Enterprises have difficult and challenging times ahead, and need to adapt to new technologies to remain competitive in the upcoming years, according to research by Gartner.
Gartner yesterday released its annual ‘Top Industry Predicts’ research into business and user trends in IT, which makes 15 assumptions for organisations and users in 2012 and beyond.
“Many industry business models will be challenged through 2015 as customers continue to adopt an always-connected digital lifestyle and market competitors exploit emerging technologies to achieve business growth and success,” said Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, VP of Gartner.
Much of the key findings of the research relate to the rising importance of cloud and virtualisation. It predicts by 2015 that cloud-based services will generate 25% of consumer-driven banking products and services, and 30% of smart grid projects will leverage cloud services to address big data from converging technologies.
“Cloud computing and social media will continue to provide industries with new avenues for effective customer communication and engagement, facilitating increased revenue and sustainable interaction with key customers,” Harris-Ferrante said.
The tablet also featured heavily in the research. It predicts by 2013 iPad penetration among pharma sales reps will reach 85%, but by 2016 the iPad will gain less than 50% of the K-12 market as CIOs favour devices that are deployed more readily.
“New technologies such as media tablets and advances in mobile will have a disruptive impact on many industries, requiring changes to existing processes and propelling business transformation,” Harris-Ferrante said.
“The market, economic, demographic and technological environments that industries will face in 2012 will require them to be nimble in their operations and enterprise practices. Being agile and adopting new business practices will be imperative for survival in 2012,” she added.
Other predictions include the five largest PLM software providers making social networking an integral part of their solution by 2014, and 20% of integrated delivery systems investing in new healthcare-targeted customer relationship management (CRM) systems by 2015.
Gartner also anticipates that ineffective IT/OT management will risk serious failures in over 50% of enterprises until 2015, and critical failures in asset-dependent ones.
