5 Top IT Predictions for 07: Which Technology Trends will Impact You? by John Boruvka

This is certainly the time of year for predictions, forecasts, and trends, so we've gathered some that will affect our technology escrow customers in 2017. Take a look at how things may unfold over the next year - and be prepared for the impact on your business

1. IT is Increasingly Business-Driven

Gartner analyst David Cappuccio predicts that IT will be increasingly driven by business, as reported by TechTarget's Search IT Operations. Often, business leaders can't wait for traditional IT processes to play out, and are increasingly leveraging outside IT services without on-premises IT support: a full 29% of IT spend is made outside of the IT organization. This trend is expected to increase as cloud use proliferates and IT costs escalate. IT cannot stop this trend - nor should it - but instead can provide services to support and guide business users in their use of IT for the business.

What are the implications? See our post on Shadow IT for more details. Enterprises need to realize that their software applications may not be protected with traditional forms of software protection, such as technology escrow, when the IT department is bypassed. Ideally, IT can work together with lines of business within an organization to let employees get their jobs done and maintain the necessary safeguards.

2. DevOps will Evolve

The Hurwitz Group predicts that it's all about getting the job done in 2017, and we couldn't agree more. They believe key trends will be around pragmatic ways of implementing emerging and innovative technologies in a way that delivers fast, predictable, and well-managed solutions, including DevOps. Analyst Dan Kirsch explains that DevOps began as an experiment - fusing development organizations with operations. Now many organizations have adopted DevOps to help meet the increasing expectations of both internal business users and end-user customers.

What are the implications? As software developers embrace DevOps, think about how developers can also deliver benefits by offering technology escrow as a differentiator for services. Here's what you need to know about technology escrow as a developer.

3. Digital Twins Proliferate

Digital twins are one of Gartner's Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2017. Gartner analyst David Cearley predicts that within three to five years, billions of things will be represented by digital twins, a dynamic software model of a physical thing or system. A digital twin can be used to analyze and simulate real world conditions, responds to changes, improve operations and add value. Digital twins function as proxies for the combination of skilled individuals (e.g., technicians) and traditional monitoring devices and controls (e.g., pressure gauges). This will require a cultural change, as those who understand the maintenance of real-world things collaborate with data scientists and IT professionals. This will enable an increasingly detailed digital representation of the real world for simulation, analysis and control.

What are the implications? Software and more software. Need we say more? Protect it.

4. Driving Business Value from the DR Environment

The article Six Cloud Trends to Watch in 2017 in Open Source Magazine states that 2017 will be full of continued maturation [for SaaS] and will give way to a whole new generation of cloud-native applications. One of the trends is that data management will shift from an insurance policy to a proving ground for innovation. Innovative enterprises will ask themselves: Can I drive business value from the disaster recovery (DR) environment? For example, enterprises will begin to use the DR environment for security testing and look to use these environments as a way to drive business value beyond their originally intended use.

What are the implications? With SaaS, you need to protect both your SaaS applications and your data. That's why we offer SaaSProtect, a service that lets you match your level of contingency planning with your needs. It looks like having that data backup could be even more valuable than you thought.

5. Un-Clouding and Non-Clouding

With a contrarian viewpoint, the Nuvias Group offers its Top Five Cloud Trends for 2017, including un-clouding and non-clouding. Essentially, they believe that in some cases the cloud has been overhyped, and customers may get a shock when they see their bill. They believe 2017 will see end users working with their resellers to move workloads out of the cloud and back on-premise (un-clouding), and in the future, a more educated, sensible approach where cloud isn't the default option for hosting all workloads (non-clouding).

What are the implications? Although SaaS is here to stay, it is not all things for all people. On-premises software will continue to have a place, especially for mission-critical applications. Whether you use on-premises software, SaaS, or a mixture of both, Iron Mountain can help you protect your software assets.

And, if these are a bit to mundane for you, check out these 10 Bold Predictions for 2030. In only 13 years, these futurists predict that drivers' licenses and organ donations will be obsolete, but cyber attackers will be more motivated than ever.

What do you predict? Feel free to add your predictions in our comments section.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2017/service-lines/technology-escrow/5-t...
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