Intelligent CIO LATAM Issue 11 | Page 37

TALKING

‘‘ business

It ’ s been a year and a half since we first learned about COVID-19 , but the pressure on businesses to accelerate their Digital Transformation ( DX ) efforts has not abated . Of particular note is the rise of the hybrid work model .

There are two things the pandemic has proven about the ‘ new ’ workplace : 1 ) DX in businesses is essential , and 2 ) Technology was intrinsic to a transformational overhaul of this scale .
That technology is Edge Computing : The ability to optimize and extend the capability of cloud computing by bringing computation and data storage closer to the devices where it ’ s being gathered . It ’ s a fairly amorphous concept that has been around since the 1990s , but thanks to the pandemic , it has given rise to Edge Computing ’ s dark horse : the remote worker .
The pandemic has hit each market differently but a common theme regarding the workplace is that data is increasingly born , created and modified in different places . While the future of work is well and truly here , businesses are still navigating uncharted waters in this space . This begs many questions of decision makers : What ’ s the best way to capture and protect data ? Does my Edge approach meet privacy and security needs ?
There has been a significant shift in the approach to remote work and there ’ s a way that businesses can best set their employees up to ensure Business Continuity . It lies with Edge Computing – a key technology to futureproofing the new workplace environment .
Don ’ t let implementation dictate the outcome
According to Juniper Research , Edge Computing is on a growth path to U $ 8.3 billion spend globally , in less than five years . This has no doubt been exacerbated with the proliferation of Internet of Things ( IoT ) devices .
As our new workplaces constitute more and more remote points of presence – mobile , tablet , smart speakers – which sees a vast amount of data being generated on the outer Edge of computing networks , the task of implementing an Edge strategy may fall into the too-hard basket for many , and simply out of
reach for some . However , the key to Edge Computing success lies in focusing on the outcome , before looking at implementation .
Every business wants to analyze and activate their data , at speed , but the power of Edge Computing does not mean all data has to be analyzed and activated . Rather , it helps businesses ascertain at which aggregation points is best to consume data , preserve it , make inferences from , where analytics is applied and knowledge is gleaned from . For one
Rick Vanover , Senior Director of Product Strategy at Veeam
While the future of work is well and truly here , businesses are still navigating uncharted waters .
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