Gamal Emara, Country Manager – UAE at Aruba, looks at the various trends in the enterprise mobility solutions space in 2019 that businesses in the Middle East should be aware of.
He says: “The major trend that we foresee will be the ability to draw insights about the network and its health and to maintain continuous uptime, which is a necessity in today’s world.”
Insider threat and cybersecurity remains a priority
Networking solutions need to be secure, but more importantly, the ability to know who’s on the network, know what’s on the network, know what they’re doing and then doing continuous monitoring to ensure that bad things are not happening, is going to be an equally important priority.
Cybersecurity will remain top of mind for enterprises in 2019. They must implement new tools that go beyond traditional cybersecurity measures, including user and entity behaviour analytics (UEBA) solutions.
UEBA can identify patterns in typical user behaviour and alert IT teams when they notice abnormal or anomalous behaviour, providing actionable intelligence that allows quick responses. By detecting anomalous behaviour and enabling quick remedies, UEBA solutions can provide real-time protection that traditional systems miss.
Modernising the campus core network
Enterprises have been on an IT modernisation journey, and as more companies embrace mobility, cloud and IoT as part of their daily operations, they find that campus networks need to be refreshed as well.
The campus network must be ready for demanding applications like voice and video, while ensuring strong security and be easily scalable as needs change. The network will need to be capable of being programmed and able to leverage analytics and telemetry to automatically adjust to changing application demands, while making the network easier to monitor and troubleshoot.
As networks become more programmable and smarter, IT teams will spend less time on manual operational tasks and more time focusing on innovation.
Need for blazing fast Wi-Fi speeds for connectivity
Next Generation Wireless will connect even more users, devices and remote locations at wired speeds in 2019. With BYOD devices expected to rise throughout 2019, the need to rapidly connect employees, offices and buildings rises too. As new and innovative technologies are increasingly being used in campuses, legacy wireless networks can be bottlenecks.
The need for advanced wireless networks will become more prevalent as institutions, like schools for example, expand deployment of digital, collaborative and immersive learning environments across new and modernised buildings and campuses.
Cloud adoption extends to wireless networks
What once was a snail’s crawl toward the cloud computing model, has become more distinctive recently, and studies have shown that enterprises are adopting cloud computing faster than ever before.
Enterprises are investigating the benefits of managing wireless networks through the cloud. Yes, cloud is a different way of thinking about network management, but it’s a far easier way to configure and manage networks at locations scattered around the country or the world.
Enterprise safety
This is not a new trend, but in 2019 many large enterprises will take advantage of advanced technologies such as location-based services (LBS), in large schools for example, to enhance campus safety and security.
Here’s one example of using LBS to respond to an onsite threat event: first responders can have access to 4D visualisation of buildings, showing reported threat locations, as well as entry and exit points and can provide real-time communication between staff, students and visitors to confirm which rooms have been secured and which rooms have not. This allows responders to focus on the correct areas – the ones needing the most immediate attention.
Surge in AI-powered analytics and Machine learning
In 2019, Machine-based learning will go mainstream in all areas of the campus. Limited staff and stagnant budgets are forcing IT to get creative in implementing smarter networks that utilise features incorporating machine-based learning and automated intelligence to augment deployment and support efforts.
In the coming year, we will see an expansion of these technologies throughout the campus environment, impacting not just Information Technology, but Instructional Technology and Operational Technology as well.
The network should be able to tell you how it’s performing when problems occur and also the potential root cause. And even better – it can recommend optimisations when it detects things like new smartphone updates, changes to the network infrastructure, or even when the floorplan of a building is modified.
By monitoring the network from the user’s perspective as well from the infrastructure itself, network operations teams will seek better access to the data they need, to easily identify root causes. Machine Learning provides a faster and more prescriptive way to analyse the data. And ultimately, intelligent insights help fix potential issues before users are left with a lasting and negative impression of how the network performs.
Evolution of the MSP Model
MSPs are becoming more refined and are gradually aiming to deliver enterprise-grade solutions that are easy and simple to use and deploy. MSPs will grow to become virtual CIOs serving small and medium businesses (SMBs) by offering Network-as-a-Service. Apart from managing an SMB’s day-to-day IT operations, these providers will become active members of these customers’ organisations and contribute to their success by recommending the latest advancements in networking technologies to support business goals in real-time.
Conclusion
With the increasing trend of the latest technological advances, companies have to invest a lot in improving business processes. Automation remains the key aspect of boosting companies’ productivity and efficiency. The above-mentioned enterprise mobility solutions can play a crucial role in this department and companies that implement them will have a distinct competitive advantage over those that lag behind.