2021-2023

Emerging Technology Roadmap

for Midsize Enterprises
IT leaders from more than 400 midsize enterprises collaborated to
map the adoption of 115 emerging technologies according to their
deployment stage, enterprise value and deployment risk.

In Monitoring

o rk
In Planning
Se
tw cu
Ne rit
Security Orchestration,
Container
Networking
In Pilot
Automation and Response
(SOAR) Solutions y
Biometric
Software-Defined
Authentication
Cloud Interconnect Zero Trust
Methods
Network Access
Identity-Based Segmentation
Endpoint Protection
(Microsegmentation)
Platform (EPP)
Cloud Workload Protection
Cloud Access Security Platforms (CWPP)
NFV and uCPE
Network Traffic
Analysis
Deployment Brokers (CASBs)
Completion User and Entity Managed Detection Extended
and Response(MDR)
in 2022 Behavior Analytics Detection and
Hybrid WAN Response (XDR)
Edge Networking
Cloud Security Posture
Management (CSPM) Folder-Level
Direct Encryption
Cloud 5G Services Mobile Threat SASE
Connect Cloud-Managed Defense (MTD)
Networks (CMNs) Dynamic Firewall as
Application SaaS- a Service
Blockchain Delivered IAM
s

Intent-Based Multicloud Security

ice

Platforms Networking Networking Testing (DAST) Augmented

Database Audit Reality
and Protection
Serv

Hyperconverged
Infrastructure Virtual Private LAN Static Application
Services (VPLS) Security Testing
Software
Deployment (SAST)
Bots
OS Containers
Software-Defined Completion
astructure and Platform

AI Cloud WAN (SD-WAN)

Integration
Services 2021 Virtualized
Platform as a Citizen
Firewalls
Service (iPaaS) IoT Wi-Fi 6 Desktop as a Integrator
Platform (802.11ax) Service (DaaS) Tools
Microservices Customer

Digital Workplace
Journey Analytics
Edge Cloud Management Natural Language
Tooling Virtual
Servers Processing
Assistants
Edge
Data Science and Cloud ERP Third-Party
Computing Cloud UC
Machine Learning Support for ERP Digital Adoption
(UCaaS)
Platforms Hybrid Cloud Solutions
Distributed Citizen Data
Computing
API Management Cloud Systems Thin Clients Science Tools
PaaS Workstream
IoT Business Collaboration Tools
In-Memory Solution
Computing (IMC) Business Managed IoT Text Mining
Workplace
Analytics Services
Functional Platform Container Analytics
te Infr

PaaS
as a Service (fPaaS) Management Cloud-Testing
Unified Endpoint
Tools and Services
Management
Serverless Cloud
Computing IT Service Application
Dependency
u

Discovery
Mapping Tools Face Recognition
p

Multicloud Management
Com

Services (MCMS) Strategic Portfolio Cloud Migration

Cloud Data Management Tools Tools Virtual Reality
Data Backup
Lakes
Disaster Recovery Network Automation
as a Service and Orchestration Robotic Process
(DRaaS) Tools Automation

Container-Native Storage (CNS) Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Event Stream
Cloud DBMS Nonrelational DBMS Artificial Intelligence IT Processing
Virtual Machine
IT Financial Operations (AIOps) Platforms
Backup and
Management Digital Experience
Recovery IT Resilience Automation and
Solid-State Arrays Computational Storage Tools Monitoring (DEM)
Orchestration (ITRO) Tools
Hybrid Storage Arrays Continuous
Application Performance
File Analysis Software Configuration
Monitoring(APM)
Automated Storage Tiering Automation (CCA) Tools
Unified Storage Adaptive Project Management IT Event Correlation
Software-Defined Storage (SDS) and Reporting Tools and Analysis

St NVMe-oF
Enterprise Augmented
or Endpoint Analytics Virtual Network

ag Backup Configuration
n
Object Storage
Automation
ea Service Orchestration
t io
ma
Hybrd Cloud Storage Cloud Data
nd Warehouse and Automation

Da u to
Platforms
DHCI
ta b
as e IT A
Deployment Risk Enterprise Value
The risk factor awarded to each technology is based on the The value factor awarded to each technology is based
analysis of potential risks posed, including marketplace/vendor on the analysis of value drivers, including increasing cost
maturity, architectural fit/complexity, security risk, talent efficiency, improving speed and agility, enabling resilience,
availability, regulatory compliance challenges, implementation enhancing employee productivity and increasing revenue
cost, and disruption to existing processes and services. through improved products and/or services.

