Adopt new technology for 2011 and beyond

Adopt New Technologies for 2011 and Beyond

Practical IT Research that Drives Measurable Results

Technology Trends 2011

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Each year innovators make exciting new technologies available. Making the right technology choices will significantly improve the organization’s

competitive position. This solution set will help IT confirm the organization’s roadmap for new technology adoption and suggest actions to close major

technology gaps.

Leverage Info-Tech’s tools and research to identify major gaps in the organization’s current technology and receive specific recommendations to

close them.

This deck highlights:

Technologies that should be adopted.

Technologies worth watching.

Technologies that are ready for retirement.

Info-Tech summarizes these technologies and provides :

Timely links to in-depth guidance on their deployment.Survey data and case studies based on interviews with top of the curve IT leaders.Tools geared at IT leadership in small, medium, and large enterprises alike.

Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

•Despite continuing economic challenges, IT organizations must continue to innovate. An essential element of this is the use of new technologies.

•IT shops should consider six key technologies in 2011:

– Social Media will be an essential tool for all marketing departments with or without IT participation, due to its rapid uptake by prospects and customers.

– Mobile devices with sophisticated capabilities such as smartphones and tablets will enable organizational differentiation through unique apps.

– Simple analytic tools will enable improved decision-making without requiring investment in a full Business Intelligence deployment.

– Desktop Virtualization will become an easier to support alternative to the traditional deployment of software on PCs.

– The Cloud will provide increasing lower cost alternatives to in-house services.– Enterprise Content Management applications will assist IT shops in the

management of escalating amounts and types of data.

•Few IT organizations can proceed on all fronts. Each must choose from the available technologies based on potential value as well as capability.

Info-Tech Research Group 3

• Understand how and why the business adopts new technology.

• An overview of the technologies that are “hot.”

• The importance of leveraging new technologies.

• Understand how and why the business adopts new technology.

• An overview of the technologies that are “hot.”

• The importance of leveraging new technologies.

Next Section in BriefNext Section in BriefThe Technology Landscape 2011

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Modernize the 2011 Plan

Reassess Existing Technologies

Recognize the forces & challenges that make the adoption of new technologies relevant

Continued innovation by both major vendors and niche players provides new opportunities to extend the uses of technology, as well as enabling the effective management of increasingly complex environments.

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Robust Vendor Market

Robust Vendor Market

Corporate

Appetite

Organizational pressure for more services from IT at lower costs is top of mind. The economic situation drives not only cost concerns but a recognition that enhanced IT capabilities are essential for competitive success.

The expectations of users and clients for

enhanced technology capability such as

functionality, accessibility, and

empowerment.

User Appetite

User Appetite

Three Forces of Technology

Adoption

There are many technologies worth looking at for 2011. Recognize the forces that will contribute to the organization’s decisions around

adopting them.

RVM

CA

UA


For the Hospital For Sick Children, achieving strategic objectives meant pursuing a series of IT initiatives to support the business outcome. Here’s a look at its five year plan and the challenges that were faced.

Empowering Sick Kids on the path toward fully-electronic patient charts.

Move away from paper and manual process and provide staff “access from anywhere.”

New technologies enable leading organizations to achieve their strategic objectives


Challenges How they got there

Objective

IT initiatives

Technology

• Technology Readiness. The integration of information systems and medical devices has been slow coming as the vendors in the health sector are heavily regulated and progress at a slower pace.

• Privacy Regulation. Ontario privacy regulations allow for new orders that can quickly change compliance.

• Limited resources. Prioritizing which initiatives will have the greatest impact is an ever-present and difficult task.

• Wireless infrastructure.

• Mobile communication and computing devices.

• In-house remote access capabilities.

• Balance support with innovation. Alignment with corporate objectives did not eliminate the effort to seek out new technologies that could further enhance strategic objectives.

• Be creative when engaging the business. Sick Kids uses group sessions, workshops, one-on-one interviews, and online forums to exchange ideas. The hospital also has a very formal communication process baked into projects for requirements gathering and acceptability testing.

There are things not explicitly in the organization’s strategic plan that follow the same strategic direction. When you look into some of this new technology, you can see the potential there in terms of advancing the organization.

“

“

Daniela Crivianu-Gaita

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VDIDesktop Virtualization

CCCloud Computing

ECMEnterpriseContent Management

TCThin Client

CSCloud Storage

BPMBusinessProcess Management

AVApplication Virtualization

CPCloud PlatformsPaaS

MAMobile Applications

SMSocial Media

MDMobile Devices

SCSocial Collaboration Platforms

MPMobile Platforms

SPSocial Media Plug-ins

Periodic Table of Technologies for 2011

Technologies for 2011 include a broad range of applications and new means of delivering them to end

usersTechnologies for 2011 include proven innovations

that may just now be ripe for mass adoption.

