Over the next year, the areas of infrastructure and operations (I&O) will experience a notable impact due to the action of different trends in the IT sector that are already beginning to emerge as those with the greatest impact on both. It is something that those responsible for I&O must take into account, in order to be prepared to act on those that most affect their companies in order to adapt and respond to developments.
By being prepared to understand its global impact, companies can put in place a variety of effective tactics and measures to respond to its effects, as well as stay ahead of developments and maximize the value of their I&O operations. According to Gartner, the main ones are these six:
Hybrid computing in infrastructure and operations
Hybrid computing is an emerging style that coordinates diverse computing, storage, and networking mechanisms. Furthermore, sometimes they may even be incompatible. Despite this, it allows infrastructure and operations managers to future-proof infrastructure investments with a composable and extensible computing framework. All while maximizing the value of emerging technologies by combining their strengths.
According to Jeffrey Hewitt, Vice President and Analyst at Gartner«Hybrid computing will force I&O leaders to adopt a composable business and technology architecture as part of a long-term strategy for building systems and applications«.
Agentic AI
According to Hewitt, AI is one of the top three priorities for IT decision makers right now, and the Agentic AIas part of the IT ecosystem, offers a notable opportunity for those who have to make decisions related to I&O. This is because Enables improved performance while saving timewith both aspects expected to improve over time as the systems evolve.
Thus, agentic AI can support I&O areas by analyzing complex data sets quickly, identifying behavioral patterns, in addition to acting autonomously to free humans for other tasks.
AI governance platforms for infrastructure and operations
AI governance is the process of creating policies, assigning decision rights and ensuring accountability of the organization, due to the risks and decisions related to the application and use of AI techniques.
AI governance platforms are responsible for overseeing and managing AI systems, incorporating responsible Artificial Intelligence practices. These platforms also address potential compliance and business risks, such as bias, lack of transparency, data protection and privacy issues, model evaluation and validation, and security threats.
Energy efficient computing
Energy efficient computing, which can be considered a kind of subset of hybrid computing, is a set of technologies and practices aimed at reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint of computer systems.
This computing model allows I&O managers to significantly influence energy and environmental aspects in a sustainable way. For example, by adopting it, I&O managers can generate positive business results through the implementation of customized long-term strategies that use new and emerging technologies. Among them are optical computing and neuromorphic systems.
Security against disinformation
Security against disinformation is a set of technologies that can tackle disinformation to help businesses discern trust, protect their brand and secure their online presence. It represents an expanding category of technologies and practices, covering, among other things, deepfake detection, phishing prevention, and reputation protection.
For Hewitt, given the current technological landscape, which is constantly evolving, security against disinformation will allow those responsible for infrastructure and operations to ensure trust in communications, identity and reputation.
Geopatriation of infrastructure and operations
Geopatriation is the relocation of workloads and applicationsfrom global cloud hyperscalers to other regional or national alternativesdue to the current geopolitical uncertainty.
Regarding this trend, Hewitt points out that it is an extension of a previous trend, called “nationalism versus globalism.” For him, it can be said that it is a trend that goes beyond the cloud. Specifically, it ranges from data sovereignty to operational and technical.
Geopatriation allows I&O areas to reduce geopolitical risks, in addition to addressing specific sovereignty requirements. On the other hand, it allows I&O managers to support and improve the independence of national or regional economies.
