The emphasis on security is changing from perimeter-based to borderless workspaces as a result of the swift transition from on-premises to cloud systems. In the age of hybrid work, enterprises must safeguard their infrastructure, applications, and data to ensure business continuity. The downside? The growing digital interface has paved the way for hackers to seek dominion in the cyber world.
Please give a very brief introduction of Micro Focus.
Micro Focus is one of the world’s largest enterprise software providers, focused on solving the IT dilemma—how to balance today’s needs with tomorrow’s opportunities. We deliver mission-critical technology that helps tens of thousands of customers worldwide manage core IT elements of their business. Strengthened by our strategic services and support organizations, and an extensive partner network, our broad set of technologies for security, IT operations, application delivery, governance, modernization, and analytics provides the innovative solutions organizations need to run and transform— at the same time.
To ensure that our customers are cyber resilient in the digital era, we have a wide range of security solutions for early detection and rapid response to cyber threats. We enable our customers to eliminate the complexities of hybrid IT infrastructure, accelerate application delivery with DevOps practices, strengthen cyber resilience and make accurate decisions with predictive analytics.
As the war in Europe refuses to end anytime soon and China bubbles with uncertainty and the world economy yet to come out of the pandemic shock, what major market trends would forecast for 2023?
Businesses have faced huge challenges and have undergone an incredible amount of change over the past few years, and this won’t slow down in 2023. The industry will have to deal with the aftereffects of the global conflicts, the pandemic, and various economic challenges, as well as an ever-faster development of technologies.
Major game-changing trends in 2023 throughout all businesses:
- Accelerated digital transformation: The continuation of innovations and developments in transformative technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), cloud computing, blockchain, and super-fast network protocols like 5G, will massively alter business functionalities.
- Inflation and supply chain security: Companies will benefit by mapping out their entire supply chains and identifying any threat to supply and inflation risks.
- Cloud Security: Quantum computing will be the next big trend that will have a world-changing effect on cloud security and all of the current encryption algorithms. The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) estimates that a quantum computer will be able to break present-day cyber security infrastructure by, 2030. All modern algorithms used for global public key infrastructure are presently vulnerable to quantum attacks.
- DevSecOps: The transition from DevOps to DevSecOps will expedite much more. This market is expected to increase at a CAGR of 31.2% in 2023, reaching $5.9 billion. More firms will begin incorporating app security controllers into the software development cycle. DevSecOps enables developers to continually track, monitor, and resolve security problems throughout the development process, improving delivery speed and quality.
- Sustainability: In 2023, companies need to make sure that their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) processes are moved to the center of their strategy. This can be prioritized by companies with a holistic approach to CSR activities.
- Application security: The more devices we connect together and network, the more potential doors and windows exist that attackers can use to get in and access our data. In 2023, analysts at McKinsey predict, there will be 43 billion IoT-connected devices in the world. In near future, a number of governmental initiatives around the world should come into effect designed to increase security around connected devices, as well as the cloud systems and networks that tie them all together.
- Increased Cloud Adoption: IT buyers will continue investing heavily in cloud products and services in 2023. The ubiquity of cloud services means IT buyers can benefit from a more competitive market, with many already gearing up to take advantage of this through multi-cloud adoption. They will also look to move on-premises applications to the cloud after years of the public clouds creating applications that, although built for generic consumption, can be tailored for specific workload needs.
- Immersive customer experience: AR/VR and metaverse will combine to develop unimaginable customer experiences. Incorporating the advancements of AI and VR into their operations, enterprises can accelerate their deliverables in an unprecedented manner.
- The talent challenge: Offering people fulfilling work, ongoing opportunities to grow and learn, flexibility, and diverse, value-oriented workplaces will all be essential in 2023. Enterprises need to realize the increase in demand for an inclusive, diversified, and upskilled workforce.
What key mega trends do you foresee emerging in the market?
- AI will detect and defend IoT and critical infrastructure attacks in 2023: Artificial intelligence techniques that work in security domains like insider threats will now rise to serve IoT and critical infrastructure use cases.
- The need for hardened and fortified applications before being deployed in the Cloud: Security teams will further realize the importance of applications being sanctioned and approved before being deployed and used.
- Knowing your consumers and what they need: Many firms are still learning about the cloud and consider cloud security as a very on-premises aspect. Businesses can truly transform when there are forward-thinking leaders who run on the cloud-first strategy. Decision makers as such are better positioned to mitigate arising risks and are best aligned with the evolving needs of the customers.
- The role of DevSecOps will increase along with the automation of critical steps in the process. CIOs will prioritize integrating security to detect flaws during the application development lifecycle.
- Implementation of Zero Trust Architecture: As organizations move to remote working, securing perimeters has become an afterthought. In this scenario, the need to implement borderless security based on a zero-trust architecture (ZTA) has gained strategic importance for CISOs.
- Increasing the velocity of cloud deployment: When configured codes are combined with the overall nature of cloud being a software-defined infrastructure, it enables customers to implement CI/CD approaches for software deployment and configuration to enable consistency in their use of the cloud. This automation and increased velocity decreases the time customers spend waiting for fixes and features to be applied.