2 3 4 5


BILow cost analyticstools

6

1 SVServer Virtualization

7

Percentage of respondents who selected business objective (x) as primary reason for adoption of technology (y)

Improved Productivi

ty

Improved Service

Cost Reduction

Improved Product

or Design

Improved Employee Engageme

nt

Improved Customer Retention

8

Simple Analytics

Tools

Enterprise Content

Management

Virtual Desktop

Infrastructure

Cloud Solutions

Mobile Applications

Improved productivity overwhelmingly drives the adoption of technology for 2011

0-19% 20-39% 40-69% 70%-100%

Improved employee

engagement and

customer retention did

not figure heavily into

expected benefits of

technologies for 2011.

IT leaders that overlook the potential for technologies to impact clients risk getting bypassed by external IT solutions.


*Note: The interest in technologies was calculated by taking the average “interest $” spent on each technology.

*Note: The adoption was calculated by calculating the % of organizations that are in the process of adopting or have already adopted these technologies.

HighLow Adoption

Interest

Source: Info-Tech Research GroupN = 254

Implementation of business

analytics using simple tools had

the highest amount of interest on

average, while also having been highly adopted by

organizations.

Though much hyped as the

future of IT, BYOC is not going to see

widespread adoption in 2011.

The combination of high interest in Virtual Desktops and low interest in Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) reflects IT’s continued focus to simplify support challenges and suggests a low interest in reducing device lockdown.

The high interest in leveraging simple analytic tools indicates increasing pressure from management to use available organizational data held by IT for better decision-making. This also highlights the recognition that sophisticated business intelligence tools are not essential.

In 2011, focus deployment on the practical rather thanhyped technologies

High

9Info-Tech Research Group


Why now? Technologies for 2011 were highly impacted by changes in vendor offerings, user and corporate appetite

The playbook, which is yet to be released by RIM (Mobile), and Citrix Xen Client (VDI), which was released near the end of 2010, but was too late to catch enterprises that were ready to make the leap to Windows Seven, were both innovations that were of interest to enterprises. These laggards forced enterprises to wait for technology they may have been ready to adopt in 2010.

Social media tools have reached a user critical mass both internally, as collaboration tools, and externally, as marketing tools. Facebook’s landmark 25% of all page views in the US means marketing departments are looking for IT involvement with Facebook integration.

Info-Tech believes that many organizations will hit the tipping point in 2011 where the need for a thorough information spring cleaning and reorganization will become essential. ECM solutions fill this need. Corporations recognize the business value of ECM and that will drive adoption. Additionally, Simple Business Analysis Tools are primed for adoption from a market perspective thanks to Microsoft and are recognized as adding value to the business.

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Adopt some 2011 technologies immediately while waiting for natural replacement to drive adoption of others

Initial planning for desktop virtualization, data management, and the selective use of the cloud should be well underway in 2011, but full deployment will take several years.


ECMEnterprise Content Management

BISimple Analytics Tools

A number of evolving technologies can be deployed quickly. The use of simple analytic tools, further leveraging of social media, and the extended use of mobile devices for applications beyond e-mail should be in every IT department’s 2011 plans.

CCCloud Computing

SMSocial Media

Short term

Long term

Deployment within 2011

Deployment 2012 and beyond

MAMobileApplications


Recognize “magic moments” for change & plan longer term infrastructure changes around the lifespan of

hardwareF

rom an economic perspective, the multi-year “refresh” cycle limits opportunities for major infrastructure changes like:

• Replacement of PCs with virtual desktops.

• Adoption of improved data management practices.

• Adoption of cloud services in place of internal delivery.

Use key “magic moments” to consider alternatives to current practice:

• End-of-life for equipment.• Data center moves.• Major replacement cycle.

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Average Lifespan

Laptop

Desktop

Computer

LAN

Server

PBX

Domestic

Canine

Data Center

IT Employee

(With existing infrastructure) I can provide my users the same level of services (as cloud vendors), but for better financial agreements. When I pushed some of these vendors to provide me with numbers, it was always a very generic type of presentation; nothing concrete that I could really look and compare and make sure I could make an informed decision.

“

“

Technology investments that

represent the replacement of

hardware will likely have to wait for a

natural end toexisting solutions

Daniela Crivianu-Gaita, Sick Kids

A Brief History of Simple Analytic Tools

132010200519931987

SQL first recognized as a standard by ISO, ANSO, and FIPS

Pivot tables first make an appearance with Lotus Improv, Microsoft Excel 5

Google acquires Urchin; immediately releases as Google Analytics. Becomes the most widely used free Web traffic analysis tool

Microsoft BI 2010 released allowing small and mid-sized enterprises to leverage existing tools like MS Office, SQL, and SharePoint for business analysis

• Every organization wants to leverage its data to make timely and effective decisions. IT is challenged to deliver this information but needs the tools to do so quickly and cost effectively.

