Outlook 2025: Cloud, compliance and change

05. March 2025, Armin Leinfelder

Predictions are notoriously difficult, especially when they concern the future. However, some developments are so likely that they are worth a closer look. As baramundians, we are particularly interested in where the world of IT is heading – and the favorites are clear: cloud, compliance and change.

Short & sweet

A shrinking economy and a shortage of skilled workers increase the need for more efficient tools in IT administration
The Zero Trust concept – particularly with regard to micro-segmentation – is becoming increasingly relevant for many companies
AI for anomaly detection offers interesting new options in cybersecurity
Despite increasing market share for cloud offerings, on-prem remains relevant
End-of-life for Windows 10 will force many companies to make decisions with multiple downstream effects in 2025

The global situation will be anything but stable in 2025. Upheavals in politics and at large industrial companies are having a strong ripple effect across all supply chains. Medium-sized companiesin particular are feeling the pressure to maintain their competitivenessand use existing resources even more efficiently.

Companies will double-down on "doing more with less", the unpopular motto that many IT departments have been struggling with for quite some time. Automation and precise planning will be critically important for coping with the increasing workload.

NIS-2 is coming – with extensive consequences

Protecting critical infrastructure from cyberattacks is definitely one of the most important measures the EU can take to protect our society and economy from severe damage or even collapse. Unfortunately, this also means that governments, businesses and sysadmins have to deal with the new rules of NIS-2.

After a long delay, the EU regulations will be translated into national law sometime after the German parliamentary elections. German companies will then be obliged to comply with the directives. Even those who do not operate critical infrastructure can be held liable as part of a supply chain.

The obligation to maintain and document compliance is a particular headache for some IT departments, as many IT professionals have already noted. We have compiled more information on this in our NIS-2 whitepaper.

NIS-2 Directive: Cybersecurity in the EU

Are you responsible for IT in a company affected by NIS-2? Then time is of the essence and you should draw up a plan as quickly as possible for implementing the new cybersecurity requirements at your company. DIscover in our whitepaper how to understand the NIS-2 specifications and implement them step by step.

Download our whitepaper for FREE!

Zero Trust – The need for new security strategies

Apart from any legal requirements, every company should be highly motivated to deal with the increasing demands of cybersecurity. After all, the arms race between malicious actors and IT departments will continue unabated in 2025.

If they haven’t already, all those affected should be thinking about implementing Zero Trust Architecture in their own network. In particular, the aspects of micro-segmentation and strict access controls are essential to prevent a single vulnerability from compromising the entire corporate network.

Anomaly detection – AI as a security factor

For the average consumer, AI applications such as ChatGPT, Suno, Dall-E and the likeseem like great gimmicksfor producing text, images and music with little effort. These large language models (LLM) are fed with vast amounts of data in order to deliver their results via statistical calculations. For IT departments, however, AI adoption has only just begun. A large number of taskscan be automated more easily through the clever use of LLMs – many scripts are already being created directly by ChatGPT.

However, there is even greater potential in the area of security: Trained with data from your own company, machine learning models can be used to detect suspicious behaviorsuch as that exhibited by a cyber attacker. An AI agent operating 24/7 can then sound the alarm very effectively and, if necessary, initiate countermeasures and isolate or shut down affected areas. The baramundi development team is working on a corresponding solution and will let you know more about it in an upcoming article.

Cloud, on-prem, hybrid?

The trend of moving IT infrastructure to the cloud continued unabated last year. Does that mean we’ll all soon be using cloud and SaaS products exclusively? Very probably not. Many industries need or want to keep their data close to home, especially those operating critical infrastructure or providing essential services including banks, hospitals, energy suppliers, government agencies and other organizations.

In addition, rising costs for cloud providers are making many companies reluctant to migrate their infrastructure online or reconsider existing cloud deployments. As always, it depends on each company’s needs and circumstances. That’s why baramundi is sticking to its hybrid strategy and serving both use cases. We are consistently enhancing and expanding the capabilities of both the baramundi Management Suite on-prem and hosted SaaS versions, as well as cloud-native applications such as Argus Experience.

EOL Windows 10

It gets serious in October: Microsoft officially ends support for Windows 10 after 10 years. While many companies are upgrading to Windows 11, the new OS has yet to achieve the popularity and market penetration of its predecessor. One of the most common reasons is Windows 11’s more demanding hardware and security requirements that older hardware cannot support. Companies that have so far stuck with Windows 10 have to make a decision:

Switch to the new Windows 11 and potentially write off a whole lot of hardware as electronic waste
Take advantage of the paid support extension from Microsoft
Use an alternative operating system such as Linux on older devices

Whatever you choose, the baramundi Management Suite has the tools on board to make migration and management quick and smooth. baramundi customers also are looking forward to the continued expansion of bMS capabilities for managing Linux end devices.

Conclusion: 2025 will be anything but boring for IT departments!

New regulations, increasing security requirements and major infrastructure decisions will keep things moving. But don't worry: with the right strategy and the right tools, even these challenges can be mastered. With baramundi, you have a strong partner at your side – no matter what the year brings!

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