This post is part of the A-Z of 2021 technology predictions, beginning with part 1, A to D. Part 3 follows part 2, E to J. The series concludes with part 4, T to Z.
K is for kilometres travelled.
Connected cars (autonomous vehicles) are going to become more capable, but that requires the components inside to work harder. Car manufacturers may hit back by looking for more efficient alternatives.
"In 2021, Auto DRAM and NAND will continue to see robust demand. Autonomous vehicles and even connected cars promise more features including in-vehicle infotainment, 4K displays, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled features like gesture recognition and natural language processing. With these new features, we’re seeing an exponential increase in memory and compute demands – in fact, the amount of compute performance needed for cars is reaching data centre levels.
"Given these trends, in 2021, we can expect to see automotive players increasingly turning to alternative options for low-power, energy-efficient memory and storage such as fast, high-bandwidth graphics memory and compact multi-chip packages."
- Raj Hazra, Micron Senior VP of Emerging Products & Corporate Strategy.
Hazra also highlighted the growing importance of advanced driver assistance systems, or ADAS. "COVID had an impact on the autonomous space; people are hesitant about any sort of public transportation or ride-sharing. That's put a damper on the aggressive adoption we might've seen otherwise. For 2021, set autonomous aside for a second and think about ADAS. We’re a long ways away from having the technology to be fully autonomous. We see an increase in ADAS level two and three technologies instead: adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, automatic braking, driver monitoring systems. The overall market is going to be strong in 2021, not necessarily focused on autonomous vehicles, but on digitalisation of the cabin."
- Hazra from Micron.
"As the number of sensors powering in-vehicle networks continues to escalate, in-vehicle networks will need to keep pace," Keysight executives predicted. According to Keysight, autonomous vehicle investment will be modest in 1H21 but will pick up in the second half. The company also believes that developments will occur more quickly in Greater China as this region is committed to phasing out conventional petrol vehicles by 2035.
- Keysight.
L is for the COBOL language.
COBOL, which stands for common business-oriented language, is the the programming language used for coding mainframe systems. Although many businesses have moved from using mainframes, they still exist today, driving a need for COBOL programmers.
"A big shift from the usual deferred IT maintenance on core business systems, many local governments and public sector authorities are now seeking to revisit past investments within their IT estate to facilitate new modernisation projects amid the increased digital demand resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Efforts will range from leveraging existing core business applications and in-house skillsets to bridge to new solutions, to more risky measures including the rewrite and replacement of COBOL and mainframe systems. Regardless of the direction, IT leaders will need to take into account the rising digital demand in 2021 and more scrutiny surrounding their IT decisions and actions.
"Modernisation — rather than rip-and-replace — will likely be the preferred strategy that enables budget-strapped agencies to address immediate IT concerns while navigating a challenging financial environment."
- Stephen McNulty, President Asia Pacific and Japan at Micro Focus.
M is for management (of IT services).
"The pandemic has meant that IT teams are being asked to make huge leaps both in terms speed and productivity. The massive shift to remote work has left IT service management (ITSM) teams bearing much more responsibility and a greater impetus to pivot more strongly towards digital transformation.
"While different industries are facing very different sets of challenges due to the pandemic, typically we have noticed that the IT teams that are helping make their firms successful during turbulent times will be looking to do three main things going into 2021:
- Implementing highly agile infrastructure that will allow for speedy production of new digital solutions. This generally entails making an aggressive move onto cloud computing or more widespread adoption of SaaS versions of commonly used products within the organisation.
- Automating DataOps and DevOps to reduce the involvement of IT operations teams.
- Looking at changing their IT consumption models. This means moving away from project acquisition models to project allocation instead. Going into 2021, teams that will enjoy greater success will have made the shift from capital purchases to capacity on demand, highly-customised managed services and utility pricing.
The coming year (2021) will be a chance for IT teams across the region to showcase that even in tougher circumstances we are able to make great strides in productivity and speed by embracing flexibility and agility."
