Data Management: 5 Predictions for 2020
Many of the big 2019 data trends will continue to evolve in the coming year.
- By David Hodgson
- December 12, 2019
Enterprises made great strides in taking advantage of their data in 2019, but according to a recent Syncsort survey, only 9 percent of companies consider their organization “very effective” at getting value from enterprisewide data. With data volumes continuing to expand and companies experimenting with new use cases and emerging technology such as cloud computing and machine learning, it will become more important for enterprises to access all sources of data.
In 2020, we will see many of the big 2019 data trends continue to evolve. Here are five of the most important based on observations and feedback from conversations with our customer base and industry partners.
2020 Trend #1: Streaming data will become embedded in business processes
As the speed of business continues to accelerate, enterprises will take advantage of data in real time to make faster decisions for all parts of the business. To do so, they must integrate streaming data directly into reporting and analytics systems so it can be promptly reviewed and usable for business decisions. Company leaders rely on reviewing the most recent data available to make the best decisions possible, which can be a challenge as data sources are expanding, producing a greater volume of data.
In doing so, companies need to be able to extract and integrate all their enterprise data -- from traditional legacy data in mainframes or IBM i systems to the Internet of Things (IoT) and streaming data -- to take advantage of next-generation use cases. We’re seeing companies embrace this already, as evidenced by Splunk’s recently announced Data Stream Processor (DSP).
2020 Trend #2: Data-driven automation for AIOps will become central to IT strategies
As companies experiment with new use cases involving machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), they’re slowly becoming more sophisticated. In 2020, we’ll see substantive progress in businesses applying these systems to solve IT problems proactively and in real time.
Leaders will realize a competitive advantage through artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) to monitor for (and immediately react to) system events, informing human operators after taking action to solve problems, rather than simply alerting IT professionals and waiting for a response. As IT departments monitor a growing volume of data, businesses will see the benefits in AIOps use cases such as detecting security breaches, monitoring for fraud, and watching for potential performance problems before they occur.
2020 Trend #3: New tools will be required to manage cloud computing performance
The quickly growing adoption rate of cloud and hybrid cloud architectures will continue to increase. The need for secure, reliable, and scalable data management and movement will prove to be a major area of investment by IT departments next year. This is something we have already seen companies grapple with this year as they understand more about the need for cloud-first applications and both the advantages and disadvantages of cloud’s agility. New architectures will require companies to properly plan for transaction-driven growth. In 2020, workload optimization tools will offer enterprises a complete, end-to-end view of their business service and componentry to provide a competitive edge.
2020 Trend #4: Next-generation data platform choices will continue to expand
Enterprises looking to take advantage of analytics on big data have many choices for scalable data platforms. In 2020, we will see a proliferation of real, business-valuable use cases that companies will implement on all of the many choices available, including trending platforms such as Azure Data Warehouse, Snowflake, MongoDB, and Databricks. In fact, we predict we’ll see more platforms emerge before the market begins to consolidate. Although most platforms have niche use cases, all aspire to innovate and expand and will offer new capabilities to companies that have an appetite to use these technologies.
2020 Trend #5: Companies will continue to adjust to data regulations
With the upcoming California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) going into effect in 2020, the concept of individual data rights will continue to be evaluated and discussed well into the new year. These data regulations remain poised to disrupt traditional marketing methods, requiring companies to revisit and completely rethink data governance and data privacy processes -- how they collect and identify customer data -- to remain compliant with both the CCPA and the GDPA in Europe. The question to watch in 2020: will companies be prepared to handle consumer complaints and grapple with the implications of noncompliance?
A Final Word
The last few years have seen cloud computing, hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence, and machine learning come to the forefront of the data management conversation. Although these concepts aren’t new, this is the year they’ll come to maturity in various ways for a critical mass of companies. Enterprises are finding more real-world applications for emerging technologies and realizing that they can offer a competitive advantage. In the new year, we’ll see companies make large strides in their understanding and use of these technologies to optimize their data.
About the Author
David Hodgson is the chief product officer at Syncsort, where he is responsible for all product-related activities, including business development, support, services and product management. He has 24 years of experience in senior management roles at CA Technologies and Sterling Software in engineering, operations, business development, and more.