New ICT trends to shape future market
Rozana SaniIn this respect, Accenture believes in the next three to five years, organisations will see eight trends that will play a big role in shaping the future of technology, particularly for the enterprise.
They are namely: cloud computing, light systems, enterprise intelligence, continuous access to people and content through easy-to-use mobile devices coupled with software-as-a-service (SaaS), social computing, user-generated content, industrialisation of software development, and green computing.
Of the eight trends outlined, Accenture’s chief scientist Kishore Swaminathan observes cloud computing and light systems are enabling technologies that will enable analytics and enterprise intelligence to be possible and more accessible.
These developments, he said, will see the role of ICT and the chief information officer of an organisation switch from standardisation and control “to empowerment”.
“I think that the role of the CIO and IT in the western world got defined by three major events that are unique to the western – and particularly – American companies: Y2K, the recession following the dotcom bust, and Sarbanes-Oxley. While individually unrelated, collectively, these three have defined the role of IT departments and CIOs in most companies by focusing their attention on standardisation and control.
“Unfortunately, this is becoming the model for new companies in emerging world as well, who don’t share the same history or legacy issues. I think the challenge for the CIOs in the western world is to grow past this history; the challenge for CIOs in the emerging economies is not to fall into the same mould,” he shared with Tech&U.
“In other words, for most companies, the after effects of three events – Y2K, recession and Sarbanes-Oxley – is an IT department fixated on risk minimisation and cost reduction rather than reward maximisation and value creation. By contrast, individuals not rattled by these events have come to look at information technology differently – as an enabler and value creator,” he explained.
So, how can companies retain the gains achieved in risk and cost management over the last decade and still manage to reap benefits similar to those that individuals are getting from information technology in their private lives?
For Kishore, the set of converging technological trends hold the answer: eliminate technologies that are becoming commodities; empower, rather than control, front-office users and, where applicable, customers; and exploit the power of internal and external information.
“People are likely to adopt technology faster in the emerging world because of the dramatically enhanced day-to-day life,” he pointed out.
“I believe that contrary to general intuition – that technology adoption will be higher in the Western world because people are familiar with it, the reverse is likely to be true. Technology adoption will grow faster in the emerging world because the incremental value of adoption is much higher,” he said.
Hence, Kishore said it is important for CIOs in countries like Malaysia to not assume that their users are less sophisticated or will be less willing to use new technology than the Western world.
“It may be quite the opposite,” he remarked.
He emphasised that all the trends Accenture cited suggest that the ability to exploit both internal and external data in new ways is likely to be a reality and a significant IT-based business differentiator in the next year or two.
“So, convert your perceived weaknesses (lack of infrastructure) into strengths (no legacy or outdated technologies). ICT is moving very fast – which means – don’t make very big bets on one technology; diversify to hedge the risk of obsolescence,” said Kishore.
They are namely: cloud computing, light systems, enterprise intelligence, continuous access to people and content through easy-to-use mobile devices coupled with software-as-a-service (SaaS), social computing, user-generated content, industrialisation of software development, and green computing.
Of the eight trends outlined, Accenture’s chief scientist Kishore Swaminathan observes cloud computing and light systems are enabling technologies that will enable analytics and enterprise intelligence to be possible and more accessible.
These developments, he said, will see the role of ICT and the chief information officer of an organisation switch from standardisation and control “to empowerment”.
“I think that the role of the CIO and IT in the western world got defined by three major events that are unique to the western – and particularly – American companies: Y2K, the recession following the dotcom bust, and Sarbanes-Oxley. While individually unrelated, collectively, these three have defined the role of IT departments and CIOs in most companies by focusing their attention on standardisation and control.
“Unfortunately, this is becoming the model for new companies in emerging world as well, who don’t share the same history or legacy issues. I think the challenge for the CIOs in the western world is to grow past this history; the challenge for CIOs in the emerging economies is not to fall into the same mould,” he shared with Tech&U.
“In other words, for most companies, the after effects of three events – Y2K, recession and Sarbanes-Oxley – is an IT department fixated on risk minimisation and cost reduction rather than reward maximisation and value creation. By contrast, individuals not rattled by these events have come to look at information technology differently – as an enabler and value creator,” he explained.
So, how can companies retain the gains achieved in risk and cost management over the last decade and still manage to reap benefits similar to those that individuals are getting from information technology in their private lives?
For Kishore, the set of converging technological trends hold the answer: eliminate technologies that are becoming commodities; empower, rather than control, front-office users and, where applicable, customers; and exploit the power of internal and external information.
“People are likely to adopt technology faster in the emerging world because of the dramatically enhanced day-to-day life,” he pointed out.
“I believe that contrary to general intuition – that technology adoption will be higher in the Western world because people are familiar with it, the reverse is likely to be true. Technology adoption will grow faster in the emerging world because the incremental value of adoption is much higher,” he said.
Hence, Kishore said it is important for CIOs in countries like Malaysia to not assume that their users are less sophisticated or will be less willing to use new technology than the Western world.
“It may be quite the opposite,” he remarked.
He emphasised that all the trends Accenture cited suggest that the ability to exploit both internal and external data in new ways is likely to be a reality and a significant IT-based business differentiator in the next year or two.
“So, convert your perceived weaknesses (lack of infrastructure) into strengths (no legacy or outdated technologies). ICT is moving very fast – which means – don’t make very big bets on one technology; diversify to hedge the risk of obsolescence,” said Kishore.
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