- Pratyush Khare, APAC CTO, Hitachi Vantara.
"In 2020, we saw a sharp uptick in the number of enquiries being fielded through the IT helpdesk. This will continue in 2021, but as organisations explore how to drive efficiencies throughout the business, we also anticipate the IT helpdesk will further embrace technology and streamline their operations to become a more central resource for all employee tech requests: the IT service desk.
"Before the broader transition can begin, teams must put the proper infrastructure in place so they’re able to sufficiently manage employees’ systems. Organisations will then begin to look at how all factions and departments within the business can utilise the service desk. By reviewing — and in some cases rethinking — their processes, we expect to see numerous businesses decide the IT service desk should become the central resource for employees so they can get the help they need, when they need it as remote working becomes the norm.
"The IT helpdesk won’t be responsible for owning all requests, but with their experience and expertise, they can suggest ways to automate, delegate operations, and encourage cross-departmental collaboration. For example, where a technician would’ve traditionally coached a user through a one-off ticket like a password reset, automated classification and responses in ITSM solutions will be put into place in 2021 to eliminate manual triage, make categorisation more efficient, and lead to a faster resolution for the requester.
"For the more complex business practices like offboarding or hardware intake, IT teams will leverage their ITSM platforms to digitise the collection of information and automate changing access rights. Implementing these updates won’t shift the onus from the IT helpdesk, but it’ll help eliminate service silos and enhance visibility."
- Liz Beavers, Head Geek, SolarWinds.
"As monitoring and service desk integrations become more prevalent, tech pros will start the process of automating ticket assignments, asset updates, configuration management database (CMDB) updates, updates to customers, and more. This will not only keep monitoring and service desk systems and teams in sync but take menial tasks and delays out of the equation, allowing common issues to be resolved faster and saving the business time and money."
- Chrystal Taylor, Head Geek, SolarWinds.
N is for notifications.
"In 2021, we’ll see the mission criticality of social media management platforms continue to grow as users’ social media maturity continues to evolve. More social media management platforms will follow the likes of Facebook by implementing direct messaging capabilities across various applications. These capabilities will allow businesses to engage and manage more meaningful conversations with their customers all from one place more efficiently, and in turn, bolster customer loyalty."
- Ryan Holmes, CTO and Co-founder, Hootsuite.
"In 2020 we have seen the use of SMS evolve on a whole new scale. For example, many government agencies, businesses, healthcare professionals, and several other sectors have used businesses SMS for the first time to stay connected to their customers during the pandemic, whether it’s been for an appointment reminder, emergency alert, or even just a check-in to maintain contact."
- MessageMedia COO Anushka Wijendra.
O is for observability.
"With 2020 being the year where digital customer experience both made and broke many companies, there were a lot of lessons learnt by organisations on what their customers actually want in their experiences. With these learning the relevance of observability over APM and infra monitoring became clear, as more organisations wanted to understand what it was like to be one of their customers.
Due to this, 2021 looks to be the year when observability will move from being a discussion contained to the IT department to one that will command a presence in the boardroom as companies bet the future of their existence on digital differentiation. The firms who embrace observability first at the executive level will find themselves at a significant advantage to those firms who do not.
With this change, the value of 'observability literacy' for practitioners in the DevOps, business operations and analyst community will become a highly valued skillset. Observability will start to become a core curriculum in higher educations and academic programmes due to the rarity of these skills today. People who embrace education and certification around observability will find themselves in a position of great opportunity for career development both within and outside of their organisations.
"This change will also see a shift in the traditional consulting firms in establishing observability practices to bridge gaps that exist today for many organisations. This will also drive the creation of many boutique consulting firms who have strong domain expertise around Observability, leveraging the industry’s leading tools to help organisations achieve business-relevant observability quickly."
- Ben Goodman, Senior VP - Asia at New Relic. According to the company, observability is the practice of instrumenting systems to secure actionable data that details when and why an error occurs.
P is for privacy.