- A unified infrastructure will be a must for hybrid IT: The difficulty of harnessing and controlling IT resources distributed across on-premises and multi-cloud settings is spawning a new generation of unified infrastructure management solutions. The major goal of these platforms is to integrate the IT environment, cloud administration consoles, and cloud management platforms that enterprises now utilise to manage various portions of the infrastructure into a single framework. The ease of access, seamless integration and the real-time updates, will largely popularize the unified infrastructure management.
Consumer behavior has drastically altered that has in turn rendered channels to reconsider their business models. How has Micro Focus contributed as an enterprise company?
The relevance of the channel and vendor relationship in determining customer success has been highlighted by the pandemic-induced digital transformation. As organisations transition from mainframe to hybrid cloud architecture, it is critical to install the appropriate solutions on the right platform at the right time to ensure revenue. Channel partners serve as the foundations of support for organisations as they migrate to the cloud. They serve as a vendor’s extension and help in pushing digitisation. According to IDC, by 2024, 80% of organisations will restructure their connections with suppliers, providers, and partners in order to better execute digital initiatives for ubiquitous resource deployment and autonomous IT operations.
We, as an enterprise firm, try to deploy solutions to address every issue of our clients and create a highly distinctive value proposition with the support of our partner ecosystem with a focus on preserving existing revenue models and accomplishing new business goals. We have been helping our partners grow amidst the uncertainty in the economy with steady cash flow and open communication. We host more online enablement sessions for our channel community than we did before the entire pandemic scenario. This has gotten excellent feedback from our channel partners since it allows them to provide high-quality services to end consumers. As a channel-focused organization, Micro Focus will continue to strategically invest in the partner ecosystem in order to build the digital and cyber resilience capabilities of our channel partners. We believe that channel partners in 2023 will indeed be playing a pivotal role in helping customers bridge the digital gaps with robust enterprise-grade solutions.
How prepared are the Indian enterprises when it comes to cyber resiliency?
The digital revolution has rendered enterprises across industries particularly exposed to cyber security attacks. Cybercriminals are always developing novel hacks and vulnerabilities to disrupt companies and inflict data and reputation damage. The National Crime Records Bureau data claim that cybercrime in India have increased 6% more than the year ago. In such an environment, having a strong cyber resilience strategy is critical to guaranteeing company continuity. The cornerstone of this cyber resilience strategy must be constructed on four main areas: anticipating possible threats, fighting assaults, recovering from any interruption, and changing protective capabilities based on the scale of the risk. With this foundation in place, dedicated IT teams in enterprises will be able to prevent and preserve susceptible assets from oncoming hackers.
With Micro Focus’ latest array of security solutions in the areas of Data Privacy and Protection (Voltage), Identity & Access Management (NetIQ) and Security Operations (ArcSight), Application Security (Fortify) offerings which include static, dynamic, interactive application security testing, and runtime application self-protection, while our latest offering, Galaxy is an immersive cyberthreat experience that aids business-centric intelligence and security teams to detect the most pressing cyberthreats to safeguard value chains while enhancing their immunity. We extend the expertise of one of the largest security portfolios.
What is the importance of digital transformation for enterprises of the modern age?
The pandemic has marked a pivotal point in India’s digital path. The rising use of intelligent technology has prompted businesses throughout the country to expand investment in digital infrastructure. The epidemic has raised enterprises’ digital appetite across industries. Digital transformation is indeed a broad term – and it’s much more than the adoption of advanced technologies. It refers to the integration of people, processes, and technologies. Refining the marketing plan through continual rigorous data driven research is the cornerstone for keeping ahead in today’s competitive age. There has been a worldwide interest in the digital metamorphosis of enterprise owing to the massive increase in operational efficiency post the digital transformation. Sophisticated platforms have enabled data transparency resulting in an increased cross-border employee collaboration. One of the most visible benefits of a complete digital alteration is the large-scale processing and analyzing of data by enterprises in real-time. Across sectors, change is happening faster than ever before, and CEOs are feeling the strain while also recognizing the potential for the entire enterprise.
According to our most recent poll, since the pandemic, fast digital transformation, including cloud and data, has become the one priority CEOs prioritise for the board. According to Gartner, 81% of marketers want most of their choices to be data-driven by 2022. Enterprises now have more data at their disposal than ever before, and it must be used to extract insights and visions from clients, target audiences, rivals, and the industry as a whole in order to elevate business operations. Leveraging the enormous power of multiple communication channels have unlocked exponential growth for businesses throughout the world. A real-time and active insight into consumer preferences have altered business operations like never before.
According to a majority of the study findings, leading organizations in enterprise technology were expanding two times faster than the average company, and by recently doubling down on their IT investments, they are now growing five times faster. Leaders use essential cloud technologies, such as AI, to outshine their rivals. They adopt cutting-edge technologies faster and reinvest more frequently.
Thus, directing their IT budgets toward innovation. The benefits are more revenue and more growth—and the ability to stay ahead of the curve.
