Cloud: Differentiating to Win

With so many cloud providers vying for customers, only those that can provide superior products and services will survive. Hyperscale cloud players have extended their services, making it increasingly difficult for multicloud infrastructure software vendors because they are unable to match the scale. To compete, multicloud companies must target customers who are willing to pay a premium for best-of-breed solutions, prefer flexible infrastructure over vendor lock-in, and do not realize great benefits from economies of scale.

Artificial intelligence: Leveraging existing architecture

Artificial intelligence has become a central discussion topic in the past few months—not only within the technology sector but in business and the media more widely. However, very few AI tools are being deployed at scale. In fact, only 20% of companies have the necessary IT infrastructure to exploit the potential of AI applications. Keep an eye out for vendors that can incorporate AI into their products and services, so companies gain additional capabilities without having to build their own infrastructure.

Internet of Things: Partnering for success

The Internet of Things (IoT) continues to be deployed to boost efficiency and gather data on company operations. However, while many companies are seeing positive results from their IoT pilot programs, they can struggle when it comes to scaling them. Meeting this challenge will require companies to partner with vendors and manufacturers that have the technical expertise and industry relationships to help solve issues such as integration with existing systems and interoperability with other applications.

These topics will all be the focus of extensive discussions at MWC this year, providing a valuable glimpse of the way forward for an industry that is dealing with rapid change.