Many organizations will need to accelerate the modernization of IT infrastructure and operations to build a sustainable competitive advantage in the next 2 to 3 years, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC).
The ability to align to the digital business transformation paradigm is contingent upon investing in next-generation cloud-native IT infrastructure technologies, platforms, and solutions -- also it depends on how CIOs will help transform commercial operations.
The rapid proliferation of data-driven edge workloads, the growing number of ransomware and malware attacks, and the growth of structured or unstructured data are creating significant challenges -- IDC says by 2023, most C-Suites will implement business-critical key performance indicators (KPIs).
Digital Infrastructure Market Development
"The CIO and IT decision-makers will need to do some serious thinking beyond modernizing the technology building blocks and platforms if they truly intend to align to digital business outcomes, SLAs, and KPIs," said Rajnish Arora, Vice President at IDC in Asia-Pacific.
The ability to align to the digital business transformation paradigm is contingent upon investing in next-generation cloud-native IT infrastructure technologies, platforms, and solutions -- also it depends on how CIOs will help transform commercial operations.
The rapid proliferation of data-driven edge workloads, the growing number of ransomware and malware attacks, and the growth of structured or unstructured data are creating significant challenges -- IDC says by 2023, most C-Suites will implement business-critical key performance indicators (KPIs).
Digital Infrastructure Market Development
"The CIO and IT decision-makers will need to do some serious thinking beyond modernizing the technology building blocks and platforms if they truly intend to align to digital business outcomes, SLAs, and KPIs," said Rajnish Arora, Vice President at IDC in Asia-Pacific.
Cultural and mindset change is a keystone of the new digital infrastructure paradigm, which goes beyond just embracing cloud computing as the de facto delivery platform, or using OPEX-based 'as-a-service' IT consumption models.
The IDC 'Future of Digital Infrastructure' top 10 predictions provides guidance for senior decision-makers on how to accelerate the modernization of their transformation agenda, as follows:
Strategic Lock-In: By 2024, A2000 leaders prioritize business objectives over infrastructure choice, deploying 50 percent of new strategic workloads using vendor-specific APIs that add value but reduce workload portability.
Supply Chain Integrity: In 2023, over 60 percent of A2000 will cite business resiliency to drive verifiable infrastructure supply chain integrity as a mandatory and non-negotiable vendor evaluation criterion.
Cyber Recovery: By 2023, most C-Suite leaders implement business-critical KPIs tied to data availability, recovery, and stewardship as rising levels of cyber-attacks expose the scale of data at risk.
Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG): By 2024, 60 percent of A2000 digital infrastructure RFPs require vendors to prove progress on ESG or Sustainability initiatives with data, as CIOs rely on infrastructure vendors to help meet ESG goals.
Edge First Data: By 2024, due to an explosion of edge data, 55 percent of A2000 will embed edge-first data stewardship, security, and network practices into data protection.
Workload Dependency Explosion: By 2025, a 6X explosion in high dependency workloads leads to 65 percent of A2000 firms using consistent architectural governance frameworks to ensure compliance reporting and audit of their infrastructure.
Consumption-as-a-Service: By 2025, 60 percent of enterprises will fund Line of Business (LoB) and IT projects through OPEX budgets, matching how vendors provide their services with a focus on outcomes that are determined by SLAs and KPIs.
Next-Generation Infrastructure: By 2025, 60 percent of companies will invest in alternative computing technologies to drive business differentiation by compressing time to value with insights from complex data sets.
Artificial Intelligence Ops Maturity: By 2026, 90 percent of A2000 CIOs will use AIOps solutions to drive automated remediation and workload placement decisions that include cost and performance metrics, improving resiliency and agility.
New IT Advisors: By 2026, mid-market companies will shift 55 percent of IT infrastructure spending from traditional channels towards more app-centric trusted advisors.
Strategic Lock-In: By 2024, A2000 leaders prioritize business objectives over infrastructure choice, deploying 50 percent of new strategic workloads using vendor-specific APIs that add value but reduce workload portability.
Supply Chain Integrity: In 2023, over 60 percent of A2000 will cite business resiliency to drive verifiable infrastructure supply chain integrity as a mandatory and non-negotiable vendor evaluation criterion.
Cyber Recovery: By 2023, most C-Suite leaders implement business-critical KPIs tied to data availability, recovery, and stewardship as rising levels of cyber-attacks expose the scale of data at risk.
Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG): By 2024, 60 percent of A2000 digital infrastructure RFPs require vendors to prove progress on ESG or Sustainability initiatives with data, as CIOs rely on infrastructure vendors to help meet ESG goals.
Edge First Data: By 2024, due to an explosion of edge data, 55 percent of A2000 will embed edge-first data stewardship, security, and network practices into data protection.
Workload Dependency Explosion: By 2025, a 6X explosion in high dependency workloads leads to 65 percent of A2000 firms using consistent architectural governance frameworks to ensure compliance reporting and audit of their infrastructure.
Consumption-as-a-Service: By 2025, 60 percent of enterprises will fund Line of Business (LoB) and IT projects through OPEX budgets, matching how vendors provide their services with a focus on outcomes that are determined by SLAs and KPIs.
Next-Generation Infrastructure: By 2025, 60 percent of companies will invest in alternative computing technologies to drive business differentiation by compressing time to value with insights from complex data sets.
Artificial Intelligence Ops Maturity: By 2026, 90 percent of A2000 CIOs will use AIOps solutions to drive automated remediation and workload placement decisions that include cost and performance metrics, improving resiliency and agility.
New IT Advisors: By 2026, mid-market companies will shift 55 percent of IT infrastructure spending from traditional channels towards more app-centric trusted advisors.
Outlook for Digital Infrastructure Investment Growth
That said, I anticipate more CIOs and CTOs will acknowledge that assessing the ability to achieve desired business outcomes is most important when selecting vendors for new projects. Technology supremacy and expansive feature sets often don't translate into business technology value.
IT investment value realization is often directly related to the vendor's proven ability to influence the adoption and consumption of SaaS software applications. Moreover, it's important for leaders to appreciate that intangible benefits may be the primary driver of business outcome achievement.
That's why every new business case needs to be aligned to the recognition that SaaS end-user consumption is a leading indicator of anticipated profitability and growth enabled by IT infrastructure investment. The savviest trusted advisor vendors already demonstrate this essential quality.