infoTECH Feature

February 24, 2020

Enterprise IT Trends for 2020 and Beyond

By Special Guest
Seth Henry, Executive Chairman, smartShift Technologies

Based on what we’ve seen from our clients and in the marketplace, and our expertise built over the years, we’re looking at trends in enterprise IT that we think will continue to be a factor this year and into the future.  In 2020, we expect to see a resurgence of investment in enterprise IT, a shift in what customers value in large enterprise apps and, most specific to our business, a shift in strategies for digital SAP (News - Alert) migration.

A new decade brings more investment in enterprise IT

After a 10-year hiatus in venture and growth equity funding of new, innovative entrants into enterprise IT, 2020 will bring a resurgence of investment.  CIOs are insisting on innovation for the enterprise and, following the laws of supply and demand, tech companies are playing catch-up as investors realize the size, scale, and opportunity of bringing new products to enterprise IT markets.  Supply constraints in the labor market are driving demand for Intelligent Automation, the shift to Hyperscale Cloud is driving demand for new tooling and digital business disruption is creating fast-followers in enterprise IT.  Expect to see a steady stream of digital products and services provided by enterprise IT emerging as businesses clamor for them.

CIOs shift the criteria upon which they assess vendors of large enterprise apps

The market will not just see a refresh of traditional enterprise software, as the priorities of CIOs have shifted and their needs are much different than they were a decade ago.  As enterprise IT becomes more entrenched in the digital world, CIOs and tech executives are shifting from valuing the “safety” of working with large established vendors to choosing large enterprise apps from companies that offer agility and innovation.  Where IT organizations once took pride in developing proprietary software assets, the new marketplace rewards leveraging commoditized software and infrastructure and shifting the focus to data and AI assets.

Enterprises will change their fundamental approach to big systems integration projects

When faced with major migrations or upgrades, like SAP S4, more and more IT shops will break out of the traditional “waterfall” paradigm and look to lean, agile approaches.  We have heard from many Global 500 executives that they want to emulate the Silicon Valley approach and tackle these big projects with teams that “can be fed with no more than two pizzas,” and to do it in timeframes measured in weeks, not years.  In 2019, we saw many leaders prove this out with agile migrations based on a Minimum Viable Product scope followed by frequent and routine updates merging the traditional “build and run” mindset into a continuous delivery paradigm supported by DevOps teams.  Based on the proven speed and cost advantages, we believe this trend will accelerate in 2020.

About smartShift: 2020 and beyond

The smartShift team has been working closely and successfully with its clients throughout 2019, providing important insight into the changing needs of enterprise IT.  As an elite transformation and management partner to the world’s leading enterprise IT organizations, smartShift is well positioned to see where the market is going in 2020 and beyond.  We have our fingers on the pulse of enterprise IT so we know what enterprise needs are today, and can anticipate what they will be going forward as digital transformation projects continue to improve business results. 


Edited by Erik Linask
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