Dr. Elliot King

With the New Year upon us, it is time to turn once again to one of our favorite past times—predictions. Where will you, your competitors (or your clients) be investing IT budgets next year?

The CIO Insight’s 2012 IT Investment Patterns Study forecasts that large enterprises will be increasing their budgets most significantly in mobile applications development, wireless equipment and network attached storage.  Mid-range companies, on the other hand, are stepping up their spending on ERP, sales force automation and customer relationship management, and content management applications, as well as mobile devices. 

The divergence is striking. Clearly, large organizations feel confident that their basic enterprise application infrastructure is intact and capable of managing the basic organic growth IT systems undergo. Their current applications are robust enough to meet ongoing demand and are flexible enough to meet any new challenges that may present themselves in the future.

As a result, large enterprises are increasing their IT spending in new areas, particularly mobility. It is no mystery why. Smart phones and tablets represent dynamic new user devices that promise great benefits to those who can use them. As Tim Cook of Apple pointed out in October, more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies are testing the iPad for corporate use. That eye-popping number is even more mind boggling when you consider the way that personal computers and even latest-generation smart phones initially had to be smuggled into large companies, under the radar, so to speak.

But the landscape looks different from a mid-range perspective. Yes, mid-range organizations are interested in investing in mobile devices, but they are primarily increasing their budgets for enterprise applications. 2012 could be a year for rebuilding or renovating application infrastructures.

The report raises two key issues. First, will large organizations actually realize the benefits from their investments in mobility? In fact, according to the Gartner Group’s Hype Cycle, tablets have just passed the peak of inflated expectations and are heading towards the trough of disillusionment. Second, despite the hype, change does not come quickly to IT. The use of mobile platforms and cloud applications may be expanding vigorously, but the old-school server/application/network platform is still the most dominant by several factors. Where will your IT dollars be invested in 2012?

Image contributed by Twobee