• Simple analytics may be adequate and are cheaper and easier to deploy than full-featured business intelligence solutions.

• Inexpensive and simple analytic tools are available, including those that are part of the latest versions of Microsoft Excel, SQL Server, and SharePoint.

• These provide an excellent starting point for organizations that have a need for data analysis but have limited current capability.

BISimple Analytics Tool

Short Term


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Use inexpensive data analytics to improve organizational decision-making

• Start leveraging the Microsoft toolkit with help from the Info-Tech solution set, Decide Whether Microsoft BI Fits the Bill.

• Organizations considering a major focus on business analytics should review Deliver the BI Tools and Information Needed by Management.

• IT Departments with significant investment in BI can improve its value using the recommendations in Optimize the BI Program for a Better ROI.

BISimple Analytics Tool

Decision-making based on actual data will result in better and faster decisions.

80% of IT professionals agree BI has direct business impact goals, and 77% agree that the technologies required to facilitate simple BI tools are currently available. (N=90)

Benefits

Challenges & Recommendations• Support. End-user adoption can be slow; augment training of support staff with competence in the use of the tools; leverage power users to help the inexperienced.

• Standardize. Avoid multiple solutions as they are costly to manage.

• Data Management. Recognize and address potential inconsistencies in data from different sources.

Short Term

The BI market is both ripe and relevant

Info-Tech Stat Sheet

The use of existing applications such as Excel, SQL Server, and SharePoint can be close to free, while high-end Business

Intelligence projects typically start at $50,000 and take oversix months.

Additional Info-Tech Research

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/decide-whether-microsoft-bi-fits-the-bill

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/deliver-the-bi-tools-and-information-needed-by-management

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/deliver-the-bi-tools-and-information-needed-by-management

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/optimize-an-existing-bi-deployment-and-increase-adoption

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Adopt a social media strategy if you have a large business or consumer client base

2004

2006

SMSocial Media Social media has long been considered a valuable tool for marketing,

but innovations in both public and private use of social media now necessitate greater IT involvement. Innovations include:

Facebook launched in campuses throughout N.America. By 2010, it represents 25% of the average American’s Web-browsing time.

• Twitter launches and single-handedly revolutionizes communication.

• Google acquires YouTube.

Short Term

• “Charlie bit my finger” proves the power of viral videos.

• (2008) VCs pump up LinkedIn’s valuation to over $1 Billion.

“Charlie bit my finger!”

2007

• Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is Time Magazine’s Person of The Year.

• Crowd sourced capital takes off – allowing small business to get fast and cheap access to social driven financing.

2010

A Brief History of Social Media

• Incorporation of social media API (application programming interface) brings social media into the Web developers workshop.

• Enterprise applications such as social collaboration platforms mirror the consumer experience in the workplace.

• Analytic tools mine the twitter-sphere for competitive client data analysis.


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Recognize the key benefits & costs of social media

• Externally, for sales and marketing: builds brand image, increases mind share, and gains marketing customer insights. Increases revenue, improves customer acquisition, and gains sales insights. For service, improves customer satisfaction, increases customer retention, and reduces cost-of-service.

SMSocial Media

• Organizations seeking insight into the use of social media for improving customer relationships should review Leverage Social Media for Enhanced Customer Interaction.

• Those with a need for enhanced staff collaboration should follow the recommendations in Build an Enterprise Social Collaboration Strategy.

Benefits

Challenges & Recommendations• Most organizations are struggling to define a business strategy for social media and are unprepared to link it to their CRM strategy.

• IT is unsure of its role and where it can bring value to the table.

• IT must secure privacy and integrity by managing organizational use of social media with a policy.

Ranked atop the hurdles to adoption of social media tools is a concern over the life expectancy of social media technology (74% ) and a lack of differentiation from existing technology (83%).

Short Term

The “lifespan” of social media concerns IT pros



• Internally, social tools increase the effectiveness of employee-to-employee collaboration, driving superior team productivity and knowledge sharing.

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/leveraging-social-media-for-customer-interaction

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/leveraging-social-media-for-customer-interaction

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/build-a-formal-collaboration-strategy-today

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2010

2009

2003

2002

RIM introduces the first e-mail capable Blackberry.

• Apple releases the first iPhone. Mobile Internet browsing takes flight.

• The Open Handset Alliance, including Dell, Samsung, HTC, and 73 other companies, launches initiatives to develop around Google’s Android OS.

First Android device hits the market.Salesforce.com introduces a mobile version of its CRM software.


Further extend enterprise apps to staff & customers by taking advantage of the broad adoption of mobile devices

2007

• Windows Phone 7 released – though the mobile platform remains a three-horse race.

• Apple releases the iPad – struggles to keep stores in stock.

• Android-based tablets manufactured in China, Korea, and India flood the market.

