INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Software for Business
Welcome to the era of containers
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This year, open source will become even more fundamental
to the success of companies as they transition to fully-fledged
digitally led businesses. Muggie van Staden, MD of Obsidian
Systems, tells us that proprietary software will lose relevance as
local organisations start embracing the cloud and containers to
deliver value and capitalise on growth opportunities.
E
ven though the cloud has become
familiar to many, containers are still
relatively new despite coming to
the fore more than a decade ago. Docker,
arguably one of the most influential
technologies of the 2010s, gave rise to
Kubernetes. This has become one of the
most significant open source projects
in the world. Using this, companies can
transform their legacy environments into
more advanced, agile ones leveraging
microservices and a containerised approach
to development.
In many regards, this new decade will
herald unprecedented growth when it comes
to companies becoming cloud-native and
container-led. South African organisations
will start seeing more use cases across
industry sectors emerging that highlight
where the most important benefits of going
down the container-route will materialise.
This will help ease the migration for those
companies still requiring a relevant business
case. In the past, the temptation to embrace
the latest technologies proved too great.
This resulted in businesses rushing in with
new implementations that wound up
delivering very little value. Lessons have
been learnt and decision-makers now want
proof of concepts first before embarking on
significant new technology projects. Going
down the container route means this can be
done quicker than in the past, with projects
targeting specific problem areas inside
the organisation.
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AI environment
As part of this, Artificial Intelligence (AI),
Machine Learning (ML) and automation
will become vital tools. However, to
effectively use these sophisticated
technologies, companies must be able to
leverage the computational resources
available through the cloud. And while the
cloud is needed to drive this hyperscale
computing, organisations must ensure that
their cybersecurity needs are still adequately
addressed. If their security is misconfigured,
then the impact on data quality (and
availability) could be significant.
This is where trusted service providers become
essential to help those businesses get the
computing resources needed using open
source technology in the most effective
and secure ways possible. This includes
conceptualising the myriad of aspects needed
in a data-driven business environment.
The service provider will be able to link the
cloud, containers, applications and existing
organisational systems together. DevOps
will become the glue to tie all these aspects
together. In doing so, the company will
still be able to maintain control of its data,
ticking all the right regulatory boxes, while
still innovating with insights derived from
data analysis.
Taking a smart approach
Those service providers that can meet these
needs will be the ones that take the time to
understand the strategic objectives of the
organisation, the resources available and
what the best methodologies are to unlock
the potential of open standards, the cloud
and containers.
Integration with existing processes and
systems must be as smooth as possible.
It is as much about being smart with
open standards as it is about ensuring the
company can continue to run as effectively
as possible.
South Africa still has many challenges to
overcome when it comes to technology
adoption. But one of the most pressing
concerns is skills development.
There are still too few private programmes
that address this. With technology evolving at
such a rapid rate, organisations must do more
to ensure staff are upskilled and reskilled to
meet the demands of the digital future.
Muggie van Staden, MD of
Obsidian Systems
Yes, DevOps skills will be an essential element
of this. But this also needs to be married with
the strategic business insight required to
make it fit effectively into operations. n
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