Gartner
defines a strategic technology as one with the potential for
significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years. Factors
that denote significant impact include a high potential for
disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar
investment, or the risk of being late to adopt.
David
Cearley, VP, Gartner said, “We have identified the top 10
technologies that will be strategic for most organizations, and that
IT leaders should factor into their strategic planning processes over
the next two years.” “This does not necessarily mean enterprises
should adopt and invest in all of the listed technologies; however
companies need to be making deliberate decisions about how they fit
with their expected needs in the near future.”
Mr.
Cearley said that these technologies are emerging amidst a nexus of
converging forces - social, mobile, cloud and information. Although
these forces are innovative and disruptive on their own, together
they are revolutionizing business and society, disrupting old
business models and creating new leaders. As such, the Nexus of
Forces is the basis of the technology platform of the future.
The top 10 strategic technology trends for 2013
Mobile device
battles:
Mobile experiences eclipse the desktop experience. Consumerization
drives tablets into the enterprise. Cloud and mobile are mutually
reinforcing trends. Bring your own device trend accelerates. In 2013,
mobile devices will pass PCs to be most common Web access tools. By
2015, over 80% of handsets in mature markets will be smart phones.
20% of those will be Windows phones. By 2015, tablet shipments will
be 50% of laptop shipments, with Windows 8 in third place behind
Apple and
Android. Microsoft‘s
share of overall client platform will fall to 60%, and could drop
below 50%. In smartphones, Windows could pass RIM to be #3 player,
and could be same size as Apple in units by 2015. Windows 8 will be
“relatively niche,” with mostly appealing to enterprise buyers.
Mobile applications & HTML 5: Through 2014, JavaScript performance will push HTML5 and the browser as a mainstream application developer environment. There will be long shift to HTML5 from native apps as HTML5 becomes more capable. But native apps won’t disappear, and will always offer best experiences.
Personal
Cloud:
Cloud will be center of digital lives, for apps, content and
preferences. Sync across devices. Services become more important;
devices become less important.
Internet
of Things:
Internet of things is already here. Over 50% of Internet connections
are things. In 2011, over 15 billion things on the Web, with 50
billion+ intermittent connections. By 2020, over 30 billion connected
things, with over 200 billion with intermittent connections. Key
technologies here include embedded sensors, image recognition and
NFC. By 2015, in more than 70% of enterprises, a single exec will
oversee all Internet connected things. Becomes the Internet of
Everything.
Hybrid
IT and Cloud Computing:
Changes role of IT. IT departments must play more roles in
coordinating IT related activities.
Strategic
Big Data: Organizations
need to focus on non-traditional data types and external data sources.
Hadoop and NoSQL gain momentum. Big data will meet social. Five
richest big data sources on the Web include social graph, intent
graph, consumption graph, interest graph and mobile graph. Concept of
single corporate data warehouse is dead. Multiple systems need to be
tied together.
Actionable
Analytics:
Cloud, packaged analytics and big data accelerates in 2013, 2014. Can
now perform analytics and simulation on every action taken in
business. Mobile devices will have access to the data, supporting
business decision making.
Mainstream
In-Memory Computing:
Changes expectations, designs and architectures. Can boost
performance and response times. Enables real-time self service
business intelligence. SAP and others will accelerate delivery of
applications in 2012/2013 to leverage in memory capability.
Integrated
Ecosystems:
More packaging of software and services to address infrastructure or
application workload. There will be more shipment of “appliances,”
with software delivered as hardware. New trend: virtual appliances,
which Gartner sees gaining in popularity over the next five years.
Enterprise
App Stores:
By 2014, there will be more than 70 billion mobile app downloads from
app stores every year. Also by 2014, most organizations will deliver
mobile apps to workers via private application stores.