• Adoption of mobile devices is exploding, and a vast array of differing and rapidly changing technologies are competing for market share.

• Apple proved there is an appetite for devices that are more portable than laptops but more functional than smartphones. Sales of the iPad exceeded three million devices in 80 days.

• In an attempt to bridge the technology gap, the government of India was able to put into production a $35 tablet for use in schools and universities – while Android-based tablets are already on the market for less than $200.

2010

Short Term

A Brief History of Mobile Apps

The development of a mobile application costs from $5,000 to $15,000 for a single-function application, and upwards of $20,000 for an application developed by a third party that integrates with the back office.

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Effective management of mobile is essential to ensurecost-effective service to staff

• Every organization must deal with its own growing fleet of mobile devices. See Info-Tech’s recommendations in Understand and Develop a Mobile Management Strategy and Manage the Invasion of Consumer Technology.

• Organizations that plan to enhance the functionality of their sales or service applications for a mobile audience must make intelligent choices among a number of alternative platforms, devices, and channels. See Develop a Mobile Application.

Challenges & Recommendations

66% of IT professionals agree that their culture is supportive of mobile applications, but the same percentage believes they lack in-house expertise to develop and deploy mobile apps.

Short Term

Culturally, we are ready for enterprise mobile apps




• Determine which of the competing mobile technologies you will support.• While development costs may be small, consider the effort and costs of promotion, distribution, and ongoing measurement and analytics.

• Few organizations have experience with mobile development and most rely on third parties to help launch their first applications.

• Customer apps require custom work – but pursue off-the-shelf tools first if a mobile workforce solution is needed.Costs

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/understand-and-develop-a-mobile-management-strategy-

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-manage-the-invasion-of-consumer-technology

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/develop-a-mobile-application

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Go beyond application hosting & infrastructure outsourcing to exploit opportunities in cloud technology

CCCloud Computing • Cloud-based services have significantly lower capital cost barriers to

deployment than deployment scenarios involving in-house infrastructure.

2007

1995

1999

Amazon.com is founded by Jeff Bezos; it would not become profitable until 2001. In 2002, it begins rolling out cloud services.

• Microsoft & Google both introduce cloud services geared at the compliance & security needs of governments.

• Salesforce officially releases databases as a service.

The poster child for software as a service, Salesforce.com launches with its “Say no to Software” mantra.

Salesforce.com users hit with successful phishing scam; clients were contacted with what appeared to be Salesforce invoices and asked to reveal passwords. These attacks were used to justify increased security needs for cloud service providers. 2010

To the cloud, Governor!

Just say no to Software!

1995

Long Term

• Software as a Service provides access to additional basic business functionality faster and with much lower initial investment than in-house solutions.

• Infrastructure as a Service makes available selective infrastructure services, such as data backup, reducing the overhead of internal operational management, while enabling the organization to continue most work internally

• Platform as a Service enables an organization to operate its own applications but on a cheaper or higher performance infrastructure than that currently in place.

A Brief History ofThe Cloud


Instantly access new application capabilities, address capacity issues, and reduce headcount with cloud

services

While adopters are confident that current technology supports what they’d like to be doing with cloud technology (77% agree), 60% agree that they lack internal expertise required for moving IT infrastructure to the cloud.

• Determine the viability of platform as a service in Develop a Position on Cloud Platform as a Service.

• Organizations evaluating vendors for cloud as an infrastructure, refer to Select the Right Cloud Infrastructure Service Partner.

Long Term

Cloud technology is all grown up


CCCloud Computing


Benefits


• Both infrastructure and application services can be purchased with little upfront investment and with limited internal expertise.

• Some solutions are available at a lower cost than if they are carried out in-house.

• Solutions can be implemented faster.• Internally available IT capacity can be extended on demand.

• The functionality of cloud solutions may be inadequate to fully address organizational requirements.

• While up-front costs may be lower, annual costs may make the lifetime cost of a cloud solution higher.

• Effective vendor management becomes an essential competency.

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http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/develop-a-position-on-cloud-platform-as-a-service

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/select-the-right-cloud-infrastructure-server-partner

• While the initial cost of the traditional personal computer has dropped, the total cost of ownership is still high because of support costs.

• Survey shows IT pros aren’t pursuing a BYOC program.–VDI is a compelling alternative to traditional PCs.

Leverage desktop virtualization to empower employees, reduce costs, and secure the enterprise

VMware releases its first hosted desktop on a server.

Citrix releases its first virtualization platform: Metaframe for Unix.

H1N1 outbreaks prompts organizations to re-examine the value of “remote desktop from anywhere” as a business continuity measure. Citrix Thin Desktop is released.

Virtualization vendors scramble to meet deadlines for Windows 7 release – but most miss the boat with Citrix XenClient releasing at the end of 2010. Organizations ready to refresh their desktops skip out on the virtual desktop option – leading analysts to predict a longer uptake for desktop virtualization.

