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Gartner Highlights Key Predictions for IT Organizations and Users in 2010 and Beyond

Gartner, Inc. has highlighted the key predictions that herald long-term changes in approach for IT organizations and the people they serve for 2010 and beyond. Gartner's top predictions for 2010 showcase the trends and events that will change the nature of business today and beyond.

These predictions were selected from across Gartner's research areas as the most compelling and critical predictions. The trends and topics they address this year speak to the changing balance of power and focus in IT. Gartner analysts said last year's themes of shifting ownership and revenue flows continue, becoming more pronounced and more sharply focused. As the macro-economic environment adjusts to a new balance between supply, consumer demand and regulation, the focus of this year's top predictions has expanded to encompass shifts in the way that users interact with IT.

Gartner's top predictions for 2010 and beyond include:

By 2012, 20 percent of businesses will own no IT assets. Several interrelated trends are driving the movement toward decreased IT hardware assets, such as virtualization, cloud-enabled services, and employees running personal desktops and notebook systems on corporate networks.

By 2012, India-centric IT services companies will represent 20 percent of the leading cloud aggregators in the market (through cloud service offerings). Gartner is seeing India-centric IT services companies leveraging established market positions and levels of trust to explore nonlinear revenue growth models (which are not directly correlated to labor-based growth) and working on interesting research and development (R&D) efforts, especially in the area of cloud computing. The collective work from India-centric vendors represents an important segment of the market's cloud aggregators, which will offer cloud-enabled outsourcing options (also known as cloud services).

By 2012, Facebook will become the hub for social network integration and Web socialization. Through Facebook Connect and other similar mechanisms, Facebook will support and take a leading role in developing the distributed, interoperable social Web. As Facebook continues to grow and outnumber other social networks, this interoperability will become critical to the success and survival of other social networks, communication channels and media sites.

By 2014, most IT business cases will include carbon remediation costs. Today, server vitalization and desktop power management demonstrate substantial savings in energy costs, and those savings can help justify projects. Incorporating carbon costs into business cases provides a further measure of savings, and prepares the organization for increased scrutiny of its carbon impact.

In 2012, 60 percent of a new PC's total life greenhouse gas emissions will have occurred before the user first turns the machine on. Progress toward reducing the power needed to build a PC has been slow. Over the course of its entire lifetime, a typical PC consumes 10 times its own weight in fossil fuels, but around 80 percent of a PC's total energy usage still happens during production and transportation.

Internet marketing will be regulated by 2015, controlling more than $250 billion in Internet marketing spending worldwide. Despite international efforts to eliminate "spam," marketing "clutter" is abundant in every marketing channel. Pressure for greater accountability means the backlash from annoyed consumers will eventually drive legislation to regulate Internet marketing. Companies that focus primarily on the Internet for marketing purposes could find themselves unable to market effectively to customers, putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage when new regulations take effect. Although experiencing high growth, vendors who focus solely on, and sell predominately to, Internet marketing solutions could find themselves faced with a declining market, as companies shift marketing funds to other channels to compensate.

By 2014, over 3 billion of the world's adult population will be able to transact electronically via mobile or Internet technology. Emerging economies will see rapidly rising mobile and Internet adoption through 2014. At the same time, advances in mobile payment, commerce and banking are making it easier to electronically transact via mobile or PC Internet. Combining these two trends creates a situation in which a significant majority of the world's adult population will be able to electronically transact by 2014.

By 2015, context will be as influential to mobile consumer services and relationships as search engines are to the Web. Whereas search provides the "key" to organizing information and services for the Web, context will provide the "key" to delivering hyperpersonalized experiences across smartphones and any session or experience an end user has with information technology. Search centered on creating content that drew attention and could be analyzed. Context will center on observing patterns, particularly location, presence and social interactions. Furthermore, whereas search was based on a "pull" of information from the Web, context-enriched services will, in many cases, prepopulate or push information to users.

By 2013, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide. According to Gartner's PC installed base forecast, the total number of PCs in use will reach 1.78 billion units in 2013. By 2013, the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.82 billion units and will be greater than the installed base for PCs thereafter.

[Full Article] Jan-17-2010

IT Spending to Rebound in 2010

After a dismal performance in 2009, the technology sector will see a recovery in 2010 as businesses and governments in the US and around the world begin spending again on information technology, according to a new report by Forrester Research, Inc. After declining 8.2 percent in 2009, US IT spending will grow 6.6 percent in 2010 to $568 billion. Global IT spending, which dropped 8.9 percent last year, will rise 8.1 percent in 2010 to more than $1.6 trillion. Software and computer hardware will see the greatest growth, as Forrester forecasts a new multi-year cycle of technology investment growth and innovation defined by Smart Computing.

