We said goodbye to the year 2013 and welcomed the year 2014. Businesses had time to reflect on the last year and now it is high time for business leaders to look at the projected trends of 2014 to ensure their organization is prepared for what is next.
The top ten technologies and trends that will be strategic for most organizations in 2014 have been recently highlighted by analysts at Gartner, Inc. It has been also emphasized that the most important trend for all enterprises is to determine their strategic technology and to follow it over the next three years.
Let’s have a deeper look at which technological trends are expected to make up IT market in 2014:
Mobile Device Diversity and Management
The consequences of the bring your own device (BYOD) trend is doubling or even tripling the size of the mobile workforce and it’s placing a tremendous strain on IT and finance departments. Gartner said that through 2018, the growing variety of mobile devices, computing styles and user contexts will make everything-anywhere strategies “unachievable.” Organizations need to totally review their BYOD policies and place emphasis on expectation about what employees can and cannot do and balance confidentiality and privacy requirements.
Mobile Applications
For mobile application environments, Gartner predicts the future lies in HTML5 and the browser due to continued JavaScript performance improvements. With more and more users wanting to work across multiple devices, Gartner recommended app developers work to create building blocks that can be assembled to fit the needs of different devices. Overall, it predicted that for 2014 there will be more popularity in smaller, more targeted apps than more comprehensive, one-size-fits-all apps.
The Internet of Everything
The Internet is expanding beyond PCs and mobile devices into enterprise assets such as field equipment, and consumer items such as cars and televisions. The problem is that most enterprises and technology vendors have yet to explore the possibilities of an expanded internet and are not operationally or organizationally ready. Imagine digitizing the most important products, services and assets. The combination of data streams and services created by digitizing everything creates four basic usage models – Manage; Monetize; Operate; Extend. These four basic models can be applied to any of the four “internets” (people, things, information and places). Enterprises should not limit themselves to thinking that only the Internet of Things (i.e., assets and machines) has the potential to leverage these four models. Enterprises from all industries (heavy, mixed, and weightless) can leverage these four models.
Cloud/Client Architecture
As the power and capability of many mobile devices increases, the increased demand on networks, the cost of networks, and the need to manage bandwidth use “creates incentives, in some cases, to minimize the cloud application computing and storage footprint, and to exploit the intelligence and storage of the client device.” As mobile users continue to demand more complex uses of their mobile technologies, it will drive a need for higher levels of server-side computing and storage capacity.
The Era of the Personal Cloud
It is predicted that the push for more personal cloud technologies will lead to a shift toward services and away from devices. Previously, devices were of the highest priority. Now that will change. The type of device one has will be less important, although the devices will still be necessary. Users will use a collection of devices, with the PC remaining one of many options, but none of the devices will be the primary hub. It’s the personal cloud that will take on that role. Access to the cloud and the content stored or shared from the cloud will be managed and secured, rather than solely focusing on the device itself.
Software Defined Anything
Gartner sees an increased role for software in the datacenter. Software is now able to data center more hardware more efficiently and easily than ever imagined before. With Software-Defined Everything, the computing infrastructure is virtualized and delivered as a service. As it grows, more and more standards and regulations will pop up over 2014. Vendors are expected to be in particular reluctant to adopt standards that will affect the bottom line. However, on the bright side, it said the end consumer will benefit from simplicity, cost reduction opportunities and the possibility for consolidation.
Smart Machines
These are intelligent personal assistants, smart advisors, advanced global industrial systems, autonomous vehicles. This seems to be the next big thing as it has a huge potential for future development. Analytics from Gartner predicts that through 2020 the smart machines will become a part of everyday life as well as have widespread and deep business impact. So there is a lot of success to be found for those who jump on board the trend early.
3-D Printing
According to Gartner, 3D printing is not just for printing toys and jewelry. It is supposed to have a high impact on many industries, including consumer products, industrial and manufacturing. The sales of 3D printers are expected to grow by 75 percent in 2014 and almost double in 2015.
Looking at all these predictions can be a bit confusing and frightning for some enterprise organizations. However, it is essential to look at these trends with a long‐term mindset. Many of these trends will be a continual evolution for organizations over the next several years. It’s time to think strategically about the state of technology and evaluate how it can shape the future of your business.
What do you think of these predictions? Is there smth missed or wrong in your opinion? Please feel free to share your thoughts 🙂
Yuliya Tolkach
Business Development Manager
