Here are the Key Takeaways from the Gartner report. I translated the bullet points so they are more understandable for creatives and sales representatives. I also came up with some ideas for opportunities for sales of those needs in the next 3 years.
Key Take-Aways
1. Leaders buy C3PO’s and R2-D2’s, for innovation.
I&O and IT leaders have increased the adoption of emerging technologies as organizations begin to recover from the pandemic by seeking innovation opportunities.
Opportunity: Sales of AI, 5G, IoT, Serverless computing, Biometrics, AR /VR, blockchain, Robotics, NLP (natural language processing), and Quantum computing products and services over the next 6 months to have working in the 6-18 months.
Across all technology domains, 58% of respondents reported either an increase or a plan to increase emerging technology investment in 2021, compared with 29% in 2020. In tandem, I&O functions have witnessed a reduction in deployment timelines, with all technologies in deployment expected to reach adoption within the next six to 18 months.
2. How do you use this darn thing?
Opportunity: Education of staff or 3rd party IT companies to install and maintain.
Talent shortages are a rising and significant challenge for the successful adoption of emerging technologies.
This year, 64% of respondents feel that talent availability is the largest challenge to emerging technology adoption, compared with just 4% in 2020 and 14% in 2019.
3. #1 Goal Company: Resilient Tech
The need for resilience drives the business case for the majority of emerging technology deployments this year.
A majority (64%) of enterprises are deploying emerging technologies to meet the objective of “enhanced resilience.” This is significantly different from last year when the investment justification most often cited was “increasing speed and agility” (cited by 66% of respondents).
Opportunity: Services to sell products that can connect and keep companies mobile.
4. Users want to choose from the menu.
Opportunity: Sell As-A-Service products that can be added as needed.
Emerging technologies that enable democratized delivery are becoming increasingly important for I&O leaders.
This year, 82% of I&O leaders either agree or strongly agree that enterprise leaders outside of IT influence emerging technology adoption decisions across all technology domains evaluated. Furthermore, 85% of respondents either agree or strongly agree that they have metrics in place to track customer experience before and after technology adoption. To enable self-service delivery, I&O functions are establishing several “as-a-service” technologies.
5. All-access Cloud Pass.
Opportunity: Sell and Mange any cloud-related product or service
I&O leaders are creating distributed platforms, supported by cloud technologies, that can enable an “anywhere operations’’ model for employees.
To allow the smooth movement of work environments and information between physical and virtual locations, organizations are investing heavily in creating a strong hybrid cloud base, supported by several multi-cloud technologies.
6. Beefing Up Security
Opportunity Sell cyber security solutions and maintenance.
Improving and maintaining IT infrastructure security is a significant priority for organizations as they tackle rising threats, particularly to endpoint devices in the new hybrid work environment.
From 2020 to 2021, the number of security technologies in deployment rose sharply — from 15% to 84% of evaluated technologies. Also, in 2021, 64% of respondents reported that they have either increased or are planning to increase investments in security technologies, a significant jump from just 31% in 2020.
7. It’s all about IT Networking.
Opportunity: Sell Networking solutions.
I&O executives are deploying highly disruptive emerging technologies to ensure continued, uninterrupted access to enterprise networks and effective delivery of network services within organizations.
Investments in network technologies have seen continued growth, as 53% of respondents note that they have increased or plan to increase investments in network technologies in 2021, compared with 32% in 2020.
8. Next up is Managed Services, Blockchain, IoT launching.
Opportunity: Sell IT Managed Services, Blockchain, and IoT products.
Organizations are investing in technologies that enable intelligent data and analytics capabilities to scale enterprisewide digital ambitions.
I&O functions are deploying enterprise technologies that can sculpt change in 2021, such as artificial intelligence (AI) cloud services, AI IT operations (AIOps) platforms, and data science and machine-learning platforms, while intelligent automation for infrastructure managed services, blockchain platforms, and IoT platforms are in the pilot stage this year.
9. Everyone is learning to use their new toys.
Demand for new digital workplace technologies plateaued in 2021 compared to 2020 due to the maturing responses to the pandemic.
Only 12% of digital workplace technologies have moved ahead in the adoption cycle in 2021, compared with 41% in 2020.
10. Mindful Tech deployment.
Enterprises are more selectively adopting technologies related to automation in 2021, leading to the cautious deployment of several emerging IT automation technologies.
Of all the IT automation technologies profiled this year, only 20% of them have moved ahead in the adoption cycle since last year, compared with 30% in 2020.
11. Kondo’ing the IT Closet.
Adoption of storage and database emerging technologies slowed this year as organizations seek to maintain and optimize existing data center infrastructure.
The number of storage and database technologies in the deployment adoption stage dropped this year — from 38% in 2020 to 30% in 2021. I&O leaders are working toward rationalizing
their current storage and database infrastructure, with 50% of storage and database technologies remaining in the same adoption stage as in 2020.
12. Cloud Files closer to you.
Edge technologies that enable a swift analysis of information closer to the point of data generation are in focus.
Technologies such as edge computing, edge servers, and edge networking are in deployment this year. Organizations that do not align their edge solutions to strong business use cases will face issues in their strategic adoption plans.
Repost from Gartner.com