For example, fast provisioning of new desktops and centralized application management. Licensing schemes and technology will make VDI market ready for the next wave of desktop refreshers.

VDIDesktop Virtualization Early adopters say Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) payback is mainly

operational.

Long Term

20102000 20092007

A Brief History of the Virtual Desktop


• Organizations considering desktop virtualization should review the Info-Tech solution set, Develop a Desktop Virtualization Strategy.

• Those making a product selection should review the vendor evaluations in Select the Right Vendor for Desktop Virtualization.

Organizations in a desktop refresh scenario can use VDI to lower support costs by 40%

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• Make sure that unforeseen costs do not scuttle the project before longer term benefits are realized.

• Include Microsoft (and other) licensing costs up-front; they can be a significant cost gotcha. Microsoft licensing for Centralized Desktop (required to run MS OS in a virtualized environment) is a major cost driver.

Typically $110 per device (or $170 with Software Assurance)

Ranked in order of popularity, the biggest reasons for adopting VDI were:•Improved service•Reduced costs•Improved productivity

Long TermBenefits. Thin Client devices reduce support costs and enable good device security, Virtual Desktops provide more flexibility in that they permit a mix of traditional client applications and application functionality delivered from a central host.


IT s VDI




http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/benefits-and-costs-of-desktop-virtualization

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/select-the-right-vendor-for-desktop-virtualization

Long Term

Ensure that server virtualization projects have been completed before approaching virtual desktop

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• Organizations who have adopted server virtualization have experienced significant improvements in the ease of managing a virtualized server environment compared to a non-virtualized one.

• Those that have consolidated servers in addition to implementing virtualization have achieved proven cost savings.

• Organizations that have not started server virtualization or are not progressing quickly should review Get Moving with Server Virtualization.

• Those who are in progress can improve their implementation experience by following the recommendations in Avoid Server Virtualization Implementation Pain.

SVServer Virtualization

Organizations should already be significantly advanced in the implementation of virtualized servers as VDI is a server-based service. Server virtualization has received universally rave reviews, especially in simplifying server management and reducing hardware costs.




http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/get-moving-with-server-virtualization

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/avoid-server-virtualization-implementation-pain

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Address exploding unstructured data & tightening compliance requirements with Enterprise Content

Management

• Diversification of types of data, beyond traditional databases, into documents, e-mails, video, and sound, requires more sophisticated tools for organizing, storing, and retrieving this data.

• Reduce the cost of supporting the inevitably increasing amount of data storage. Adopt a two-tier approach to selecting storage technology with archived and less critical data housed in lower cost storage than primary data.

• Deploy ECM solutions for improved internal technology efficiencies, better response and adherence to compliance and litigation, as well as increased employee productivity. These all contribute to the bottom line and drive ECM adoption.

Microsoft SharePoint 2003 available as a free add-on to Windows 2003.

Microsoft rolls out SharePoint 2010 in combination with Office 2010 creating the opportunity for enterprises to leverage office tools for content management and simple analytics.

2003 20102007

Long Term

Significant changes to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure come into effect. SOX, PCI DSS, and HIPAA become major drivers for ECM. 2009

ECMEnterprise ContentManagement


IBM, Oracle, HP all involved in industry-wide consolidation of BPM (Business Process Management) and WCM (Web Content Management). Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 is released. Oracle releases Content Manager.

Adopt ECM if knowledge workers are spending more than 15% of time searching for or integrating information

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• Over 2 TB of storage is dedicated to unstructured data.• There are more than 300 documents deemed crucial for ongoing business operation.

• There is an organizational mandate to comply with regulatory frameworks or establish proactive defence for litigation.

• Organizations seeking to improve their data management approach should follow the recommendations in Move From Chaos to a Realistic Data Management Strategy.

• Organizations considering a formal ECM system should review the advice in Develop an Enterprise Content Management Strategy.

• Where the management of Web content is a challenge, review Select a Web Content Management Solution.

While 80% of IT professionals believe that ECM technology is strongly aligned with business needs, 65% believe that they lack internal expertise for adoption, and that the technology does not have a well conceived roadmap.

Long Term

ChallengesSmall businesses cannot afford ECM suites but they still need to handle the problems of ECM.

Appropriateness

ECM Cost Estimate?• SharePoint costs are more predictable than those of ECM suites.

– On average, WSS costs $36 per user while MOSS costs $704.– Rough Cut ECM Cost = Licensing + Hardware + Consulting

• Months 3 & 4 of an ECM project get to the vendor shortlist.

