Top game changers n 2018

Gordon Thomson, MD of digital acceleration: EMEAR at Cisco, shares what he thinks are the top tech trends for digital leaders to invest in next year.
* Put data to work – Organisations now collect more data than a human brain could possibly process in a lifetime (or several). So we’re using machine learning to gather and analyze data from everywhere. All to help you do things better. Hospitals can track if nurses and doctors wash their hands when they should. Banks can find and fix issues with their mobile apps before users call in. The list goes on.
* Re-invent how networks work – No more tweaking hundreds of network settings by hand. We’re shifting from manual and going automatic. Now your network is like a self-driving car. You tell it the destination, it figures out how to get there. Ask your network to set up a new office site, and it’s done in milliseconds, not hours.
* Automate your virtual assistant – Picture this: You step into a meeting room. The smart room checks your calendar and starts your meeting on time. Oh, and because you’re the only one in the room, it raises the temperature. So you can focus on your meeting, not finding a sweater. It sounds like sci-fi. But it’s reality.
* Embrace all the clouds – It’s no longer a journey to the cloud, singular. It’s about putting things in whichever cloud works best. So adopt a private cloud in your data center. Pick a public cloud. Any cloud. Or do all of the above. Now you can manage and secure your data everywhere–whether you’re using one cloud or one hundred.
* Embed security in everything – Now you can embed security in everything you do. Watch how people or things behave, learn the patterns, and get alerts if something changes. So if an employee accesses a file from a server they’ve not used recently, your systems will notice right away. Which helps you catch security breaches before they happen. Or at least respond more quickly.
* Bring it all together – Remember, these trends are connected. The companies who thrive in the digital era are the ones who master all five. So don’t think of them as separate trends. They’re a digital platform for everything you do.