Social media and tablets to increase business impact this year

Analyst house Gartner has published its top predictions for IT departments that will affect control, budgets and costs.

The predictions will mean that "industry business models will be challenged through 2015 as customers continue to adopt an always-connected digital lifestyle", said Gartner analyst Kimberly Harris-Ferrante.

"Cloud computing and social media will continue to provide industries with new avenues for effective customer communication and engagement, facilitating increased revenue and sustainable interaction," Harris-Ferrante said.

She said technologies such as media tablets and advances in mobile will have a "disruptive impact on many industries, requiring changes to existing processes and propelling business transformation."

The top industry predictions include:

– By 2013, iPad penetration among pharma sales reps will reach 85%

– By year-end 2014, at least one social network provider will become an insurance sales channel

– Through 2015, 80% of multichannel implementations will fail because retailers will retain channel and product-centric strategies

– Until 2015, ineffective IT will risk serious failures in more than 50% of organisations

– By 2015, 30% of smart grid projects will leverage cloud services to address big data from converging technologies

– By 2015, new external social web and cloud-based services will generate 25% of consumer-driven banking products and services

"The market, economic, demographic and technological environments that industries will face in 2012 will require them to be nimble in their operations and enterprise practices. Being agile and adopting new business practices will be imperative for survival in 2012," said Harris-Ferrante.

IDG News Service

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