Friday, August 19, 2011

Mobile - Adoption of this technology is a factor in reshaping industries ahead of other trends

[zd net] Although multimedia adoption trends vary by industry, mobile is single-handedly “remaking entire industries,” according to the first annual “Technology Outlook” research report conducted by Bluewolf, which specializes in enterprise-class cloud adoption.

The survey highlights what Bluewolf researchers believe to be the top five tech trends of 2011. Mobile is at the forefront of the pack thanks to increased HTML5 adoption as well as an exponentially growing pool of apps designed for the iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

As for those industries that are being remade? Without a doubt, media is the leader here from a variety of angles as print publishers are finally going forward faster with digital, and then major networks and movie studios are licensing their material for online streaming.

Retail and “high-tech” (i.e. cloud providers, front-end developers, etc.) companies have also made significant gains in mobile, and financial services have made a small push.

Specifically, Bluewolf found that HTML5, Android and iPhone/iPad app development increased by more than 200 percent, although development for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile apps has dropped by roughly 50 percent.

The other four major themes we’re seeing this year, according to Bluewolf, are user engagement, big data, the consumerization of IT and, unsurprisingly, cloud computing.

Cloud computing as a major trend of 2011 has been drummed to death already, but the other three trends could really be considered as off-shoots from the cloud from certain perspectives.

For example, Bluewolf cited that big data revolves around “everything from data storage, warehousing, and integration to Business Intelligence.” Well, cloud storage and virtualization are definitely going to be options there.

Bluewolf concluded that there are a few lessons that can IT managers can learn from these findings — namely, the value of the user experience and keeping the technology portfolio simple.

Even though most of the study findings make it look like companies should starting betting on mobile more than anything, it’s still a good idea to pay considerable attention to the cloud.

Tom Gooding, account director for financial services at Bluewolf, noted in the study, “Look seriously at what you can move to the cloud now (processes, applications or infrastructure), otherwise you will be the last in your industry to do so.”

Mobile is remaking entire industries, study says

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