The digital transformation is now in full swing at many companies. But what is the status quo for most of them and what should companies pay attention to now? Florian von Walter, Manager Solution Engineering CEMEA at Cloudera, ventures a forecast for 2021, creating a technology horoscope that highlights five key areas in particular.

Decisions put to the test

This year, the main focus will be on weighing up how many of the decisions made at short notice in 2020 will survive. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of many companies, as business continuity could only be ensured by adapting and expanding the infrastructure - as things had to be done quickly, this was done in emergency mode in many places. But the way we work has also changed. Last year, many business relationships were maintained digitally almost without exception, and physical meetings in everyday working life have decreased significantly. Video conferencing has increasingly replaced the office. In the coming year, companies need to ask themselves whether they want to maintain the established standards, whether there should be a return to the status quo or whether permanent changes are needed.

Cloud: from technology to strategy

The cloud as a technology is now well established. What is missing is sovereignty in dealing with it. The cloud offers many key technologies from which companies could benefit immediately. But this is not happening because the added value is not yet anchored in corporate cultures. It's almost as if they have a Ferrari at their disposal but only use it to make 30 km/h zones unsafe. There is still a discrepancy between the state of the technology and the state of companies. They should spend a lot of time on this in the coming year: Learning to use the technology properly and implementing what they have learned with the help of a cloud strategy.

Cloud cost trap?

In 2020, it was essential to maintain business continuity. The cloud was an adequate means of achieving this quickly. In the coming year, many CFOs will take a closer look at cloud spending and see how high it is. It remains to be seen whether they will then continue to drive forward the digital transformation in their companies as energetically as they started.

What public cloud users will have to get used to, however, is that costs will fluctuate constantly and are not as predictable as with a private cloud model. In this context, companies should think about how they declare expenses for the cloud. At first glance, using the public cloud meets all the requirements of Opex expenditure. However, just because money can be spent more quickly via pay-as-you-go models does not necessarily make it cheaper in the end. Public cloud costs are an investment in your own infrastructure. It is therefore advisable to book them accordingly in future: as capex expenditure. This makes the costs more predictable and, given that the boundaries between private and public cloud are becoming increasingly blurred, is also future-proof.

Industrialized countries are being overtaken in 5G expansion

Even though many smartphones already support a 5G connection, most do not access it. Users often don't even notice this. The reason: without a network, the function is useless. Although many telecommunications providers are making good progress in expanding 5G, it will still take some time before 5G is available nationwide. Moreover, depending on the geographical location, the expansion will require enormous capital investment in infrastructure.

The situation is different in developing or emerging countries. They often have no legacy systems or existing infrastructures that need to be updated. As a result, countries are directly aligning themselves with the latest technology - which is much easier than having to overhaul an existing system. In this way, they can catch up with industrialized countries when the new standard is introduced. Especially with our customers in Africa and some Asian countries, we see a huge growth in 5G infrastructure because they can drive the implementation of the technology quickly. We wouldn't be surprised if these countries rely exclusively on 5G by the end of 2021, whereas the rest of the world will probably take a few years to reach this level.

Operationalize ML models

In addition to a pandemic and a possible recession, we continue to struggle with exponentially growing data volumes and the ever-increasing complexity of new technologies. In order to derive added value from the latter two developments, companies should continue to rely on machine learning (ML) in the coming year. However, it is not just about setting up ML models, but also about using and operationalizing them. In 2021, it will no longer be enough to simply put models into production - they must generate tangible benefits for the end user. This requires companies to develop an understanding of their models and constantly adapt and optimize them. They must also have confidence in their functionality and economic potential and communicate this. In future, only those companies that implement these points and act on the basis of AI-derived findings will be competitive.