15 Predictions for IT Organizations

Gartner's annual research on industry trends, titled "Top Industry Predicts 2012: Industries Face intensified Consumerization and Technology Disruption", features 15 strategic planning assumptions that CIOs, senior business executives and IT leaders should factor into their enterprise planning and strategy-setting initiatives.

While the predictions span a range of industries, they are not at all dissimilar from trends and challenges that will affect consumer goods companies looking to compete in 2012 and beyond.

"Many industry business models will be challenged through 2015 as customers continue to adopt an always-connected digital lifestyle and market competitors exploit emerging technologies to achieve business growth and success," says Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

For example, regardless of industry, cloud computing and social media will continue to provide new avenues for effective customer communication and engagement, facilitating increased revenue and sustainable interaction with key customer. And new 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.

With this year's industry predictions, Gartner analysts are highlighting the emerging trends that — once addressed — will better position industry leaders to align their business practices with the needs of customer and business partners.

The top industry predictions are listed here. See if you can't learn a thing or two from the realities that await the multiple industries mentioned, including consumer goods and retail:

•By 2016, most consumers in mature markets will consider in-vehicle Web access a key criterion in their automobile purchase.

•By 2014, major national defaults in Europe will lead to the collapse of more than one-third of European banks.

•By 2015, new, external social Web and cloud-based services will generate 25 percent of consumer-driven banking products and services.

•By 2013, iPad penetration among pharma sales reps will reach 85 percent, then shift to applications that improve delivery and interaction tracking.

•By 2016, the iPad will gain less than 50 percent of the K-12 market as CIOs favor devices that are deployed more readily.

•By 2015, 30 percent of smart grid projects will leverage cloud services to address big data from converging technologies.

•By 2015, 20 percent of integrated delivery systems will be investing in new healthcare-targeted customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

•By 2014, 30 percent of U.S. private healthcare payers will acquire providers, forcing integration of application suites as delivery and finance merge.

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

•By 2016, more than 5 percent of searches will be integrated using mobile devices' video/audio sensors instead of typed or spoken phrases.

•Through 2015, 80 percent of multichannel implementations will fail because retailers will retain channel- and product-centric strategies.

•By 2013, government financial sustainability will join cost containment as the top driver and constraint for government IT spending.

•By 2015, context-aware promotions will comprise 10 percent of convenience item promotional activity among consumer goods manufacturers in developed markets.

•Until 2015, ineffective IT/OT management will risk serious failures in more than 50 percent of enterprises, and critical failures in asset-dependent ones.

•By 2014, the five largest PLM software providers will make social networking an integral part of their solution.

The full report is available on the Gartner Predicts 2012 website, www.gartner.com/predicts. The report includes links to more than 70 Predicts reports broken out by topics, industries and markets