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Tag: Gartner

  • Inflation Is Outpacing IT Spending

    Inflation Is Outpacing IT Spending

    A new report is bad news for the IT industry, finding that inflation is outpacing IT spending by a significant margin.

    The IT industry, along with every other, is struggling with an economic downturn, with inflation increasing at near record highs. While IT spending is increasing, it’s not keeping pace with rising inflation.

    Gartner surveyed more than 2,000 CIOs to gain insight into the state of IT spending. The survey found that, on average, CIOs expected their IT spending budgets to increase by 5.1% in 2023, but that’s behind the estimated inflation rate.

    “The pressure on CIOs to deliver digital dividends is higher than ever,” said Daniel Sanchez Reina, VP Analyst at Gartner. “CEOs and boards anticipated that investments in digital assets, channels and digital business capabilities would accelerate growth beyond what was previously possible. Now, business leadership expects to see these digital-driven improvements reflected in enterprise financials.

    “CIOs expect IT budgets to increase 5.1% on average in 2023 – lower than the projected 6.5% global inflation rate. A triple squeeze of economic pressure, scarce and expensive talent and ongoing supply challenges is heightening the desire and urgency to realize time to value.”

    To help combat the trend, Gartner said CIOs must prioritize spending in the right sectors, such as

    “CIOs must prioritize digital initiatives with market-facing, growth impact,” said Janelle Hill, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner. “For some CIOs, this means stepping out of their comfort zone of internal back-office automation to instead focus on customer or constituent-facing initiatives.”

    “Leading CIOs are more likely to leverage data, analytics and AI to detect emerging consumer behavior or sentiment that might represent a growth opportunity,” added Hill.

  • Public Cloud Spending Projected at Nearly $600 Billion in 2023

    Public Cloud Spending Projected at Nearly $600 Billion in 2023

    The cloud computing industry received good news with a new report projecting 20.7% growth in end-user spending, totaling nearly $600 billion, in 2023.

    The tech industry has been struggling with economic headwinds that have resulted in mass layoffs and hiring freezes. Despite the challenges, however, the cloud computing industry continues to accelerate its growth.

    According to Gartner’s latest research, end-user spending on public cloud services will grow 20.7% in 2023, an increase over the projected 18.8% in 2022. The spending is estimated to reach $591.8 billion.

    “Current inflationary pressures and macroeconomic conditions are having a push and pull effect on cloud spending,” said Sid Nag, Vice President Analyst at Gartner. “Cloud computing will continue to be a bastion of safety and innovation, supporting growth during uncertain times due to its agile, elastic and scalable nature.

    “Yet, organizations can only spend what they have. Cloud spending could decrease if overall IT budgets shrink, given that cloud continues to be the largest chunk of IT spend and proportionate budget growth.”

    Gartner doesn’t see cloud spending slowing down or reversing. In fact, the research indicates that once companies transition to the cloud, very few ever reverse direction, leading to a lasting source of revenue for cloud providers.

    “Despite growth, profitability and competition pressures, cloud spending will continue through perpetual cloud usage,” Nag added. “Once applications and workloads move to the cloud they generally stay there, and subscription models ensure that spending will continue through the term of the contract and most likely well beyond. For these vendors, cloud spending is an annuity – the gift that keeps on giving.”

  • COVID-19 Driving Global Government IT Spending Growth

    COVID-19 Driving Global Government IT Spending Growth

    The COVID-19 pandemic is driving governments around the world to invest more heavily in IT.

    One of the biggest lasting effects of the pandemic is an accelerated migration to the cloud and transition to digital-first workflows. The accelerated pace, however, has put a strain on IT departments across industries, including government.

    As a result, according to Gartner, 2022 will see a 6.5% increase in government IT spending, for a total of $557.3 billion.

    “Governments will continue to accelerate investments in digital technologies to respond and recover from the continuing evolution of public health uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Irma Fabular, research vice president at Gartner. “The disruptions caused by the pandemic have also reinforced a key digital government tenet, which is public policy and technology are inseparable.”

    Some of the fastest growing segments include the modernization of IT infrastructure and applications; improving public services responsiveness and resilience; and adoption of citizen digital identity.

    “Digital identity is moving beyond authenticating citizens online and signing remote transactions,” said Fabular. “To raise the chances for greater adoption of digital identity, governments must treat privacy, security and user convenience as critical success factors.”