Key Takeaways

Automation Digital Workplace Security

1. MSEs are piloting conversational AI technologies to
open new service-delivery channels. MSEs are testing
bots and virtual assistants to increase efficiency and ease
of interaction for employees, customers or other users.
MSEs value promises of increased customer and employee
satisfaction more than they fear the risks associated with
talent unavailability and implementation costs.
2. MSE CIOs are investing in hyperautomation technologies
to focus on process automation. MSEs are investing in data
science and machine learning platforms, AI and robotic
process automation (RPA) to support their automation
efforts. They are matching their large-enterprise peers in
hyperautomation investments with 88% of MSEs planning to
deploy these technologies by 2022.
3. MSEs are piloting citizen technologies to democratize
development, integration and data analytics at scale.
MSEs have moved from monitoring citizen technologies
in 2021 to piloting citizen data science tools and citizen
integrator tools. These tools enable resilience and enhance
employee productivity. MSEs are keeping up with their large-
enterprise peers when it comes to experimentation with
citizen technologies to support self-service development and
integration by business teams.
4. MSEs are leapfrogging investments in edge computing
to improve their speed and agility. MSEs have bypassed
the piloting stage to directly deploy edge computing
technology after large enterprises overcame the risks as early
adopters. Fifty-eight percent of the MSEs plan to deploy this
technology by the end of 2021 to address concerns such as
latency, bandwidth, data privacy and autonomy in the hybrid
working environment.
5. MSEs are investing in digital reality technologies
to improve connections and collaboration in hybrid
environment. After years in the not monitoring and
monitoring stages, more than half of MSEs are now
experimenting with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality
(AR) to expand both real-world and virtual surroundings of
users. Despite costs associated with implementation risks,
CIOs see significant benefits to keeping customers and
employees engaged in a virtual environment.
6. MSEs are deploying both Wi-Fi 6 and 5G to support
employee productivity. MSEs have accelerated their
investments in both cellular and wireless technologies to
improve speed and agility. Ninety-three percent of the MSEs
plan to simultaneously deploy these technologies by 2022
to meet the divergent network and security demands of the
hybrid working environment.
7. Hybrid working environments prompt CIOs to invest
in cloud computing technologies. MSEs have deployed
distributed cloud systems and hybrid cloud computing while
piloting serverless computing to support a hybrid working
environment. Eighty-eight percent of the MSEs plan to deploy
distributed cloud systems and hybrid cloud computing
technologies by the end of 2022 to move away from the
centralized model for existing cloud services.
8. MSE CIOs are increasing their investments in cloud
security to enable resilience and enhance employee
productivity. CIOs are evolving their network security by
deploying cloud-based controls such as cloud access security
brokers (CASBs), cloud security posture management (CSPM)
and cloud workload protection platforms (CWPP) to facilitate
more scalable, integrated and dynamic security needs of the
organization. Eighty-nine percent of the MSEs plan to deploy
these technologies by the end of 2022 to have an overlapping
set of capabilities to address cloud risks.
9. MSEs are investing in secure access service edge (SASE)
to enable simpler, consistent end-to-end networking and
access management. Having already deployed zero trust
network access and SaaS-delivered IAM, MSEs are piloting
SASE to deliver the rich set of secure networking and security
services in a consistent and integrated manner to support the
needs of digital business transformation, edge computing
and workforce mobility. Despite having high implementation
costs, MSEs are investing in SASE to improve ease of use,
while at the same time reducing complexity.
10. MSEs are investing in hybrid cloud storage for disaster
recovery, cybersecurity and nondisruptive testing. In
response to an increase in highly publicized ransomware
attacks, 50% of the MSEs plan to deploy hybrid cloud storage
by the end of 2021 to enable resilience in their organizations.
CIOs are piloting hybrid cloud storage investments to create
seamless data services among disparate data centers, edge
and the public cloud infrastructure to mitigate risks in a
hybrid working environment.

Source: Gartner
Note: Midsize enterprises are defined as organizations with less than $1 billion in revenue.

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