31 Jan IT Infrastructure and Operation Trends in 2021
Gartner, the prominent market research firm, recently identified six IT infrastructure and operation trends to watch in 2021.
Trend #1 – Anywhere Operations
After the pandemic, Gartner forecasts that 48% of employees will continue to work from home, a 60% increase over the pre-pandemic level. That will cause companies to continue to upgrade and deploy distributed IT infrastructure and be flexible so that staff can work from anywhere and customers can access their services from anywhere.
Trend #2 – Optimal Infrastructure
Optimal infrastructure means balancing the use of data center (or cloud) and edge computing resources. Edge computing is about processing data locally, and cloud computing is about processing data in a data center or cloud. The range of options increase the complexity of deploying computing resources, so organizations must make a business case and try to balance the tools they need versus the costs.
Trend #3 – Operational Continuity
IT services must evolve to support widely dispersed employees and customers. This will result in the adoption of more automation tools to support the deployment and administration of new computing resources.
Trend #4 – Core Modernization
Rapidly evolving business requirements are pushing organizations to regularly update their applications and infrastructure. Over time this will reduce their dependency on legacy systems and personnel and provide a better foundation for newer, more flexible technologies. Business leaders will have to justify the expenses as necessary to keep up with shifting business priorities.
Trend #5 – Distributed Cloud
Distributed cloud is the decentralization of cloud resources via public cloud, hybrid cloud and edge computing. It will probably become the preferred infrastructure model due to its performance and flexibility. But the added complexity of distributed cloud means that cloud service providers will probably become more responsible for support.
Trend #6 – Critical Skills Versus Critical Roles
The changes that are coming in IT infrastructure and operation suggest that certain skills such as adaptability, business knowledge, and communication skills will become more important in the hiring process relative to experience in traditional IT roles. This will change the culture of IT organizations over the next few years.