  • Gartner Names Oracle a Magic Quadrant Leader for Third Successive Time

    Gartner Names Oracle a Magic Quadrant Leader for Third Successive Time

    Oracle has been named a leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP for Product-Centric Enterprises for the third successive time.

    The Magic Quadrant in question evaluated 10 ERP providers to determine which one “reflects Gartner’s definition of ‘composable ERP’. This strategy delivers a core of composable applications and, as a service, software platforms that are highly configurable, interoperable, and flexible, in order to adapt to future modern technology.”

    More than 8,000 organizations around the world rely on Oracle Cloud ERP. The platform provides one of the most comprehensive finance and operations capabilities, and self-updates every 90 days to provide the latest features. This helps customers remain nimble and adapt to new challenges and opportunities.

    “We continue to see Oracle Cloud ERP set the standard and be both the driver and defining factor in our customer’s success in adapting to a dynamic business environment,” said Rondy Ng, senior vice president of applications development, Oracle. “Through it all, Oracle has remained laser focused on our customer-centric mission and continued to deliver the quarterly innovations our customers have come to expect. Gartner’s Leader positioning for Oracle Cloud ERP is an honor we share with our customers.”

  • 27% of C-Level Execs Know Nothing About Low-Code

    27% of C-Level Execs Know Nothing About Low-Code

    Low-code may be one of the fastest growing trends in development, but over a quarter of C-level execs haven’t heard of it.

    Low-code and no-code solutions allow individuals to create applications and services with little to no coding or past experience. The tech is a boon to companies of all sizes, speeding up development and letting non-IT departments contribute. Low-code is gaining ground so fast that Gartner predicts that 80% of tech products and services will be built using low-code by 2024.

    Unfortunately, according to research from CLEVR, 27% of C-level execs have never heard of low-code or no-code.

    “It reminds me of when cloud technology was just on the rise and many businesses thought it was the same as iCloud or Dropbox,” Angelique Schouten, CEO of CLEVR, told WebProNews. “To fully access the power of low-code and no-code platforms, you must understand it first.”

    CLEVR’s research illustrates the importance of closing the knowledge gap for one of the most important trends in modern development.

  • Gartner: AI Will Replace ‘Gut Feel’ in Venture Capitalist Decisions by 2025

    Gartner: AI Will Replace ‘Gut Feel’ in Venture Capitalist Decisions by 2025

    Gartner predicts that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace “gut feel” in influencing investment decisions by venture capitalists and early-stage investors.

    Venture capitalists have long relied on a mysterious combination of data, KPIs and gut feeling to select which companies to invest in. According to Gartner, however, AI is poised to replace the ever-elusive gut feeling some 75% of investors.

    “Successful investors are purported to have a good ‘gut feel’ — the ability to make sound financial decisions from mostly qualitative information alongside the quantitative data provided by the technology company,” said Patrick Stakenas, senior research director at Gartner. “However, this ‘impossible to quantify inner voice’ grown from personal experience is decreasingly playing a role in investment decision making. The traditional pitch experience will significantly shift by 2025 and tech CEOs will need to face investors with AI-enabled models and simulations as traditional pitch decks and financials will be insufficient.”

    By 2025, AI will help investors transition to a quantitative process based on advanced analytics. Information will be gathered from a variety of sources, including Crunchbase, LinkedIn, Owler, PitchBook and others. This data can then be used by AI to assess a company’s viability.

    “This data is increasingly being used to build sophisticated models that can better determine the viability, strategy and potential outcome of an investment in a short amount of time. Questions such as when to invest, where to invest and how much to invest are becoming almost automated,” said Mr. Stakenas.

  • Remote Work IT Spending Will Hit $332.9 Billion In 2021

    Remote Work IT Spending Will Hit $332.9 Billion In 2021

    Gartner is predicting companies will spend some $332.9 billion on remote work IT in 2021 as the digital transformation continues.

    The coronavirus pandemic has sparked an unprecedented digital transformation, as organizations have turned to remote work, schools have turned to remote learning and individuals have had to rely on videoconferencing to stay in touch.

    That trend is expected to continue full force for the next several years. In fact, Gartner predicts businesses will have to accelerate their digital transformation by at least five years through 2024, as they continue to deal with a permanently altered workforce — one where remote work is part of the new reality.

