IT & Software Asset Management: What to Expect in 2017
As we enter 2017, let’s take a look at what’s ahead so IT and Software Asset Managers can prepare. This upcoming year, many organizations will (not surprisingly) be placing a heavy focus on cloud computing, as well as increasing budgets for new opportunities in the IT space. Here is a compilation of some predictions from industry experts to help you visualize this year’s IT landscape.
The adoption of cloud services and subscriptions is increasing and this will be further proved in 2017. According to TechTarget’s IT Priorities 2017 survey, budgets for on-premise servers are actually now on the decline as CIOs choose to focus more heavily on cloud computing. In fact, surveyed IT decision-makers reported that 43% of budget increase would go towards cloud services – almost half of budget is clearly a significant amount to allocate. As well, 27% of respondents said that they would begin to implement SaaS for some desktop apps this year to shift with the changing landscape. One tricky aspect of cloud adoption is the idea of the “hybrid cloud”, which attempts to consolidate the management of public and private cloud (discussed in further detail here). Of the surveyed CIOs, 32% stated that hybrid cloud will be their top datacentre initiative for 2017, which reinforces the importance of creating a new model for the management of cloud services.
Other organizational focuses will become more prevalent in 2017 as the IT asset management industry continues to change. The IT Priorities survey found that 23% will invest in IT automation in 2017. We have talked about the importance of automation in the past, and this reinforces the idea that organizations can make IT tasks much more streamlined by automating processes like asset deployment, provisioning and account creation. Additionally, CIOs are eager to move over to various online applications in 2017, including a 60% majority planning to deploy productivity apps such as Office 365. This raises the growing concern about shadow IT, which IT managers should avoid by having the right processes in place to manage multiple online applications at a time. Another interesting prediction relates to the relationship between IT and business users, as partnerships between the two could help to eliminate shadow IT in 2017. Tableau, a Business Intelligence provider, stated “With cloud becoming a strategic priority for many enterprises, IT is now working in close partnership with business users and proactively vetting popular applications…as a result, SaaS apps can be fully integrated into the business.”
All evidence suggests that 2017 will see IT Asset Managers continuing to adapt to the changing landscape of cloud computing in the enterprise. As a consequence, strategic changes to ensure the right tools are in place to enable new policies, procedures and processes will evidently be required.
Sources:
PC Mag, “12 Enterprise and Mobile IT Predictions for 2017.”
Computer Weekly/TechTarget, IT Priorities 2017 survey.
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