Trends Identified

CIO Operational Excellence
Improving the “business of IT” by planning for the end-game from day one The global financial crisis had a direct impact on a number of IT trends in 2009. With most IT budgets either slashed or stagnant, and an increased focus on cost reduction opportunities, IT operational excellence became top of mind for many organizations. Revisiting the basics in terms of process effectiveness and overall efficiency of the “business of IT,” was one approach many organizations used to drive quick hits across the cost-cutting spectrum.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
Cyber-security
Moving from background technology to a priority business discipline With intellectual property now fully convertible to ones and zeros, it was only a matter of time before defending enterprise information assets became a key concern. For too many years, security has been relegated to the technology agenda and accorded only marginal attention and budget by many organizations. Most perceived the threat to be containable, where a protect-the-perimeter approach was deemed sufficient. Responses were reactive, both to incidents and compliance requirements.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
Best-of-Breed Enterprise Applications
Back to the ERP future Enterprise applications are enjoying a resurgence of sorts – but with a fresh focus on agility and innovation. The days of a single-stop behemoth package to fulfill all of a business’ needs are fading fast. Instead, buyers are seeking to combine traditional packages for strategic standardization in parts of the business, without compromising the ability to use best-of-breed solutions for selective differentiation. They’re demanding the freedom to choose from legacy offerings, new custom capabilities, or other third-party products to satisfy their overall need for delivering results.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
Wireless and Mobility
The battleground for innovation in the untethered enterprise Mobility in the enterprise is going through a disruptive shift – precipitated by both technology and changing user demand. Ubiquitous wireless connectivity and capacity, powerful terminal devices, and a growing mobile application ecosystem lend themselves to previously unimaginable solutions.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
Virtualization
How the shift from physical to logical is moving up the value chain – and setting the stage for a potential (cloud) revolution Virtualization is in many ways a mature capability – with solid adoption across compute, storage, and network layers. It is not a top technology trend because it is new, but because its scope is growing across the stack and expanding to cover facilities, operations, and even business layers. Virtualization is critical to many strategic goals of IT, including IT cost reduction, data center consolidation, architecture rationalization, and the migration from physical to logical that currently culminates in cloud computing. Few other emerging enablers have as much potential to help improve service management, reduce capital expense and ongoing costs, and positively affect every stage of the IT lifecycle.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
Information Automation
From automating “what I need to do” to automating “what I need to know” Information technology has grown up in a processdominated era where automation has focused on the question “What do I need to do?” and the “I” of IT has been something of an afterthought. We believe we have now decisively entered a new era, where automation can help answer a bigger question: “What do I need to know?” In this era, the ability to expose, associate, analyze, and present volumes of structured and unstructured content is one of the untapped sources of competitive advantage.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
Value-driven Application Management Services
Moving beyond labor arbitrage in Applications Management Services (AMS) With 65 percent of all IT service dollars spent on maintaining existing technology,1 companies everywhere have been hard pressed to invest more in technology improvements needed by the business. In an effort to trim maintenance costs, many organizations entered into AMS contracts.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
User Engagement
Right information, right user, right time, right context, right outcomes For years, organizations grudgingly accepted the “limitations” of IT as immutable truths: Users spend far too much time logging in and out of well-intentioned applications designed around the constraints of information flows instead of real work flows. These individual applications didn’t talk to one another, requiring manual bridges between systems, content, and context – leaving users to their own devices for much of the insight needed to run the business. Dots remained unconnected, critical proprietary information went unmanaged and unshared, and decisions – from shop fl oor tasks to board-room endeavors – were poorly supported by the enabling IT.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
Services Thinking
SOA what? Service orientation extends to the business Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) grew as a technical answer to an age-old question: How do companies gain agility and flexibility – especially in a world increasingly dependent on complex, interconnected IT systems? Unfortunately, the potential of SOA has been constrained by its very definition. By confining SOA to the realm of IT, opportunities have been largely limited to Service Oriented (Software) Architecture. In 2010, look for SOA to move powerfully outside of IT into business strategy, organization design, and governance models. It’s what some call Service Oriented (Business) Architecture – and it’s a new way to manage the relationship between business and IT. This holistic approach is the essence of Services Thinking.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte
Asset Intelligence
Bring your value chain to life using signals, not just sensors IT models of business operations have long relied on software abstractions and data approximations, with decisions derived from information systems running within corporate data centers. Other company assets, such as finished goods, equipment, materials, plants, and even many employees, were disconnected or passive participants. Until now.
2010
Depth perception A dozen technology trends shaping business and IT in 2010
Deloitte