emerging tech roadmap

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2021-2023
Emerging Technology Roadmap
for Large Enterprises
IT Professionals from 437 Organizations Collaborated to Benchmark
Adoption Plans, Anticipated Value and Risk for 111 Infrastructure
and Operations Technologies
Enterprise Value
The value factor awarded to each technology is based
on the analysis of value drivers, including increasing cost-
efficiency, improving speed and agility, enabling resilience,
enhancing employee productivity, and increasing revenue
through improved products and/or services.
Deployment Risk
The risk factor awarded to each technology is based on the
analysis of potential risks posed, including marketplace/vendor
maturity, architectural fit/complexity, security risk, talent
availability, regulatory compliance challenges, implementation
cost, and disruption to existing processes and services.
© 2021 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 755302_C
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Storage and Database
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Cloud Data
Warehouse
File Analysis
Software
Digital
Experience
Monitoring
(DEM)
Network
Automation and
Orchestration
Tools
Team
Collaboration
Devices
Workplace
Analytics
Cloud UC
(UCaaS)
Digital
Adoption
Solutions
Enterprise High-
Productivity
Application
Platform as a
Service
Zero Trust
Network Access
Cloud Workload Protection
Platforms (CWPP)
Endpoint
Protection
Platform (EPP)
Workstream
Collaboration
Tools
Object
Storage
Automated
Storage Tiering
Computational
Storage
Enterprise
Endpoint Backup
Hybrid Storage
Arrays
Public Cloud
Storage
IT Resilience Automation and
Orchestration (ITRO) Tools
Robotic Process
Automation
Virtual Support
Agents
Functional Platform as a
Service (fPaaS)
Multicloud
Networking
Software-Defined
WAN (SD-WAN)
Software-
Defined Cloud
Interconnect
Identity-Based
Segmentation
(Microsegmentation)
Integration Platform
as a Service (iPaaS)
IoT
Platform
Serverless
Computing
Hyperconverged
Infrastructure
Software
Cloud Data
Backup
NVMe-oF
Container-Native
Storage (CNS)
Disaster Recovery-
as-a-Service (DRaaS)
Enterprise Information
Archiving (EIA) Solutions
Unified
Storage
DHCI
Nonrelational
DBMS
Storage Class
Memory (SCM)
Software-Defined
Storage (SDS)
Microservices
Blockchain
Platforms
In-Memory
Computing (IMC)
Cloud
Management
Tooling
NFV and
uCPE
Edge
Networking
Hybrid
WAN
Cloud-Managed
Networks (CMNs)
Edge Computing
Multicloud
Management
Services (MCMS)
OS Containers
Edge Servers
Solid State
Arrays
Cloud
DBMS
Cloud
Migration
Tools
Unified Endpoint
Management
Augmented
Reality
Citizen Data
Science Tools
Desktop as a
Service (DaaS)
PC as a Service
(PCaaS)
Adaptive Project
Management and
Reporting Tools
DevOps Value
Stream Delivery
Platforms
Cloud
Application
Discovery
Infrastructure
as Code (IaC)
IT Service
Dependency
Mapping Tools
AI Cloud
Services
Data Science and
Machine Learning
Platforms
Business
Analytics PaaS
Container
Management
Intent Based
Networking
Wi-Fi 6
(802.11ax)
Container
Networking Virtual Private
LAN Services
(VPLS)
Distributed
Cloud Systems
Digital Experience
Platform as a
Service (dxPaaS)
Cloud ERP
API Management
PaaS
Cloud Security
Posture
Management
(CSPM)
Database Audit
and Protection
Managed Detection
and Response (MDR)
SASE
Static Application
Security Testing (SAST)
Extended Detection
and Response (XDR)
Cloud Access
Security Brokers
(CASBs)
Dynamic
Application
Security
Testing (DAST)
5G Services
Endpoint
Detection and
Response (EDR)
Security Orchestration, Automation
and Response (SOAR) Solutions
Firewall as
a Service
Network Access Control
(NAC) Technologies
Citizen
Integrator
Tools
Application Security
Orchestration and
Correlation (ASOC)
Mobile Threat
Defense (MTD)
Service Mesh
Hardware-
Based
Security
SaaS-Delivered
IAM
Face
Recognition
Natural
Language
Processing
Virtual
Reality
Bots
Virtual
Assistants
Event Stream
Processing
Software Asset
Management Tools
Strategic Portfolio
Management Tools
Application
Performance
Monitoring (APM)
Cloud-Testing
Tools and
Services
Artificial
Intelligence IT
Operations (AIOps)
Platforms
Continuous
Configuration
Automation (CCA)
Tools
Intelligent
Automation for
Infrastructure
Managed Services
Service
Orchestration
and Automation
Platforms
Deployment
Completion
2021
Deployment
Completion
2022
In Monitoring
In Planning
In Pilot
Source: Gartner
Note:
Large enterprises are defined as organizations with more than $1 billion in revenue.
