Dr. Elliot King

The last week of December represents the perfect moment to review one last set of predictions for the New Year. After all, predictions can lead to resolutions and resolutions can lead to broken resolutions. Just kidding. Predictions can actually lead to setting the IT agenda; if not for this year, then for the next, or the year after that.

Perhaps the most extensive menu of predictions this year has come from the Gartner Group with 36 ideas about what tomorrow might bring. The long list ensures that Gartner will be right, wrong and neither right nor wrong, all at the same time. And as with all good prognosticators, we can be confident that Gartner will trumpet those that are right along with those that are not so right. And their analysts can just keep on predicting until they get it right. 

Several of Gartner’s predictions deserve careful consideration. For example, the company suggests that sustainability will become a primary focus for many organizations. Of course, “sustainability” is in the running to be the buzzword of the decade. From all things related to the U.S. economy to the environment to social change in the Arab world, the question on most pundits’ lips is—is it sustainable?

For IT, sustainability means moving past the more limited notion that green IT means cutting down on energy consumption and reducing IT’s energy footprint. It evolves into analyzing every step in the IT process from planning to the hardware lifecycle. Your goals should be to ensure that IT is in harmony with the environment in which it is used. If you think these kinds of concerns are really outside your concern and area of expertise, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is currently developing guidelines for developing a sustainable corporation.

Combining two discrete predictions from Gartner, another interesting area to watch next year will be organizations’ ongoing efforts to manage “big data.”  Big data does not just refer to the commonplace idea that data is being generated at an accelerating rate, as it has really since—well since writing was invented (and that was a while ago.) The concept of big data also encompasses the idea that the variety of data types that must be managed has mushroomed as well; as has the speed at which data is created and must be applied. The Gartner predictions in this area are far from earth shattering. Big data is straining current data management techniques and most organizations are struggling to extract maximum value from their data. Most folks know this already, but it is still a good bet that this prediction will be right. What do you predict will have a big impact on IT in 2012?

Image contributed by: George Stojkovic