The 10 most important IT trends 2021 (part 2)

Agile tips

The 10 most important IT trends 2021 (part 2)

You have already learned five important IT trends in the last blog post to read. Here are five more topics on the agenda for 2021 and the challenges that come with them.

Number 6: Security and Compliance

Constantly on the top list of CIOs and CTOs: Cyber ​​Security Compliance with increasing importance.

The migration of many application components and data up to entire workplaces to the cloud as well as company mergers, takeovers or networked ecosystems with third parties make both technical security and compliance with all legal regulations a challenge.

Attacks on companies' IT infrastructures are also on the rise: almost half of German companies state that they have been exposed to a cyber attack at least once in the past year.

Security and compliance therefore focus on a) the use of modern security technologies and monitoring and b) the design of company-wide risk management. So-called response teams assume responsibility for prevention and control processes in the event of escalation.

Specialized service providers offer extensive frameworks that strengthen security and bring many tools and automatisms with them to avoid damage to data or reputation.

Standards and rules such as the GDPR, the BSI C5 audit catalog or the global SOC audit standards provide a good formal basis for auditing, implementation and compliance.

Number 7: Agile at Scale

Around 90% of companies today use agility selectively, but only 20% achieve company-wide maturity (Cap Gemini).

Scaling agility from one or two prototypical teams or departments to the entire enterprise is one of the top challenges for management teams.

To create a holistic agile organization, Lean & Agile practices, values, principles and mindset must be applied beyond individual teams - and become part of the corporate philosophy.

It is scaled from one team to a program with several teams to the entire portfolio.

Scaling at the portfolio level also allows multiple programs to work in parallel on disparate products, including comprehensive Lean-Agile portfolio management, while aligning with a shared strategic vision.

Business-level scaling is an organization's ability to adapt to market and environmental changes quickly, productively, and cost-effectively.

For organization, companies use scaling frameworks such as SAFe, LeSS or DAD.

Agile coaches provide support with differentiation, selection, implementation and operationalization

Number 8: IoT

Connected devices are here. This applies to both private use and industrial use. In 2021, the question will no longer be whether machines need to be networked, but rather how.

IoT is the door opener to new business models, more data about devices and users, automation, increased efficiency, networked ecosystems and much more.

Improved sensor technology, faster wireless networks, more powerful platforms and more and more IoT standard applications are accelerating feasibility and diversity, from the prototype to an MVP to an agile operational system.

But there are also challenges: for example, hardware-related software development is still complex, few talents are available on the market, IoT security has very high requirements and, last but not least, agile further development in the area of ​​hardware and machines is far from comparable to that of software or processes.

The majority of IoT projects still fail, the main reason being a lack of experience that needs to be compensated for. My advice for innovations: Don't look at IoT as a technical issue, but rather as a cultural change and completely new processes.

Number 9: Talents and Training

IT specialists are in demand: At the end of 2020, the digital association Bitkom determined that there were 86.000 vacancies for IT specialists in Germany.

The reason for the shortage: Digitization, cultural change and new business models in companies, across all industries.

We are primarily looking for software developers and IT architects, but also application supervisors, project managers, data specialists and security experts.

A trend reversal is not in sight; the scarcity of talent and know-how represents a problematic bottleneck for competition and for securing the future of companies.

Bottlenecks can be compensated for by working with service providers, but cannot be replaced in the long term.

Therefore, companies should only choose service providers who also offer training, coaching and innovation management in order to further develop the existing teams.

Number 10: digital strategy

According to Bitkom, 77% of companies have now developed a digital strategy; that is a doubling within 2 years.

However, more than half of the companies have difficulties in implementing them: Problems exist above all in team know-how, in the creation and filling of management roles, in the change of business models, the use of new technologies (or the migration to them) and the Cultural change and generational change. Best practices are also missing.

Above all, there is a lack of operational implementation of digital strategies, and this is where specialists are particularly in demand, but also agile and technical methods as well as investments. Added to this are the increasingly complex requirements for data protection, security and processing.

A digital strategy defines behavior, measures and the transformation to achieve corporate goals in current and future digital markets.

Conclusion

The IT trends depict visions and results of technological change that are becoming reality. Recognizing trends and mapping them in your own business areas at the right time ensures competitiveness, serves changing customer expectations and enables innovations. The obstacles, such as a lack of talent, lack of know-how, unclear strategy or time pressure, can be removed with professional support from partners. However, companies have to go through the cultural change in digitization themselves.

Bernd Guenter

Author

Bernd Guenter
Head of Sales