AppDynamics announced our 2014 predictions for the enterprise software market:
1. Enterprise IT will model Web companies, becoming more agile to expedite application deployment
To remain competitive and facilitate the increased pace of innovation in the enterprise, IT departments will retool to learn and adopt software development principles and processes from leading Web companies such as Google, Amazon and Netflix - which deliver innovation in days versus weeks - rather than from traditional vendors like IBM, Oracle and SAP.
This will allow enterprises to accelerate the delivery of applications to stay competitive in global markets, moving to weekly application release cycles instead of monthly or quarterly cycles and accepting the risks that come with a higher pace of change. Automated application testing and deployment will mean more repeatable processes, less manual effort and more predictable results.
2. "Bite-sized" applications will bypass IT teams
IT teams will be frequently bypassed as "bite-sized" applications that are refreshed often, delivered from the cloud and consumed across multiple device types, start to replace the traditional, rigid, "system-of-record" application suite.
3. Enterprises will require a different type of accountability across development and operations teams
Enterprises will measure their agility and commercial success based on shared key performance indicators (KPIs) such as productivity or revenue across teams, so that everyone is aligned and focused on what matters — the business.
Traditionally, enterprises have compensated development teams based on the delivery of new software features and the frequency at which they delivered them. Conversely, companies have measured operations teams based on ability to maintain application availability, health and uptime (e.g. 99.99 percent) rather than on the introduction of change and risk.
In 2014, enterprises will start to hold DevOps accountable to the same KPIs. Shared metrics will provide a new level of transparency and accountability, so that development and operations teams will know the exact impact their actions have on the business.
4. Enterprises will move to elastic production applications built for the cloud
In 2014, enterprise use of the public cloud will finally move from development and test applications to elastic production applications built for the cloud. Enterprises will begin using Amazon Web Services for elastic production applications, making them more accessible, more deployable and smarter in the cloud, using auto-scaling and auto-remediation capabilities.
These changes will allow enterprises to scale vertically and horizontally automatically and cost-efficiently, as demand for their business services fluctuates over time. This elasticity will also allow enterprises to avoid the high cost of over-provisioning resources ahead of time.
5. Enterprises will begin to focus on mobile-first applications and the end-user experience
IT will begin to shift focus from back-end services to mobile performance and the end-user experience. Enterprise IT will begin to measure customer success in using applications and evaluate the business implications of application performance.
Jyoti Bansal is Founder and CEO of AppDynamics.