"Consumers are becoming more savvy about data privacy and are taking steps to protect their personal data online. Instead of giving away an email address or phone number to connect with a brand, more consumers are opting to interact with brands via messaging apps.
"In 2021, as more brands transform their digital operations, the use of messaging apps will increase. Consumers will come to expect messaging apps as a communication channel for brands and the brands that don’t offer this service will fall short. Consumers will also look to these channels to have personalised interactions with brands without sacrificing their privacy. The brands that interact with customers using a consistent brand tone will be able to successfully personalise experiences for consumers while also building a strong customer following."
- Ryan Holmes, CTO and Co-founder, Hootsuite.
"More countries are establishing travel bubbles and reciprocal green lanes in a bid to revive the travel and hospitality sector. In order for such arrangements to be efficient and safe for all travellers, however, personal data will need to be shared across borders with the right security controls and accompanied by transparent communication about how such data will be handled and stored.
"With this critical need to move data between government agencies and enterprises such as airlines, airports and hotels, the debate around how data is stored, accessed and used is not set to disappear in 2021, particularly as individuals are now far more conscious of their personal data being shared.
"This time, however, the sharing of medical data derived from rapid COVID-19 testing, combined with constant tracking and checking-in of all law-abiding citizens and not just individuals on government deny lists, will make travellers think twice about the information they share when leisure travel resumes."
- Sean Duca, VP and Regional Chief Security Officer, Asia Pacific & Japan, Palo Alto Networks.
"Consumer data rights will continue to build momentum and businesses will need to adapt or fail. Companies can easily comply to new governance and privacy laws with the right solutions in place. For example, a consumer and their data can be customised or turned off in the system completely. Doing so will provide better service and a better customer experience. Businesses who adopt quickly, will be able to demonstrate the value of sharing data."
- Krishna Tammana, CTO, Talend.
Q is for quantum computing.
"Although early, expect accelerated levels of investment in quantum computing: For 2021, quantum enters a robust research phase in which the primary players will continue to experiment and invest in quantum research for the future.
"Today there are many competing qubit technologies – leading ones include superconducting, trapped ion, silicon spin, as well as photonic implementations. These technologies will continue to evolve in 2021 at a rapid pace.
"The materials research aspect of quantum will heat up in 2021. This will be supported by a robust investment pipeline, some of which will be funded by major governments as they learn more about the geopolitical and economic advantages of quantum computing.
"An increasing number of customers will be accessing time on quantum computers in the cloud in 2021 to run new algorithms to find quantum advantage. More players will enter providing quantum computers, cloud services, or both in 2021, as well as expanding the power of the computers available to users."
- Keysight.
"While many believe that quantum computers are still 10 years in the future, there are considerations that we need to be thinking about in 2021. Quantum computers are a threat to current encryption methods like RSA and AES* which depend on factorisation. Classic computers struggle with factorisation of large numbers, quantum computers can solve them in seconds and access encrypted secrets like bank transactions and other sensitive information.
"Cryptographers are searching for new types of encryption that can futureproof systems against assault by quantum computers and still support current communications protocols and networks. These new methods do not depend on factorisation, and do not need to wait for the speeds of quantum computing. They could be implemented today if we agree on a standard. Hitachi research has been working on lattice cryptography systems which do not depend on factorisation and would be futureproofed against quantum computer hacks.
"With various local legislation often requiring data to be held for a period of years, 2021 might not be too early for us to start thinking about what can be done to ensure current encrypted systems will remain protected in the post-quantum computing age."
- Pratyush Khare, APAC CTO, Hitachi Vantara.
R is for resiliency.
"With the pandemic steering IT teams away from blue-sky thinking towards more nuts and bolts issues, 2021 will see more businesses shifting their IT focus inward to look at getting the fundamentals right and refocusing on things that are truly important, even finding ways to do the same thing for less.
"Doing so will likely see existing cybersecurity teams and roles being redesigned to align with an overall emphasis on getting the house in order and building a more resilient cloud environment.