With regard to sector growth, hardware and software will lead the charge. Measured in US dollars, global purchases of computer equipment will be up 8.2 percent, communications equipment buying will rise by 7.6 percent, software spending will increase by 9.7 percent, purchases of IT consulting and systems integration services will grow by 6.8 percent, and IT outsourcing services will be 7.1 percent higher.

On a regional basis, Europe will be the strongest performing region. Measured in US dollars, the strongest growth in 2010 will be in Western and Central Europe, where tech purchases will rise by 11.2 percent, boosted by the dollar's decline against the euro. IT purchases in Canada will grow by 9.9 percent, Asia Pacific by 7.8 percent, and Latin America by 7.7 percent. The weakest market will be Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, rising by just 2.4 percent. When measured against local currency, however, the US will actually post the strongest growth of all the regional tech markets.

[Full Article] Jan-17-2010

Is the IT Job Market Stabalized?

Janco has just released its 2010 IT Salary Survey, which shows that overall pay has stopped falling and has flattened out. In addition the survey show an increase in hiring demand for some IT professionals. The CEO of Janco, Victor Janulaitis stated, "The economic climate is still driven with a cost cutting mindset, business closures, and extensive outsourcing. However the worst seems to be over as salaries for IT professionals are no longer falling. " The CEO added, "...many 'baby-boomers' who had planned on retiring in the next few years are not leaving the job market frustrating middle aged workers who want to advance."

[Full Article] Jan-10-2010

IT Trend Survey Shows Focus on Agility, Speed to Market, and Cost Reduction

The Society for Information Management (SIM) has released the results from its 2009 IT Trend Survey. More than double the percentage of respondents said their budgets in 2009 would be less than in 2008 (twice as much as the previous year’s survey), so the mantra is doing more with less. However, budgets look to be stabilizing in 2010, with 45% saying their budgets would be equal to 2009.

Respondents indicated that they spend more than three-quarters of their time -- 76% -- on nontechnical issues, including managing relationships with the business partners and internal IT staff.

The list of the top six applications and technology investments for 2009 provides the strategic insight IT executives need as they try to maximize efficiencies within their organization. The list
includes:

1. Business intelligence
2. Server virtualization
3. ERP systems
4. Customer/corporate portals
5. Enterprise application integration/management (EAI/EAM)
6. Continuity planning/disaster recovery

ERP systems, customer/corporate portals, and EAI/EAM are new to this list, which reinforce the drive to quickly deliver new services that reduce the cost of doing business.

While the development of hard business skills is still emphasized by 35% of the respondents, an even bigger emphasis is being placed on developing interpersonal skills, including communicating and collaborating, with 45% of respondents indicating these skills are priorities.

Other HR considerations that have traditionally received significant attention are receiving less focus this year, with retaining (7%) and recruiting (5%) employees significantly lower.

The focus on building relationships and communication has paid off. Stability at the CIO level is increasingly valued in enterprise organizations. In 2006, the average tenure of a CIO was 3.6 years. This has steadily increased every year since and, according to the 2009 survey, the average tenure is 4.6 years.

[Full Article] Jan-10-2010

38% U.S. Adults said that they Feel Surprised when they Receive Good Customer Service

Zendesk, an on-demand help desk solution, has released the results of a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive among 1,002 U.S. adults ages 18+. The survey results show that, even in the midst of a difficult economic climate, service and support is critical and should not be treated as an afterthought. In fact, 79 percent of U.S. adults said that, when they receive good customer service, it makes them more loyal to the company and 57 percent said they would be equally or more likely to talk about a good customer service experience than a good deal on a product or service.

Other findings of the Zendesk survey include:

Over one in three (38 percent) U.S. adults said that they feel surprised when they receive good customer service, which shows just how much potential there still is in improving this vital part of the customer interaction.

More young people (ages 18-34) than any other age group said that good customer service made them feel peaceful -- a sign that, for future generations of customers, help desks will play a key role in their visceral reaction to a product or company.

Across the board, the poll found that customer service is very important to consumers in nearly every industry. However, when respondents were asked to prioritize in which industry customer service was most important, an overwhelming 47 percent chose the health care industry. Coming in a very distant second with 16 percent was the hospitality industry.

Men are more likely to tell friends and family about a good customer service experience (38 percent) than women are (28 percent).

A related survey of customer service reps conducted by Zendesk found that the Internet is also changing customer service: 58 percent of customer service reps said that "customer service is the backbone of our organization" and expected that email would greatly outshine any other support channel in the future. Fifty nine percent answered that customers needed an answer within one hour to remain a happy customer.

[Full Article] Jan-10-2010

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