As we approach 2015, we asked a few Enterpriser IT executives what they see on the near horizon: trends, watch-outs, and best practices that will make their lives better – and more interesting – in the coming months. Here's what they had to say:
1. Mobile exploits will rise sharply
“I think whether it’s next year or next week, we are due a major round of weaknesses and security breaches in the mobile space. At the moment, from what I’ve seen in the past and the development cycles of these things, the opportunity for the bad guys to create havoc in the mobile space has barely started.” - Cliff Tamplin, Consultant and Former Vice President of Technology Support & Risk Management, Hyatt Hotels Corporation
2. Docker will live up to the hype
“Docker will largely avoid the ‘trough of disillusionment’ and continue its growth as a cloud-enabling technology.” - Lee Congdon, CIO, Red Hat
3. SaaS and cloud growth will continue to spiral upward
“I see a continued migration to SaaS and cloud technologies that were previously considered premise-only concepts. I think that prices for cloud technologies will continue to drop as well. Amazon Web Services will see increased competition from Google and Microsoft, which will cause prices to drop, and price is one of the last barriers for traditional colocation-focused companies. - Aaron Stibel, Executive Vice President of Technology, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp
4. Execs will schedule more time for work (not meetings)
“In the spirit of leading by example, one thing I plan to do in 2015 is leave my schedule open for at least 50 percent of the time. I’ve noticed that even if a meeting scheduled for an hour is over in 30 minutes, it will still stretch to take all of the hour. I think that’s waste, because most of these things can be done by email. Leaving my schedule open will allow people to walk into my office, talk to me, tell me what they are thinking, share their ideas, and have productive conversations. I plan to make it a point to leave my door open when my schedule is open, too, to create an environment where you can stop by and talk about ideas.” - Venki Rao, CIO, GE Digital Energy
5. Streaming video chips away at traditional TV
“Video streaming over the Internet will continue to make gains against the more traditional television business model in the United States.” - Lee Congdon, CIO, Red Hat
6. Higher digitization will move into every corner of life
“Think screens and sensors on mobile devices and on wearables, so the sensors in your clothes are starting to report into your Fitbit or whatever you own. This will drive interest around personal analytics and allow you to start drawing conclusions about the effects of an extra hour of sleep on your ability to keep off weight, and so on. I’m curious whether this will be a slow progression or whether it’s going to feel so far away and then suddenly cross over a tipping point. Sensors and beacons in retail are still far from common adoption, for example, but you have certain retailers trying things out, and I know there’s much more to come in that area.” - Peter Buonora, Enterprise Architect, BJ’s Wholesale Club
7. Goodbye laptops, hello mobile devices
“The long-term decline of the laptop computer will continue as more applications move to the cloud and mobile devices.” - Lee Congdon, CIO, Red Hat
8. The customer will be king (even in IT)
“One thing I see becoming prevalent in leadership is to make customer service everyone’s job. In the past you could say we have a customer service team, we have a marketing team, we have a commercial team, and it’s their job. Right now, it’s everybody’s job. So no matter who does what, the customer comes first. And your job is to service your customers.” - Venki Rao, CIO, GE Digital Energy
9. Cross-platform development will become the norm
"I can’t say I think the web per se is going to go away, but I would see a lot more cross-platform development, where all the things blend together. There are many new development tools out there, including some that enable you to develop once and deploy across iOS, Android, NativeWeb, everything else. So this blurring of the interface will continue to run the gamut.” - Cliff Tamplin, Consultant and Former Vice President of Technology Support & Risk Management, Hyatt Hotels Corporation
