According to the main keynote at Gartner Symposium in Barcelona last week, we are at a nexus and the four things that CIO’s need to take seriously if they want to advance their organisations (and their careers) are:
- Information (Big Data)
- Mobile
- Social
- Cloud
So what does Gartner’s Nexus mean? Take it from Gartner Managing VP, Chris Howard who said:
“Well it signals a shift of control into the hands of users more than we have ever seen before. This is an extension of consumerisation. Organisations need to absorb the ways that their employees and consumers want to work and build systems to support them. The nexus levels the playing field – it makes it much easier for small start-ups or for very agile companies to leap frog into the opportunity space. Many companies are so held back by their legacy that they cannot move quickly enough. Organisations that do not pay attention to the nexus miss an opportunity. They miss an opportunity to expand into new markets, to reach new customers and to ‘engage’. Engage with customers and employees in a way that advances their business.”
So let’s overlay a few facts:
- In 2012 global mobile device shipments will exceed 2 billion devices. Of those half will be sophisticated devices (Smartphones, Mobile PC’s, Ultra-mobile notebooks, Premium media tablets and Basic Media tablets).
- By 2016 shipments are predicted to exceed 3 billions devices of which 2 billion will be sophisticated devices.
- Also by 2016 the installed base of connected devices is expected to sit at almost 6 billion.
- Networks will advance with LTE-A, promising 1GB per second in the wide area and 802.11ad delivering almost 10GB per second in buildings.
Mobile apps will become more sophisticated with improved user experiences. Quality will improve and will seamlessly access services in the cloud for payments, marketing, navigation, location, social, media, gaming and the like. Applications and devices will integrate with external devices like TV’s and other appliances so that multi-channel interaction can occur. The internet of things will explode with almost 6 billion SIM’s in machines by 2016. Bluetooth low energy, Zigbee and Wi-fi advances will all help to accelerate the internet of things.
The thumb generation is here and now. Consumers are demanding access to information via their mobile devices. CIO’s must embrace these trends today ahead of their competitors.
Mobile will drive new revenues, access to new markets, reduced customer churn, improved customer service, higher customer satisfaction, increase loyalty, improved engagement and lower costs of communicating with employees and customers.
The key thing I took away from the Gartner show last week is that the time to act is now!
