Friends. Virtual friends. Online. And well, NonHuman Friends.
That’s what Gartner predicts, i.e. by 2015, social media strategy will evolve to an extent that bots, i.e. automated software agents will carry interactions enabling brands to increase engagement.
Other predictions by Gartner are:
»Security : G20 nation’s critical infrastructure will be disrupted and damaged by online sabotage.
Online attacks can be multimodal, in the sense of targeting multiple systems for maximum impact, such as the financial system (the stock exchange), physical plant (the control systems of a chemical, nuclear or electric plant), or mobile communications (mobile-phone message routers).
»Cloud: By 2015, 20 percent of non-IT Global 500 companies will be cloud service providers.
The move by non-IT organizations to provide non-IT capabilities via cloud computing will further expand the role of IT decision making outside the IT organization. This represents yet another opportunity for IT organizations to redefine their value proposition as service enablers — with either consumption or provision of cloud-based services.
»Automation/Delivery: By 2015, tools and automation will eliminate 25 percent of labor hours associated with IT services.
As the IT services industry matures, it will increasingly mirror other industries, such as manufacturing, in transforming from a craftsmanship to a more industrialized model. Cloud computing will hasten the use of tools and automation in IT services as the new paradigm brings with it self-service, automated provisioning and metering, etc., to deliver industrialized services with the potential to transform the industry from a high-touch custom environment to one characterized by automated delivery of IT services.
»Devices : By 2014, 90 percent of organizations will support corporate applications on personal devices.
The trend toward supporting corporate applications on employee-owned notebooks and smartphones is already under way in many organizations and will become commonplace within four years. The main driver for adoption of mobile devices will be employees — i.e., individuals who prefer to use private consumer smartphones or notebooks for business, rather than using old-style limited enterprise devices.
» Tablets: By 2013, 80 percent of businesses will support a workforce using tablets.
The Apple iPad is the first of what promises to be a huge wave of media tablets focused largely on content consumption, and to some extent communications, rather than content creation, with fewer features and less processing power than traditional PCs and notebooks or pen-centric tablet PCs.[more here]
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While one may not revisit these predictions (or even care to go back in time and see what Gartner predicted for 2010), such predictions are contextually relevant to understand the changing landscape. The keyword that comes out is damn clear – cloud, devices and security are the key spend areas.
What’s your view?
