A recent survey by research firm Gartner confirms what has been an inexorable trend in business in the past decade or so — the decoupling of the US economy and those of other major nations and regions.
Virtualisation will be the biggest driver for IT infrastructure and operations spending over the next several years, according to recent research from Gartner.
Multicore processors, cloud computing, user interfaces, social networks/social software and Web mashups top a list of 10 "disruptive technologies'' set to reshape the IT landscape between 2008 and 2012, according to Gartner analysts David Cearley and Carl Claunch.
For the third year in a row, business intelligence (BI) applications have been ranked the top technology priority in the 2008 Gartner Executive Programmes survey of 1,500 CIOs.
Social networking and open-source software are both set to become more widespread, while three-dimensional copying will soon be commonplace, and green IT will move beyond just being marketing hype to become an important factor in buying decisions.
Gartner predicts that worldwide radio frequency identification (RFID) revenue will eclipse US$1.2 billion (NZ$1.48 billion) this year, marking nearly a 31% increase over last year.
Gartner says the worldwide enterprise-software industry is poised for an 8.2% revenue increase in 2008 despite fears of a possible recession and gloomy predictions about IT spending from some industry watchers.
Global software revenue will total US$190.7 billion (NZ$240.5 billion) this year, up from US$176.3 billion last year, Gartner predicts. It's not clear whether that growth will continue beyond 2008, Gartner adds, as there are several challenges facing software vendors.
Growth is most likely for vendors that have diverse revenue streams through channels, new licences and maintenance, and flexibility in contractual terms through models such as software-as-a-service, open source and outsourcing, Gartner says.
"Shrinking discretionary budgets will heighten competition for new maintenance and licence revenue streams, and place a renewed emphasis on vendor performance and viability," Gartner managing vice president Joanne Correia says. "Market consolidations and restructurings may accelerate as mergers and acquisitions among smaller and larger vendors increase," she says.
Fears of a potential recession caused Forrester Research to predict modest growth of 2.8% in US purchases of IT goods and services in 2008. Forrester previously predicted 4.6% growth but revised its forecast downward this month after seeing newly available economic data.
Gartner says problems in the US won't significantly impact worldwide software spending, but the firm isn't optimistic about the period after 2008.
In fact, Gartner says, revenue decreases in a few portions of the software market could begin as early as the second quarter of this year.
"The enterprise software market is undergoing major technology and business-model transitions that will last through 2012," Gartner research vice president Tom Eid says. "For the near-term, software vendors will continue to face tough product life-cycle decisions and short-term pressure on price and margins, which will put the ability to be innovative at risk. The fundamental changes that are occurring in how software technology is deployed and used means no software market or vendor will remain untouched," he says.
At the end of last month, Gartner highlighted 10 key predictions of events and developments it believes will affect IT and business in 2008 and beyond.
India's IT services market is forecast to grow to US$10.73 billion (NZ$14.3 billion) by 2011, at a five-year compound annual growth rate of 23.2%, as outsourcing emerges as a more favoured option for companies in India, according to research firm Gartner.
IT leaders need to prepare for changed business priorities as the economic climate is going to get harsher, the head of Gartner's global research, Peter Sondergaard, has warned.
When calculating total cost of ownership, the price paid to vendors for IT products is just the tip of the iceberg.
Software as a service is forecast by Gartner to grow at 22.1% until 2011 for the aggregate enterprise application software markets — more than double the 9% growth rate expected in the market as a whole.
Gartner’s closure of its consulting arm in Australia and Hong Kong in May should serve as a warning to global players who don’t get intimate with the local market, analyst firms have claimed.
Consulting firm Gartner this week decided to end its consulting operations in Australia and Hong Kong. The decision to end its operations and lay off 18 people has surprised other industry players, which say the move resulted from misguided strategy.
Research firm Gartner has released a ‘hit list’ which identifies several time-wasting practices that CIOs should avoid in order to maintain a focus on key priorities that maximise value to the business.