Jan/Feb 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

EMERGENT Enterprises today are struggling to handle data as a strategic asset. In fact, for many enterprises, data collection is proving to be more of a risk than a benefit. This is troubling when looking ahead at the grim cybercrime forecast for 2019. Hackers are targeting corporate databases more than ever, with McAfee reporting that malware exploiting software vulnerabilities grew by 151 percent during the second quarter of last year. McAfee also warned that in 2019, we will see a stronger, more effective cybercriminal underground that will be laser-fo- cused on hacking cloud systems. “In the past two years, enter- prises have widely adopted the software-as-a-service model, such as Office 365, as well as infrastructure- and platform-as- a-service cloud models, such as AWS and Azure,” McAfee said in its 2019 Threats Predictions Repor t. “With this move, far more corporate data now resides in the cloud. In 2019, we expect a significant increase in attacks that follow the data to the cloud.” In an effort to streamline cybersecurity and extract more value from their data, a growing number of enterprises are choosing to integrate advanced data cataloguing solutions, for simplified data discovery and governance. With a cataloguing solution in place, end users can easily discover and extract hidden metadata from their applications, in essence pulling it out of the wild so that it can be analyzed, tracked and secured. An advanced cataloguing solution can pull information from hundreds of different tools, storage mechanisms and database instances, and make it searchable and accessible for marketers, sales directors, developers, executives and consultants, as well as cybersecurity teams. Channel partners should have a welcoming audience when speaking to IT buyers about data governance. In the recently re- leased 2018 ASG CIO Report , 70 percent of CIOs reported they have already deployed self-ser- vice data catalogues or business intelligence (BI) tools. Seven in 10 CIO respondents have a data governance strategy in place; 65 percent have a data provenance strategy; and 64 percent have a data lineage strategy. The talking point that partners will want to investigate is end-user adoption, as there seems to be a disconnect occurring at the end-user level with many data cataloguing systems. The majority of CIOs report that users are still sending as much as a quarter to three-quarters of data requests to IT. So partners may want to approach cataloguing conversations from an optimization standpoint. As the ASG report explains, there is a growing need for strong self-service data management solutions. Half of CIOs feel that better self-service data man- agement offerings could cut user requests for data in half, and relieve IT teams. Channel partners should also take note of the fact that 82 percent of CIOs plan to increase investment in their data management initiatives in 2019. One quarter will increase their investment in data strategy by more than 30 percent. Gartner’s 2018 Magic Quadrant for Metadata Management Solutions listed Alation, Collibra, Informatica, Smartlogic, DATUM, IBM, Oracle, Alex Solutions and ASG Technologies as leaders in this space. AT&T Adds Blockchain Solutions  AT&T has created a suite of blockchain solutions designed to work with technol- ogy from IBM and Microsoft. Enterprise customers can use these solutions as they automate and digitalize their busi- ness processes, said AT&T, providing them better resources to track and man- age information across multiple parties. The solution combines AT&T’s edge- to-edge capabilities with blockchain technology, which creates a shared ecosystem across parties to exchange information in ways that is permissioned and highly secure. AT&T’s IoT solutions add automation and critical monitoring capabilities, while its consulting team can design, deploy and manage the block- chain solution. “Blockchain is far more than just Bit- coin or cryptocurrency. It’s transforming the way many companies conduct busi- ness,” said Andy Daudelin, AT&T Busi- ness vice president. MetTel Launches AI for Communications MetTel recently launched AI for Communications, an initiative with In- telygenz to apply artificial intelligence to telecommunications. The stated goal is to empower corporate networks with predictive insights and analytics to anticipate and proactively address systemic issues that impact customer service, connectivity, data processing and overall network management. MetTel’s Customer Innovation Labs, the company’s research and develop- ment unit, is engaged with Intelygenz to predict issue potential and accelerate trouble resolution in communications networks. Intelygenz’s AI engine, T7, most recently was utilized for new plan- et detection for the European Space Agency. Under AI for Communications, MetTel will provide consulting services to customers to determine how AI can solve real business challenges through tailored solutions. CIOs Speak Out on Data Management Top Data Management Challenges Extracting value efficiently 30% Maintaining compliance with regulations 29% Enabling broader data access 23% Gleaning valuable insights from data 18% Source: ASG Data Strategies Today and Tomorrow Have a data governance strategy in place 71% Have a data provenance strategy in place 65% Have a data lineage strategy in place 64% Will invest in more data governance in 2019 35% Will invest in more data provenance in 2019 35% Will invest in more data lineage in 2019 28% Source: ASG 8 Channel Vision | January - February, 2019