ECM value is clear




http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/move-from-chaos-to-a-realistic-data-management-strategy

Organizations that still have significant repetitive manual processes in place should renew their efforts at increased automation, higher labor productivity, and lower cost. •Follow the recommendations in Develop a Business Process Management (BPM) Strategy.•Paper-based forms can be eliminated and replaced with electronic forms that are easier to move and share. Consider the choices described in the agenda set, Select a Forms Automation Solution.

Long Term

Automation of remaining manual processes with BPM should be included in ECM plans

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BPMBusiness Process Management


• While most organizations have automated most of their formerly manual processes, pockets of opportunity remain.

• The use of data-driven rather than paper-driven processes will reduce costs, shorten cycle times, and reduce deviations from company policies.

• Reduction of paper is both cheaper and greener.Many ECM suites include business process automation amongst their features. Investment in the technologies represents an opportunity to reduce remaining repetitive manual and paper-based processes. The investment represents an opportunity for improved business efficiency.

BPM addresses• Wide variation in process cycle times

• Unnecessary labor costs

• Delays in access to documents or current data


“Today IT with its aged processes and lack of agility occasionally blocks itself out of the game.”

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If IT doesn’t take the initiative in regards to social media & BYOC, end users will

End users are adopting technology ahead of IT•Staff are adopting new technologies without any support from their IT departments.•The broad use of social media and the personal purchase of computers that can be used in the workplace are two key examples.

IT is reluctant•IT Departments are paying little attention to social media (only 38% have deployed or are planning deployment), and 52% are not interested in eliminating company provided end-user devices.

The Business is picking up the slack•Marketing departments are outsourcing the delivery of social media initiatives with little involvement from IT. Future integration will become a challenge.•In some organizations where IT is resisting a strong appetite for connecting end-user provided devices, it may lose control of end-user device standards all together.

“... times are changing. Old dogs, (like me), had to get principles ‘excited’ about tech first, and it took some time. Today, they’re uploading their own audio/video and updating their CMS sites ALL BY THEMSELVES!”

“Business is becoming more savvy with staff that are IT literate. The issue now is the validation of whether the technology, or

complexity of how to merge solutions in an enterprise approach is the driving issue.”


IT leaders that don’t adapt to the changing technology landscape will literally be left behind

Shifts in technology are forcing IT to change its approach to responding to the business:

•The pervasiveness of cloud vendors offering hosted solutions as alternatives to IT derived solutions.

•New generation of end users and clients with greater technology expectations than their predecessors, particularly in mobility and social media.

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Background: Info-Tech recently spoke with the CEO of a subscription-based software vendor working in social media to get a vendor opinion on the uptake of new technology.

What we’re seeing now, is a move where the IT departments want to take back that control. They’re still open to cloud computing solutions, but they want to be the decision makers. - CEO Development Organization

“

“The biggest change, definitely, would be that ownership [of] social media sites has moved over to the marketing and communications department, and it’s being realized as an extension of their marketing efforts and communications program. They have direct access to those sites, they can manipulate them and update them and provide content in their timeline.”

Conclusion: When IT says “no,” it creates the possibility that it will be bypassed entirely with LOB managers going directly to vendors or leveraging consumer technology.

“


• Don’t get locked into aging technology.

• Recognize “magic moments” for retirement.

• Reassess technologies that are near obsolescence for retirements.

• Don’t get locked into aging technology.

• Recognize “magic moments” for retirement.

• Reassess technologies that are near obsolescence for retirements.

Next Section in BriefNext Section in BriefThe Technology Landscape 2011



2

Reassess entrenched technologies that may beready for retirement

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Organizations often get locked into older technologies beyond their useful life, even when better or cheaper alternatives become available. Those that want change must overcome obstacles both within IT and especially from the CFO.

Cost of writing off un-depreciated costs, aggravated by continuing purchases of the obsolete technology.

Minimize write-offs.• Plan and get approval for change

before the financial end-of-life of assets; avoid carrying assets that no longer have a cost.

• Plan replacement in phases; reduce cost.

• Stop new purchases of old technology; it delays the timing of full replacement.

Uncertainty around selecting, implementing, and managing the replacement technology.

Reduce risk and staff uncertainty.•Enlist external expertise to ensure successful planning and deployment.•Train IT staff to make them capable of operating and supporting new technologies and reduce push-back.

Address these challenges By doing this:


Example. Inadequate server reliability

Example. Expired building lease

Example. Need to add storage capacity

Example. ERP vendor went bankrupt

Anticipate the “magic moments” for reconsideringtechnology choices

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Technology becomes functionally inadequate

A major facility move

Need to replace or add 25% to current capacity

Vendor is terminating support for the

technology

Look to a broader set of opportunities than just a newer version of the current solution (e.g. leverage the cloud in place

of in-house solutions; virtual desktop instead of PC replacement).

Assess different options such as outsourcing or co-location.

Assess possible alternatives before buying more of the current technology.

Either live with the support challenges or propose a replacement technology.

