom

“With the POPI Act being gazetted in November 2013, many businesses will be required to take technological measures to ensure that they comply with the new regulations. Apart from being a constitutional imperative, the advent of modern technology has led to a global need for additional data protection, especially around personal information. With our ever-increasing reliability on e-mail, and the rate of information being shared through internet transactions; organisations need to prove that they have ‘reasonable measures’ in place to protect the information of the employees, suppliers and customers that interact with them on a daily basis. Security software and technology focused around transborder activity, data storage and data leak protection will, therefore, receive increased attention in order to prevent costly penalties and reputational damage to businesses across SA.” Paul Stafford, Regional GM at Mimecast

“Businesses face risk when there is uncertainty regarding how personal mobile devices are used to access the organisation, how they store information and who is able to access what information. This will prompt CIOs to take a closer look at the ways in which individual devices connect with the data ecosystem, how data is stored in cloud systems, and how data is shared through social platforms.” Suren Govender, MD of information and data strategy at Accenture.