During the ongoing cycle of emerging technology trends, data has once again surfaced to become one of the most valuable assets a business can truly leverage.
“With data at the forefront of most business strategies driving digital, technology trends that truly harness the power of data should top corporate agendas in 2019,” said Kevin Kemp, Executive at PBT Group.
“While much attention in the technology trends space has been driven towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the last few years, AI is just one piece of the technology puzzle, which, of course is ignited by data. And concepts that can make AI viable or support AI functions to mature in the local market, will likely see more attention, including Edge Computing.”
In fact, the ability to analyse data, as close to the source as possible, via Edge Computing, provides business with ample benefits. Not only does the requirement to move data around to various sources (for the purpose of analysis) decrease, but it also results in a reduction in the costs associated with working with the data, and reduced latency, all of which improves accuracy and ensures less data duplication.
“The impact of this will see a combination of Edge Computing and AI, where AI will serve as an analytics support function for strategic business outputs. As this matures, the Internet of Things (IoT) suddenly becomes more practical and feasible for business – and this year should see companies looking more closely at IoT usage cases, to leverage their data more effectively.”
Data security to remain a key priority
“Cybersecurity is a consist and growing threat for data and businesses simply should not invest in Edge Computing without some form of data security strategy in mind,” added Kemp.
“Initiatives tackling cybersecurity and data protection strategies are crucial and therefore cannot be seen as compliance tick box items. Rather, they are essential for protecting a business’s unique value proposition which today is mostly found in data.”
Clouds on local shores
As security concerns intensify, the cloud will start to become a more attractive solution for businesses yet to invest in cloud technologies.
“With plans for locally based data centres on the horizon, larger adoption of cloud based managed services, through fixed data centres, is expected, as more companies will be open to hosting their data within local shores, for more controlled security management,” said Kemp.
“Furthermore, those who look to benefit from the Edge Computing trend will also want to work more closely with the cloud to offer more flexible and agile data storage solutions.
“With data driving business investment and playing a pivotal role in sustainability strategies, any technology that makes use of data to achieve valuable outcomes will gain attention – not just in 2019 – but in the years to come. Those businesses who continue to invest in their data management strategies will capitalise on the most relevant trends, to achieve real business growth.”
