COLLABORATE 16 kicked off with a presentation by Unisphere Research analyst Joe McKendrick who shared insights from a groundbreaking study that examined future trends and technology among 690 members of three major Oracle users groups.
The research, was unique in that it covered not one but three of the leading Oracle users groups - the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG), the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG), and Quest International Users Group (Quest).
The research findings were presented by McKendrick during the opening keynote session at the conference, along with master of ceremonies Richard Laible.
COLLABORATE, which drew 5,000 attendees to Las Vegas this year, is hosted annually by the three users groups.
The survey results were included in a 47-page report that was produced by Unisphere Research and titled, “The Four Cornerstones of the Changing Enterprise,” authored by McKendrick.
Focusing on the key areas of Cloud, Big Data and IoT, Mobility, and Security, throughout the report, the views of executives versus that of staff professionals are compared and contrasted. For example, executives and managers are focused on costs and security issues, while also looking at the broader implications of bringing big data solutions into their enterprises. Staff professionals, in contrast, do not generally focus on this type of big picture thinking.
According to McKendrick, overall, cloud is gaining traction for business services, but adoption of cloud-based ERP, enterprise applications, or databases remains lukewarm. On-premises still dominates with ERP and core enterprise suites.
As far as adoption of technologies to leverage big data and IoT, despite the attention it has been receiving, a majority of enterprises have yet to take advantage of big data and any movement toward big data is not yet taking advantage of data from the sensors, devices and remote applications that form the Internet of Things. This is due mainly to cost and integration concerns, the survey found.
Most executives and professionals are enthusiastic about the ability of mobile access to open up applications and data to employees, although mobility is still an elusive goal for many enterprises, with web browsers, not mobile apps, currently the gateways to enterprise applications or data.
Security is a major concern for IT managers and professionals included in the survey, with outside hackers being of most concern. H the most, but the viability of vendors can also be just as scary. A majority of managers and executives are approaching the security problem with the establishment of well-defined security policies. Security concerns also include risks posed by trusted vendors.
The research shows that external hacking is the greatest concern to managers and professionals, with 72% expressing concern about their vulnerability to a breach, while at the same time, vendor solutions which could open up breaches is the second-ranked concern, pointing to the need for hyper-vigilance in this area. Internal breaches also rank in the top three as a critical concern.
According to McKendrick, “The common thread across the board among people we surveyed from the three groups is that they are approaching the adoption of new technologies in a measured way, particularly when it comes to the use of technologies that require outside forces to touch their applications or data.”