Aruba: Edge Maturity Key for Optimizing Data Processing and Value

Growing urgency. Adoption of the full range of edge technologies is still in an early phase. However, the need to embrace the edge is real and urgent. Eighty-two percent of ITDMs describe their need for an integrated system at the edge as “very” or “somewhat” urgent.

Satisfaction at the edge. The lion’s share, or 96%, of companies already using edge technologies report being able to take advantage of new data and insights captured at the edge. Equally important, they’re reaping benefits. The biggest benefit reported is improving operational efficiencies and costs (53%). Additionally, 47% noted greater agility and increased security, 44% cited capturing deeper customer insights and 40% noted creating new products, services and revenue streams.

An emerging divide. Seventy-eight percent of ITDMs in production deployment with multiple edge technologies (i.e., networking, security, compute and storage) report a better ability to derive actionable insights and business value from their implementation. Compare that to 42% only piloting edge technologies and 31% planning pilots in the next 12 months.

APAC region in the lead. ITDMs in APAC were ahead of their counterparts in EMEA or the Americas when it comes to deploying edge technologies.

The skills barrier. Lack of specialist skills is the top barrier to edge adoption. Ninety-three percent of IDMS report that they lack the skills in their organization to unlock the power of data. The key skills missing are artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

Security uncertainty. The report revealed mixed feelings on how edge technology adoption will impact network security. Fifty-seven percent of ITDMs agreed that connecting IoT or user devices at the edge made or would make their business more vulnerable. Thirty-three percent said security was one of the top three barriers to edge adoption. At the same time, 47% of respondents said that an increase in security would be a key benefit of capturing data from user devices. And 75% indicated that IoT adoption would have a positive impact on security in the next two years.