EMA Research Blog: Navigating IT and Security Horizons

The future of cybersecurity is a hot topic, and Episode 91 of the Cybersecurity Awesomeness Podcast dives deep into what 2025 might hold. Hosted by Chris Steffen and Ken Buckler, this episode offers insights into emerging threats, groundbreaking technologies, and the ever-critical human element in security. Here’s what you need to know.

OpenText World 2024 highlighted the growing role of AI in enterprise transformation, with Aviator, OpenText’s AI platform, as a focal point. Now one year into its deployment, Aviator has demonstrated significant potential in addressing challenges across industries by integrating AI into business processes. The platform reflects OpenText’s broader strategy of “Elevating Human Potential,” focusing on AI, cloud, and security as key drivers of innovation. Aviator’s emphasis on secure, data-driven AI models has positioned it as a useful tool for tackling the complexity of modern information management.

The Dynatrace Perform 2024 conference delivered a plethora of insights and forward-looking perspectives this month. Throughout the conference, the event encompassed keynotes, breakout sessions, customer panels, and hands-on training, offering a holistic view of the latest trends and innovations in the tech industry. The overarching theme, "Make Waves," encapsulates the imperative for transformation and disruption in the tech industry. It underscores the need to drive substantial change and progress amidst evolving trends.

Articles proclaiming the death of CMDB started appearing with regularity as early as 2010. Cloud was named as the likely killer. The problem with this bit of folk wisdom is that it isn’t true.

EMA experience and field research consistently find that CMDB use not only continues but is on the rise. In a 2022 EMA initiative on the rise of ServiceOps, 400 global IT leaders stated that CMDB use was central to major functions. For many of those respondents, CMDB use was viewed as increasing in importance for automation of complex processes.  

Where is the disconnect?

At SAPPHIRE Now 2019, SAP introduced new cloud services that reach far beyond their installed base and make them a solid option for anyone looking for application or analytics solutions in the cloud. The new data and analytics offerings are not a departure from their commitment to current customers; they extend increased business value for all medium and enterprise companies looking for rapid return on their cloud investments. 

On September 12, 2018, at Strata NYC, Informatica announced a data management solution for Apache Spark-based cloud environments, including Google Cloud Dataproc, Qubole, and Azure Databricks. Touting new advancements in CLAIRE™, a metadata intelligence technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, this new release is targeted at increasing the efficiency and reach of data management organizations. To expand efficiency, Informatica is releasing more than 50 new algorithms and functions for automated data discovery and preparation, as well as machine learning focused on industrializing data operations.

It’s time to take a serious look at Office 365. The cloud edition of Microsoft’s broadly adopted business productivity suite – which bundles such popular packages as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Outlook – has been both heavily praised and heavily criticized since its introduction in 2011. While the adoption rate of the traditional software edition of Microsoft Office is currently in no danger of being overtaken by its cloud-hosted cousin, recent adoption rates for Office 365 have substantially accelerated. Businesses, in particular, have shown increased interest in the cloud-based platform, and many are carefully considering whether to make the transition after existing Enterprise Agreement (EA) licenses expire.

Waaay back in the day (say 2002), organizations would ask themselves:

When I picked “The Journey to the Cloud” as the working title for one of my fall research projects, I triggered some immediate reactions from colleagues and customers, whose opinions I value. And while I typically do not place too much importance on selecting a working title and also did not intend to just warm up an earlier research piece on that same topic, these reactions prompted me to take a minute to think about how we can best target our research for maximum customer benefit. As EMA is conducting this research for our customers – vendors and end users – why not talk to exactly these people to find out which specific issues they want to learn more about? And so we did…