Information Technology in 2018: 9 Predictions from Arraya’s Team

Want a sneak peek at what’s in store for cloud, cyber security, data management, and the rest of IT’s top care-abouts come 2018? There’s no better place to turn than Arraya’s team of experts. What this group lacks in psychic abilities, they more than make up for in technical knowledge and experience. And, when it comes to making predictions about what the IT landscape will look like in 2018, we’re of the opinion that expertise beats psychic powers any day.

Ryan Benner, Vice President, Enterprise Infrastructure

I think we’re going to see three specific things happen in 2018, technology-wise:

-There’s going to be a continued focus on security from the government, including new/strengthened regulations specific to detection and response.

– BI and analytics are going to get easier to use and more widely adopted come the New Year.

– Leading edge companies are going to begin adopting AI and VR/AR technologies into their everyday operations.

Harry Chen, Director, Staffing Services

The gig economy will only get stronger in 2018 as technology continues to connect the world. Organizations will continue to leverage cloud solutions, managed solutions, and “On-Demand” consultants to become more nimble.  With automation around every corner, and data analytics driving business decisions, traditional technologists will have to evolve with the business to remain marketable. Also, in what is seemingly becoming a weekly event, security breaches will create a frenzy for top security professionals, and the gap of unfilled security roles will continue to expand.

Halim Chtourou, Enterprise Solutions Architect

In 2018, we’re going to see the desire for greater security driving even more customers to application segmentation – regardless of what firewall platform they choose to implement it on. Security needs will also push customers to modern unified endpoint management, including managing Windows 10, as well as non-Windows devices, all through a single platform.

We’re also going to see adoption of new virtual desktop deployments take place more in the cloud than on premises. Upfront capital costs are often one of the biggest barriers to any large scale desktop virtualization initiative, even with the promise of lower operating costs. Cloud-based desktop and application virtualization eliminates this barrier to entry and can significantly speed up deployment time.

Tom Clerici, Director, Cyber Security Practice  

At a “macro” level, I expect to see increased focus and discussion around stricter laws and regulations that pertain to protecting sensitive data. This is primarily going to be a result of the Equifax breach.  It’s just too big of an opportunity for lawmakers and they’ve already started to pounce. At the “micro” level, I think we’ll be zeroing in with our customers on how to better understand and see what’s happening within their systems. We’ll still provide traditional security products like next generation firewall, endpoint protection, and other similar tools, but I think most of our customers will want to get to the next level of looking at what’s actually happening, identifying malicious behavior, and using behavioral analytics to predict what’s coming before a threat strikes.

Doug Guth, Director, Cisco and IoT Practice

I expect topics such as security, software defined, simplification/automation, SaaS, cloud and intent-based solutions, and IoT are going to be at the center of many conversations in 2018.

Jason Kline, Microsoft Cloud Solutions Architect

Cloud discussions picked up tremendously in 2017 as people began to understand that cloud can be a highly secure platform. In 2018, I expect many organizations to take the first steps toward building out new services and solutions on a cloud based model. In relation to that, organizations will be looking to partners who understand these platforms and are able to help them tame the beast, so to speak. Cost control, optimization, and best practice design will be front of mind for everyone beginning this journey.

Mark Nixon, Team Lead, Data Center

Security is always a big deal, but taking into account the rise of cryptocurrencies and quantum computing, I believe it will become an even bigger concern in 2018 and beyond. With cryptocurrencies providing the motivation and quantum computing potentially giving attackers access to tools of almost unimaginable power, the way we think of security is going to have to change.

Matt Sekol, Director, Cloud and Microsoft Practice

I expect customers will continue trending towards advisory services for big concept technologies – security, productivity, end user compute and cloud.

Rajasekar Shanmugam, Team Lead, Network Services

I predict Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be big in 2018, as I see lot of developments happening around that area.

What else is on deck for IT in 2018?

Have any questions about our 2018 predictions? Have a few of your own you’d like to share? Our team can be reached at www.arrayasolutions.com/contact-us/. They can also be reached through our social media presence: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Be sure to follow us for all of our latest blogs as well as alerts about upcoming special events.