How will tech develop this year, and what repercussions will any changes have for the enterprise world? For starters, there will be major shifts in the mobile arena for businesses, in terms of devices as well as apps, the latter of which will have security baked in.
2015 is also set to be the year when public cloud hype reaches its nadir, and organisations increasingly look towards a hybrid solution. Wearable technology will hit the enterprise, and naturally that development will cause big waves on the BYOD front.
In this article, we'll discuss five ways in which technology will make its influence felt throughout 2015.
1. Mobile
There will be more emphasis on serving the needs of the mobile user this year, which I think will be the year of the enterprise mobile applications. The IBM/Apple partnership and HP's push into the mobility market illustrate just how large this market has the potential to be.
So far, the apps created for enterprise use have been a mobile skin on existing desktop solutions. In 2015 enterprises will be looking to develop new, native applications that take true advantage of the mobile device form factor and unique mobile features to create streamlined business processes.
2. Cloud
2015 see the start of the downward spiral of the public cloud hype cycle; we're going to be in the trough. Look at all the security breaches that have occurred recently – the most prominent public cloud companies who have promised more security are still having issues keeping customer data secure.
Hype over the dominance of the public cloud will reach rock bottom as enterprises realise that they may need some combination of public and private cloud solutions. We've seen this happen already with GE, despite claims by some groups that the company will go 'all in' on the public cloud, the security teams have stated that certain compliance or infrastructure issues mean that certain data will still remain "private" and reside behind the firewall.
3. Wearables
In 2015 wearables will find their first footing in the enterprise, which will alter the way companies look at BYOD device policies and solutions. Businesses need to expect and prepare for this shift from a data security standpoint. Look at Google Glass, its most compelling use case is in industries where hands-free computing is a matter of life and death – surgeons, or field workers who are fixing machinery. Wearable technology applications in the enterprise will grow exponentially once wearables are introduced.
4. Security
A 100% secured environment is not attainable, so there will be increased demand on vendors to build security directly into applications. Every app needs to be self-aware and self-protecting in this new era of growing security concerns. This will alter the way that emerging companies create products, as they'll no longer be able to push security down the list of priorities beneath user experience – it will have to be an integral part of apps moving forward.
5. Market shift
There will be a drive towards increasing business productivity in 2015 – led by tighter IT budgets – which is going to have a significant impact on enterprise software vendors coming to market. The firms that are still relying solely on offering cloud-based EFSS solutions will find their revenue opportunities eroded by the cloud giants including Microsoft and Google, companies which are willing to give away their cloud storage for free to win business.
In the enterprise mobile market there will be expansion opportunities as technology and security emphasis shifts from devices to content, enabling a new generation of enterprise mobile applications.
- Yorgen Edholm is a Silicon Valley veteran with 25 years of enterprise software expertise. Mr Edholm co-founded Brio Technology, and was also President and CEO of DecisionPoint Applications (an analytical applications company) before becoming CEO of Accellion.
