The New Year is upon us. We’ve shaken off the food comas and hangovers, changed out of our pajamas and back into our big kid clothes and pinned a new calendar to the wall. Many of us see a new year as a fresh start, a time to cure our ails and leave our mistakes in the past. While a new year offers plenty of opportunity to start over, it also offers opportunity to continue on an upward trajectory.
In the world of IT this couldn’t be truer. As we look ahead to a busy 2016, here are some topics in IT to keep an eye on.
The Cloud Gets Bigger
Cloud computing is the ‘hot topic’ if you will in the IT world. While the numbers still funnel in, it was estimated that cloud computing usage would rise over 40% in 2015 when compared to 2014. With what we’ve seen and heard the past year it stands to reason that number is accurate, if not a little low.
Expect to see cloud adoption increase even more in 2016. In a report published by Cisco, and outlined in a recent Network World article, predicts annual global cloud traffic will quadruple from its 2014 numbers and is expected to account for more than 80% of total data center traffic by 2019. The cloud is not only used for an e-commerce store or application development anymore, companies are finding new and exciting ways to use the power of the cloud to their advantage. Even the Army has begun researching cloud computing vendors so that they may break ground on a new contract vehicle. If the trends continue on a similar path we could see the best year yet for cloud computing.
Security Will Be Highest IT Concern
We’ve talked about it time and again – security is important. Over the past year we saw numerous organizations and government entities struggle with keeping their data secure. With more and more data being stored digitally the securing of that data is of the utmost importance – especially when it comes to consumer or customer trust.
As the adage goes, “money talks”. According to a recent article in TechCrunch, worldwide information security spending hit $76.9 billion this past year, and is projected to reach $170 billion by 2020. More importantly, venture capital investments in cyber security startups are growing consistently, with projected levels of $3.5 billion for 2015 alone. Look for cyber security to become a major influencer with IT firms’ decision making .
Big Data Makes A Big Return
Big data means big business. However, in the past year the cloud and cyber security have overtaken big data when it comes to business strategy. Business intelligence allows companies to make smarter decisions more quickly than ever before. They can make better products or provide improved service, and big data helps with all of that – for a deeper dive into the world of big data, check out the Forbes’ explanation here so you’re ready to be ahead of the curve for 2016.
We’ll See Something We Haven’t Seen Before
Virtual reality is becoming a true reality, 3D printing gives humans and animals limbs and organs, and any man or woman with the gusto (and a large enough bankroll) to shoot their own rocket into space can do so at their will. New and exciting things happen each and every day in the world of technology. This includes the world of IT.
Be assured that we will encounter something in 2016 that we’ve haven’t seen before. It could be a new application, a new security measure, a piece of IT related legislation. Whatever the case, each and every year there is new and exciting things to talk about that we never thought were possible.