As digital transformation is fast becoming a priority for every company, what changes we will see in the enterprise space in the year ahead?

BMC Software, Inc. Senior VP and Chief Architect Bill Platt believes that 2016 will bring a critical stage in the digital evolution that will see companies adapt in order to stay competitive and streamline operations.

Platt shares his thoughts on the year ahead in the latest in our 2016 predictions series as follows.

The digital enterprise takes center stage

Platt notes that while a Gartner survey predicted digital business will increase to 43 percent of all revenue in 2020 from its current rate of 18 percent, that prediction seems modest given the disruption caused by digital natives, such as Uber, Inc., Airbnb, Inc., and Etsy, Inc.

“Onlyfive percent of respondents in BMC’s 2015 survey had fully implemented the necessary digital services and mobile technologies to drive new revenue, open up new markets and deliver new operational efficiencies,” Platt states.

“In 2016, we see this number growing significantly across FORTUNE 500 and traditional businesses as they accelerate the adoption of digital practices to enter new markets, streamline operations in their current lines of business and strengthen the competitive advantages they have built for years.”

The workplace is no longer a place

Employees want companies they work for to catch up with the smart, user-friendly technology they use at home, making it a pivotal time for companies that want to remain competitive and attract top talent to go digital or go extinct.

“In 2016, the ‘workplace’ will no longer be a place, with enterprises accelerating the shift to a more consumer-like computing environment based on crowdsourcing technology and persona-based approaches that enable employees to choose the productivity tools and technology they want to use – be it inside or outside the office,” Platt predicts. “This will set a new IT standard in delivering personalized services to employees and allowing them to be the curator of their own work experiences.”

The second is the new minute: Time to automate

Platt says that while traditional modes of IT must continue to drive down technology costs, the new mode of IT focuses on time-to-market, rapid application evolution (DevOps), and tight alignment with line of business inside of organizations.

“This is driving the need to automate,” he notes. “We’ve already seen traditional businesses, such as banking, insurance and transportation, turn to DevOps in order to continuously introduce innovative, secure and easy-to-use solutions that strengthen their competitive edge. At the same time, online businesses are looking for solutions to protect new digital services from expensive outages that could potentially cause billions of dollars in lost revenue and damaged brands.”

He continues: “In 2016, ‘the second becomes the new minute.’ Speed to reaction is more critical than ever, from the developer all the way up to the CEO. Organizations that prepare for incidents ahead of time and have a development solution in place for fast, automated deployments will be best positioned to manage these problems head on when these unfortunate incidents occur.”

The public cloud brings ‘rain’ for businesses

Many predicted that the adoption of public cloud in the enterprise would slow due to concerns about data security in 2015, Platt says, while noting that instead public cloud solutions have become more secure, reliable and easier for distributed workforces to use.

“At the same time, private cloud became cheaper and easier for IT to manage, but those advantages have not proven to be enough to replace the convenience of public cloud now that security concerns have been alleviated,” he adds. “Our prediction for 2016 is greater adoption of public cloud solutions in the enterprise, as well as hybrid cloud strategies that leverage the best assets of both private and public clouds to drive new revenue streams and open up new markets.”

You will be hacked: Are you ready to defend your data?

2015 saw security become a board-level discussion, as many high-profile brands fell victim to vulnerabilities, cyber attacks and data breaches.

“It is taking far too long to address vulnerabilities, essentially giving hackers an open door to access anything they consider valuable,” Platt claims. “Eighty percent of vulnerabilities are known, yet it takes an average of 193 days to patch these vulnerabilities – meaning that companies are exposing themselves to a potential breach for more than six months at a time.”

He adds: “In 2016, it’s not a matter of if your enterprise is going to get hacked, it’s a matter of how and when. Enterprises will need to equip themselves with the tools required to protect their data, and that starts with a more automated digital enterprise.”

Data protection accreditations become standard

The European Court of Justice sent a clear message to businesses this year that Safe Harbor can no longer be relied on as a result of data breaches that have brought suspicion on to it in the public eye, Platt tells SiliconANGLE. 

“When working with data, organizations must be accountable for that data entrusted to them at a global level; therefore, 2016 will see more organizations than ever before seek out internationally recognized data protection accreditations, like Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs), which allow secure data transfer across borders while continuing to comply with local rules and regulations.”

He adds: “As a result, a clear signal will be sent to customers that their data is being handled safely and securely in the global, data-driven economy we’ll continue to see evolve in 2016.”

Image credit: Bill Platt/BMC