Jan-Feb 2020 - ChannelVision Magazine

T he widespread adoption of cloud, the acceptance of SD- WAN and momentum behind transformation all point to an increasingly savvy enterprise IT market. Enterprises no longer have to be convinced that their future is cloud- centric, software-defined and digitally enabled. In 2020, they will be looking for solutions that go beyond the basics and offer new capabilities and perfor- mance without adding complexity. The challenge for enterprises is to maximize the potential of these new technologies and models while ensur- ing that their ICT ecosystem is simple to manage and built to serve their spe- cific needs. 2020 will be defined by this move away from generic products to offering vertical-focused solutions that combine capabilities into fewer and fewer portals, platforms and services. Here are some of the key trends we see shaping enterprise IT in 2020 and what they will mean to the market dur- ing the next 12 months. Beyond the Basics in SD-WAN The SD-WAN platforms and tools market has already achieved massive growth in 2019 with revenue totalling approximately $1.5 billion, according to research by Futuriom. The market is set to reach almost $2.2 billion by 2020. This growth is largely due to enterprises adopting SD-WAN for cost- savings, however, in 2020, value, per- formance and security will become key drivers for SD-WAN adoption. Heavy Reading noted that of the 47 percent of operators that have deployed SD-WAN, only 40 percent have already implemented security on SD-WAN. For SD-WAN to support a growing number of applications and services, it needs to offer enterprises reliability and security. Otherwise, it will be lim- ited to “best effort” services, and more demanding applications won’t benefit from the flexibility and scalability of SD-WAN. Enterprises in 2020 will be evaluat- ing SD-WAN offers based on security and performance as well as cost. The seamless integration of security ser- vices, as well as owned backbone net- work infrastructure, will emerge as dif- ferentiators in a commoditizing market. Integrated security offers enterprises a comprehensive service, while owned network infrastructure delivers reliabil- ity and control. Collaborating to Serve Vertical Industries SD-WAN will be central to the ver- ticalization of enterprise IT services. The move from generic to industry- specific solutions will accelerate in 2020. A growing number of service pro- viders will shape specific solutions for different verticals through integrating technologies, collaborating with cus- tomers and developing service thread- ing that solves industry challenges. More targeted services will be of- fered to enable various industries to use SD-WAN to enable new scalable, flexible and demanding applications. For example, in the healthcare sector SD-WAN has already formed an es- sential pillar for supporting healthcare IoT, population health, new AI-support- ed health applications, patient data analytics and clinical workflows, as noted in a report by Clavem Research. “The rapid evolution of IT and net- works towards virtualized and auto- mated services is driving major change in healthcare,” said Clavem Research analysts. “SD-WAN has a major part to play in underpinning digital healthcare evolution.” The benefits of SD-WAN will extend to various other industries to improve user experience and productivity. Multi-Cloud Strategies Become the Norm Multi-cloud strategies went main- stream in 2019, with enterprises us- ing multiple cloud service providers (CSPs) to host and manage different applications and services. In 2020, multi-cloud strategies will be adopted by 90 percent of enterprises, says IDC. It’s becoming more important for enterprises to use multi-cloud strategies to increase flexibility, reduce risk and avoid lock-in, and also to utilize all the benefits offered by different cloud pro- viders. The challenge will be to manage connectivity to the cloud as enterprise environments become more complex. Enterprises will need to optimize their approach to cloud connectivity or face The Next Era of Enterprise Transformation By Chadwick Kinlay Predictions for 2020 and the coming decade BUYERS SIDE 46 CHANNEL VISION | January - February, 2020