Key Take-Aways
1. IO and IT leaders have increased the adoption of
emerging technologies as organizations begin to recover
from the pandemic by seeking innovation opportunities.
Across all technology domains, 58% of respondents reported
either an increase or a plan to increase emerging technology
investment in 2021, compared with 29% in 2020. In tandem,
IO functions have witnessed a reduction in deployment
timelines, with all technologies in deployment expected to
reach adoption within the next six to 18 months.
2. Talent shortages are a rising and significant challenge for
successful adoption of emerging technologies. This year,
64% of respondents feel that talent availability is the largest
challenge to emerging technology adoption, compared with
just 4% in 2020 and 14% in 2019.
3. The need for resilience drives the business case for the
majority of emerging technology deployments this year.
A majority (64%) of enterprises are deploying emerging
technologies to meet the objective of “enhanced resilience.”
This is significantly different from last year when the
investment justification most often cited was “increasing
speed and agility” (cited by 66% of respondents).
4. Emerging technologies that enable democratized delivery
are becoming increasingly important for IO leaders.
This year, 82% of IO leaders either agree or strongly agree
that enterprise leaders outside of IT influence emerging
technology adoption decisions across all technology
domains evaluated. Furthermore, 85% of respondents either
agree or strongly agree that they have metrics in place to
track customer experience before and after technology
adoption. To enable self-service delivery, IO functions are
establishing several “as-a-service” technologies.
5. IO leaders are creating distributed platforms, supported
by cloud technologies, that can enable an “anywhere
operations’’ model for employees. To allow the smooth
movement of work environments and information between
physical and virtual locations, organizations are investing
heavily in creating a strong hybrid cloud base, supported by
several multicloud technologies.
6. Improving and maintaining IT infrastructure security
is a significant priority for organizations as they tackle
rising threats, particularly to endpoint devices in the new
hybrid work environment. From 2020 to 2021, the number
of security technologies in deployment rose sharply — from
15% to 84% of evaluated technologies. Also, in 2021, 64% of
respondents reported that they have either increased or are
planning to increase investments in security technologies, a
significant jump from just 31% in 2020.
7. IO executives are deploying highly disruptive emerging
technologies to ensure continued, uninterrupted
access to enterprise networks and effective delivery
of network services within organizations. Investments
in network technologies have seen continued growth, as
53% of respondents note that they have increased or plan
to increase investments in network technologies in 2021,
compared with 32% in 2020.
8. Organizations are investing in technologies that enable
intelligent data and analytics capabilities to scale
enterprisewide digital ambitions. IO functions are
deploying enterprise technologies that can sculpt change in
2021, such as artificial intelligence (AI) cloud services, AI IT
operations (AIOps) platforms and data science and
machine learning platforms, while intelligent automation
for infrastructure managed services, blockchain platforms
and IoT platforms are in the pilot stage this year.
9. Demand for new digital workplace technologies plateaued
in 2021 compared to 2020 due to the maturing responses
to the pandemic. Only 12% of digital workplace technologies
have moved ahead in the adoption cycle in 2021, compared
with 41% in 2020.
10. Enterprises are more selectively adopting technologies
related to automation in 2021, leading to the cautious
deployment of several emerging IT automation
technologies. Of all the IT automation technologies profiled
this year, only 20% of them have moved ahead in the
adoption cycle since last year, compared with 30% in 2020.
11. Adoption of storage and database emerging technologies
slowed this year as organizations seek to maintain and
optimize existing data center infrastructure. The number
of storage and database technologies in the deployment
adoption stage dropped this year — from 38% in 2020 to
30% in 2021. IO leaders are working toward rationalizing
their current storage and database infrastructure, with 50%
of storage and database technologies remaining in the same
adoption stage as in 2020.
12. Edge technologies that enable swift analysis of
information closer to the point of data generation are
in focus. Technologies such as edge computing, edge
servers and edge networking are in deployment this year.
Organizations that do not align their edge solutions to strong
business use cases will face issues in their strategic adoption
plans.