"Security now needs to work at the speed of the cloud, and any organisation that is slow to recognise this in 2021 will only see vulnerabilities multiply exponentially."
- Sean Duca, VP and Regional Chief Security Officer, Asia Pacific & Japan, Palo Alto Networks.
"The global pandemic has made organisations take a completely new look at how they ensure business resiliency. Many – if not most – enterprises had plans in place to deal with the loss of a data centre, a major office location, or even all facilities within a given city. But few – if any – had plans to deal with a situation where all business premises became inaccessible at the same time.
"Moreover, organisations’ business resiliency capabilities were tested even further, with the number of cyberattacks increasing substantially in 2020 as cybercriminals tried to cash in on the pandemic. Ransomware attacks alone increased by a factor of seven in the first half of 2020. Similarly, our Ransomware Resiliency Report revealed that 42% of organisations suffered a ransomware attack in 2020.
"(2020) saw organisations focused on urgently making operations work in the here and now. 2021 will see them reassess their business resiliency models to assure that they can continue to serve their customers and employees, and that they can rapidly recover their critical services in the event of a major outage, without the requirements for physical access while staying secure."
- Andy Ng, VP and MD, Asia South Region, Veritas Technologies.
"Climate change will continue to cause supply chain disruptions on a global basis such that business-continuity planning and supply-chain resilience strategies will be crucial to business success. This will highlight the need for:
"- Assessments of potential risks, as well as mitigation strategies and plans that cover the end-to-end supply chain processes.
"- A flexible sourcing strategy that involves multisourcing of alternative parts, parts redesign, and parts standardisation.
"- A focus on ensuring facilities are resilient and have crisis plans in place in the event of natural disasters.
"New approaches will be needed to address the inherent financial implications of these concepts."
- Keysight.
S is for (micro)services.
Containers and microservices have taken the cloud world by storm as they help to ensure that applications continue to talk to each other whether they are on-premise or in the cloud, and on any hardware platform.
"Micro-, and even nano services are gaining traction as answers to current deployability, scalability, and business issues often experienced when dealing with large, monolithic applications.
"Decomposing applications into smaller deliverables signals a shift to the smaller, incremental change delivery model preferred by agile organisations. However, all of these 'x-service'-defined application models have a common interaction model - APIs or RESTful APIs. Breaking an API on a monolithic application can be troublesome, and breaking an API that is used by several other services in an x-service model application can take the entire application offline.
"Versioning application APIs is one approach to dealing with service interactions, but a common API dependency model or API-oriented architecture becomes critical as change rates and change impacts become faster and larger. Adding the increased use of microservice hubs/stores to the mix and the level of application complexity suddenly sees a tenfold jump.
"Organisations need keep in mind these practical considerations when building their API strategy so as to achieve effective API designs that are closely aligned with business drivers."
- Stephen McNulty, President Asia Pacific and Japan at Micro Focus. RESTful APIs are application programming interfaces (APIs) that work with REST-compatible architectures. REST or representational state transfer is a software architecture standard for applications that make use of several web services, while APIs are used to 'connect' software.
"For digital leaders in the enterprise, these essential building blocks of the microservices that enable organisations to be more agile while still building highly reliable applications, are already mainstream. Agility and resilience are key benefits of microservice architectures and digital native powerhouses like Netflix understood the competitive advantages of microservices early on.
"In 2021, look for containers and Kubernetes to remain central to enterprises launching and expanding their long-planned digital transformation projects. In fact, containers will be so mainstream that it will not be the technology that is interesting any more – but instead the new applications and digital touchpoints (they enable) that CIOs will be talking about. They’ll understand that their teams have a toolkit of solutions that will allow them to do things at speed and velocity that they could have only dreamed of five or 10 years ago – like leveraging streaming data to deliver real-time personalisation to 10 million customers worldwide."
- Matthew Oostveen, CTO, Asia Pacific & Japan, Pure Storage.
*AES stands for Advanced Ecryption Standard. RSA is named after the initials of the three inventors of the encryption technology that was developed by RSA Data Security.
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