Proposals to replace existing technology have traction only at certain times.


Anticipate the inadequacy of private network viability in a world of cloud vendors and mobile users

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Data Cent

er

Office 1

Office 2

Office 3

Data Cente

r

Office 1

Office 2

Office 3

Public Networ

k

Cloud Supplier

B

Cloud Supplier

A

Customer

Mobile Staff

Private Network

Organizations using a variety of cloud suppliers with many mobile staff can no longer consider private networks as the key element of their wide

area networks.The Old World The New World


Consider alternative solution before replacing aging desktops

33

PC

Office 1

Office 2

Office 3

Local Area

Network

Employee Provided Device

Kiosk

Virtual Desktop

Thin-client

Desktop

Desktop

Desktop

Local Area

Network

Laptop

Rather than continue periodic upgrade of desktop computers, consider desktop virtualization, thin-clients, or employee-provided equipment as

alternatives.The Old World The New World


Reconsider the desk phone if staff are on the move

•IP-PBX technology (or Voice over IP) became the preferred replacement for traditional (TDM) PBXs in the early 2000’s and made IT accountable for voice communications.

•As PBX equipment has a long life expectancy, there are many organizations with older PBXs in place.

•The IP PBX with expensive physical phones may not be the right transition from the traditional PBX for organizations with many mobile staff.

•Desk phones restrict mobility; consider softphones if selecting a new system.

•Rather than replacing existing equipment to achieve the benefits of unified communications, consider simple add-ons to your existing environment, such as Microsoft Lync.

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• Assess whether the current plan leverages new technologies or misses the boat.

• Upgrade the IT Plan if necessary.

• Deal with barriers to progress:

– Lack of understanding

– Lack of funding– Inadequate

technology– Excessive risk

• Summary

• Assess whether the current plan leverages new technologies or misses the boat.

• Upgrade the IT Plan if necessary.

• Deal with barriers to progress:

– Lack of understanding

– Lack of funding– Inadequate

technology– Excessive risk

• Summary

Next Section in BriefNext Section in Brief



3

The Technology Landscape 2011


Focus on new technologies where there is real opportunity for the organization and adequate capability

to support themBase the 2011 Technology Plan on supporting technology directions that will provide real value to the organization.

Business Value

Organizational capability to support new direction

Low Average High

HighEmphasize now

Address low competency with external help

Improve internal competency

You’re good to go

AverageConsider

Defer Verify value after adjusting for costs of becoming competent

Verify value; you’re ready

LowDefer consideration

Don’t spend any effort on this

Don’t spend any effort on this

Avoid using readiness as a reason for deployment

Determine whether your 2011 Plan leverages the right technologies for your organization

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Use Info-Tech’s New Technology Adoption Assessment Tool to determine whether your plans to adopt the leading new technologies:

•Are ahead or behind overall adoption by other IT departments.•Address the needs of your organization.•Are consistent with your IT competency and maturity.

Your technology plans may miss new technologies that are relevant to your organization or waste resources in technologies of limited value.


Address potential organizational resistance to change

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Refer to the Info-Tech solution set, Prepare the Organization for IT Changes for advice on overcoming the resistance to organizational changes, achieving senior management buy-in, and getting the users to adopt the new systems.


Delta pronounced del-tuh. Greek letter representing variable incremental change in mathematics.

•While some staff embrace technology change, others resist because of scepticism about its value or due to fear of the unfamiliar.

•Before proceeding with any technology change, develop a business case that convinces senior management to invest in and adopt the change.

•Carry out sufficient communication and training to ensure that most users will have confidence in their ability to use new technologies. Not all staff are equally comfortable with technology change.

•Remember that IT resistance may not hold back eager end-users and user departments from going it alone.


What we’ve tried to do is pinpoint areas in which we get the biggest bang for the buck in terms of trying to convert from a paper-oriented association to a smarter association.

In 2009, the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontari0 (PEO ) came out and said “You know what, as engineers, we’re going to be buying a building and we’re going to become known for turning old buildings into greener, more productive buildings.”Reduce paper footprint and become more green.

Reduce energy consumption, paper, and toner costs.

Grab the opportunities that come to you when the business lacks the stomach for adopting new technologies


Challenges How they got there

Objective

IT & Facility Initiatives

Technology

• Removed desktop printers.

• Deployed Epson BrightLink virtual white boarding collaboration tool.

• Redesigned heating and cooling in recently purchased building – open up offices to allow more light and reduce lighting requirements.

• Deployed VoIP and FoIP.

“

“

• Business process not caught up with technology. In their pursuit of a paperless enterprise, PEO IT leadership hit a wall when bureaucratic paper driven processes got in the way of automation. The business didn’t have the stomach to convert core application process entirely.

• Long term budgeting. Leadership rotates throughout the association which makes long-term budgeting for projects a challenge.

