Gartner is an American information technology research and advisory company and are known all over the world for providing the latest and most valuable insights into the world of IT. Symposium is Gartner’s flagship conference and the IT industry’s leading event, monitored all over the world by business strategists, CIOs and enterprises of all shapes and sizes.
During the recent Gartner Symposium, Gartner announced the 10 strategic technology trends that are most likely to have a significant impact on firms in the coming three years. Gartner says these trends are going to impact the organization’s long-term plans, programs and initiatives and therefore, should be considered when developing long-term organizational plans.
Mobile Device Diversity and Management
No single vendor or platform will completely dominate the mobile industry, Gartner says. Many different form factors should also be expected, with devices ranging from wearable devices (like the Google Glass) to larger displays for shared areas.
It is also predicted that a typical knowledge worker will use three to five devices by 2016 and that organizations will need to consider various device management (MDM), ranging from containerization models to applying the security to the application not a container.
This mobile device diversity and management will have consequences on the BYOD programs for organizations, such as policy setting and network access changes.
Mobile Apps and Applications
Gartner identified that enterprises are going to have to review their strategy for both apps and applications. Gartner defines ‘apps’ as being smaller, and more targeted, while ‘applications’ are larger, and more comprehensive. Apps are predicted to grow in development and developers should look to integrate voice and video into their user and interface models, as they should look to motivate changes to end-user behaviour.
The Internet of Everything
Gartner predicts that there will be 25 billion “things” connected to the internet by 2020, including, people, information, places and things in general. The internet of everything is an important red for enterprises as it is paving the way for the development of new business models through the changing ways users are digesting products and services. He used cars as an example. Those that know how and where they are driven could result in pay-as-you-go insurance.
Hybrid Cloud and IT as Service Broker
The hybrid cloud refers to the bringing together of personal clouds and external private cloud services. Enterprises should plan for a hybrid future, keeping in mind the possibility of integrating of their in-house clouds with external clouds.
Gartner also noted how ‘hybrid IT’ not only affects technology, but also the organizational model. IT departments should look to become than just a service provider, such as becoming an advisor, broker, and provider to the business. For example, helping the business navigate through a variety of private cloud, public cloud, traditional services, and mobile apps.
Cloud/Client Architecture
The new model that Gartner is suggesting here, involves clients that can be on multiple devices and services that come from the cloud. Essentially, the cloud becomes the control point and a system of record for applications that can span multiple client devices, with the experience changing depending on the context and type of device.
The Era of Personal Cloud
The personal cloud era envisions each person, owning their own set of cloud services, including personal services (e.g. Facebook) and corporate applications. This era will mark a power shift away from devices and toward the services and users. No device will be the ‘primary hub/ per se, rather, the personal cloud will take on the role.
Software Defined Anything
Gartner explains that we are on a journey to “programmable everything.” This encompasses everything from Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) to software defined networks and storage to Open Stack and fabric based computing.
The common trend associated with this is that everything is becoming a platform due to the openness of vendors. This brings about benefits such as more standardization and faster reconfiguration.
Web Scale IT
The concept behind this is that much of the world is moving to very resilient “hyper-Scale” data centres, such as those created by Google and Facebook. The techniques being used by such companies are steadily being emulated by enterprises, particularly in terms of designing for failure and DevOps.
Web-Scale IT looks to change the IT value chain in a systematic fashion, including going beyond re-designs aiming to be more energy efficient, to re-designs aiming to develop in-house design of key hardware components such as servers and networks and reduce cost and waste at every opportunity.
Smart Machines
Today we are witnessing an explosion of new content including one of the most exciting tech trends: Smart Machines. The Smart Machine era will be one of the most disruptive in the history of IT, so it is important for enterprises to recognize the trend.
Gartner predicts consumers as well as enterprises will begin to invest heavily in smart machines, and although impacts are limited in the coming years, the longer term is likely to see drastic changes in behaviours and enterprise processes.
3D Printing
Gartner did not spend a lot of time on this trend due to its limitations. However, Gartner did note that the trend is very real (although overhyped), and enterprises investing in this trend may do so due to its potential to reduce costs through prototyping, short-run manufacturing and improved designs
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Do you agree with Gartner’s strategic IT trends?
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