Doing Business in Real Time

The oncoming year, 2014, is bound to trigger off a change in the way IT is currently being used across a big number of companies and businesses, both locally and internationally.  IT is transitioning from technology to service delivery.  We are at a stage where businesses need to embrace 3rd Platform Leadership Challenges.  This means that the role of the CIOs is bound to evolve even more – their vision and strategy will be crucial for company growth and continued success.  CIOs must become innovation partners with the business to help companies realize the greatest value from mobile, social, Big Data, and cloud services.
According to International Data Corporation, a research firm specialising in the collection of market intelligence and the provision of advisory services for the IT and the consumer technology markets, 2014 will start challenging businesses to change what they do and how they do it currently to the so-called Third Platform of mobile, social, Big Data, and cloud services.  This Third Platform has is starting to take hold and no business can afford to be left out.  

The triggering of this so-called Third Platform is due to a number of factors. 

The first factor - Mobility is on the move.  The younger generation and mobile customers are demanding change.  They want to communicate with companies in a new and mobile way. 

The second factor – The IT sector is being driven by cloud-delivered services, including both software and data. 

In this big transition to the Third Platform, the role of the CIO cannot in any way be sidelined.   The CIO has a crucial role – the CIO’s role will be critical for the success of the business.  The same can be said for the IT budget and its expenditure.  The IT budget must focus on business innovation and value.

The following paragraph outlines the 10 market predictions that International Data Corporation is making with respect to the Third Platform milestones:

1. By 2015, the demographic shift to young and mobile customers will require 80% of consumer-facing businesses to integrate IT with public social networks.
2. By 2015, 60% of CIOs’ security budgets for increasingly vulnerable legacy systems will be decreased drastically.  International Data Corporation are estimating that the budget cuts in this area will be between 30% - 40% short of the required amount that would allow CIOs to carry out and manage the threat assessments required to maintain legacy systems.
3. By 2015, Third Platform requirements will drive 60% of CIOs to go for enterprise architecture as a required IT tool.
4. By 2016, 80% of the IT budget will be based on the provision of a broad portfolio of IT and business services.
5. By 2017, 60% of CIOs will be producing business enhancing insights from Big Data and analytics.
6. By 2017, the current primary role of the CIO will change.  Over 70% of CIOs will change their primary role from directly managing IT to becoming an innovation partner.
7. By 2017, 60% of CIOs will be supporting an agile architecture with next-generation mobile applications so as to ensure enterprise business mobility.
8. By 2017, 70% of CIOs will increase enterprise exposure so as to accelerate business agility through increased cloud adoption.
9. By 2017, 60% of CIOs will be focusing their IT budget on business innovation and value.
10. By 2018, adoption of Third Platform IT technologies will redefine 90% of IT roles.

Mobile is seeing an explosive growth of Internet-based services, ranging from search to streaming media to offline storage of personal data.  Cloud is seeing the improvement of the economics of IT for companies and governments.  We are seeing greater flexibility and responsiveness.   We are seeing new business models emerge.  Business is a continuum and therefore it must seek to absorb these trends at the right time. 
As Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage; and all the men and women merely players,” implying that people are driven largely by the turns and whirls of the time and place in which they live.  The same goes for the business world.

Dr Marthese Portelli is Business Development Manager of the Alert Group of Companies.
For more information, email at [email protected].