• Lean on business partners. Opened the table for discussion with vendors by sharing the three-year plan and seeking the vendor’s input on where their products and innovations fit into the organization’s strategic plan.

• Make the business case. Focus on getting the most payback in terms of converting paper-oriented business processes.

• Leverage Vendor Cold Calls. Vendors knocking on the door aren’t always timed well for budget approvals, but PEO leveraged this as an opportunity to get ballpark figures on costs.

Paula Habas, Manager IS, Professional Association Engineers Ontario


Summary

• IT departments must adopt appropriate new technologies to maintain or improve their organization’s competitive position. Maintaining the status quo means falling behind.

• As its capacity is already strained, IT must, as part of its ongoing planning, assess which of these technologies to pursue and whether internal capability exists or must be enhanced. If current plans fail to address real opportunities, they must be changed.

– Simple analytics. Take advantage of what’s readily available and carefully reconsider any expensive investments into more formal BI.

– Keep IT in the loop with regards to social media. The intelligent use of social media for consumer marketing will become essential for maintaining customer loyalty and assessing customer views.

– Always consider the mobile option when looking at COTS applications. Mobile applications for smartphones and tablets are becoming essential as brand differentiators to build customer loyalty and will improve the productivity of mobile employees.

– Virtual desktops will simplify the management of IT equipment and reduce the frequency of desktop replacement. Consider these for your next PC refresh.

– The expansion of cloud services will increasingly allow organizations to expand their portfolio of applications and their infrastructure capacity and capability faster and cheaper than for in-house solutions.

– Enterprise Content Management will blow up in 2011! More organizations will see the need and more vendors with more options will offer opportunities for smaller organizations to take advantage of ECM, providing a means to gain control of the growing amount of diverse information they collect.

Appendix 2011 Next Section in BriefNext Section in Brief

• Analysts off the leash.

• Grading Info-Tech’s past tech predictions.

• A word on word clouds and other free data visualization tools.

“After being freed from Yahoo, VMware will find great success with Zimbra as both an Exchange and SharePoint alternative. Due to nothing more than sheer probability, the Chicago Cubs will win the World Series in 2011 for the first time in over 100 years. “

Info-Tech’s technology sleeper picks for 2011

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Zimbra “Bandwidth usage just keeps scaling and ISPs need some way to effectively manage that growth.”

“D2L recently settled a suit with another education software firm and are growing quickly.”

Desire2LearnSandvine

Rob Dreyer, Research VP

Eric Wright, Director Consulting Services

Code Green

“Massive hype 2 years ago for DLP in general, flat-lined last year, due for a nice rebound as vendors and clients figure out the play and the value. Despite the attention given to zombie attacks - Info-Tech predicts that no significant zombie outbreaks will occur in 2011.”

“Data center water cooling is making a come back. What’s old is new again.”

James Quin Lead Analyst

Timothy HickernellLead Analyst

Gamatronic

“MPLS network without the price. Bonds multiple Internet connections together giving reliable private networks.”

Talari Networks

Derek Silva, Research Analyst

Darin Stahl, Lead Analyst

“Open source content management community with immense community support and resources.”

Drupal.org

Refael Keren,Research Analyst

We let our analysts off the leash to make bold tech predictions for 2011

Info-Tech’s forecasts of the future have been a reliable guide to action… most of the time

A retrospective look at Info-Tech’s past predictions

Predictions Did it take off?

Why?

Hybrid Use of Off-Premise Application Services

Big time! Vendors have realized there’s money to be made in subscription pricing and more and more applications are only available in a subscription model (e.g. salesforce.com).

Social Computing (e.g. Facebook) for Business Collaboration

About to blow up

The biggest contributor to the take off of social computing in the workplace will be demand from the younger generation who use social collaboration tools to get their jobs done – as 20 and 30 year olds move up to management positions, they are more likely to influence technology decisions.

In-Memory AnalyticsYes Microsoft BI was a great example of how

organizations can use existing Office products to avoid investing in traditional BI.

Rich Internet ApplicationsBig time Applications are being delivered over the Web, and

the browser is no longer the medium.

Integration of the Cloud

Looking good

The idea of the internal cloud as a means for integration with external services has definitely been adopted by vendors and IT organizations threatened by external cloud.

The Netbook

Sayonara Priced in the same range as tablets and laptops (whose prices have come down even more in the past few years). Netbooks fail to deliver either the portability of a tablet or the power of low cost laptops.


Free tools for data visualization are readily available for public consumption over the web

Info-Tech asked which technology or cultural trends will have the greatest impact on IT over the next three years:

Tools like Wordle, used above, allow users to create word clouds based on their existing data source, it’s free and may be republished with no strings

attached.

Adopt new technology for 2011 and beyond

Technology

Transcript of Adopt new technology for 2011 and beyond