    “There are a combination of factors pushing the devices market higher,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished research vice president at Gartner.. “As countries continue remote education through this year, there will be a demand for tablets and laptops for students. Likewise, enterprises are industrializing remote work for employees as quarantine measures keep employees at home and budget stabilization allows CIOs to reinvest in assets that were sweated in 2020.”

    As a result, Gartner predicts remote work-related global IT spending will reach $332.9 billion in 2021, an increase of 4.9% from 2020.

    “Digital business represents the dominant technology trend in late 2020 and early 2021 with areas such as cloud computing, core business applications, security and customer experience at the forefront. Optimization initiatives, such as hyperautomation, will continue and the focus of these projects will remain on returning cash and eliminating work from processes, not just tasks,” said Mr. Lovelock.

    Gartner’s report is the latest evidence that remote work has become a permanent part of society, with workers continuing to demonstrate their preference for it.

  • Gartner: ‘Responsible AI a Societal Concern’

    Gartner: ‘Responsible AI a Societal Concern’

    Gartner has released its Predicts 2021 reports and the outlook for artificial intelligence (AI) includes some troubling growing pains.

    AI is one of the fastest growing industries, and one of the most controversial. Experts have come out on all sides of the debate, with some believing it will help solve some of mankind’s most elusive challenges.

    Others, including Elon Musk, believe it represents one of the biggest existential threats to humanity. Recent research suggests that a super-intelligent AI will be impossible to control, further raising concerns.

    Gartner’s latest reports indicate there are a number of more pressing issues that could pose challenges for AI researchers and the industry at large. Gartner highlights five specific ways AI will impact society:

    By 2025, the concentration of pretrained AI models among 1% of AI vendors will make responsible AI a societal concern.

    In 2023, 20% of successful account takeover attacks will use deepfakes to socially engineer users to turn over sensitive data or move money into criminal accounts.

    By 2024, 60% of AI providers will include a means to mitigate possible harm as part of their technologies.

    By 2025, 10% of governments will use a synthetic population with realistic behavior patterns to train AI while avoiding privacy and security concerns.

    By 2025, 75% of conversations at work will be recorded and analyzed, enabling the discovery of added organizational value and risk.

    These issues illustrate the need for companies and organizations to take the necessary steps now to ensure AI is a force for good.

  • Fight For Bronze: IBM Disputes Google Cloud Is Third Cloud Vendor

    Fight For Bronze: IBM Disputes Google Cloud Is Third Cloud Vendor

    While Amazon and Microsoft are the undisputed first and second U.S. cloud vendors, IBM is disputing that Google is the company sitting in third place.

    When Google reported its Q4 earnings, it also revealed Google Cloud’s earnings for the first time, coming it at $8.9 billion for 2019. In contrast, when IBM reported its Q4 results, its cloud business generated $6.8 billion, $21 billion for the year. On paper, that would seem to put it well ahead of Google Cloud, yet it consistently ranks fifth place. According to Bloomberg, Gartner analyst Ed Anderson says Google is still in third place.

    “What IBM calls cloud is different to what Amazon and Google call cloud,” said Anderson. As Bloomberg highlights, “all companies have their own unique definition of cloud, and analysts like Anderson employ a process called ‘cloud washing’ to try to weed out the numbers that go beyond traditional descriptions.”

    “You can see this posturing with IBM,” Anderson continued. “They are really nervous about reporting a number that is too small and nervous about reporting a number that is too big that no one will believe.”

    IBM has been in the news recently, with critics wanting to see more results from the company’s cloud efforts. IBM is widely seen as having been too slow to react to the rise of cloud computing, relying on its legacy systems instead. This has seen it fall far behind Amazon and Microsoft.

    Padding the numbers by playing fast and loose with the definition of cloud computing, however, may not be the best way to improve investor confidence.

  • Gartner: Smartphone Sales Up 20% In Q3

    Smartphone sales grew 20% in the third quarter, according to a new report from Gartner. Sales in emerging markets saw the highest growth ever, though sales in Western Europe continued on the decline. Worldwide sales of mobile phones, in general, were flat during the quarter.

    Here’s a look at the market share by manufacturer:

    “Sales of feature phones declined 25 percent in the third quarter of 2014 because the difference in price between feature phones and low-cost Android smartphones is reducing further,” said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner.

    Smartphones accounted for 66% of the total mobile phone market in the third quarter, according to the firm.

    “Over the holidays we expect record sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but we should not underestimate the Chinese vendors and local brands,” said Annette Zimmermann, research director at Gartner. “Chinese players will continue to look at expanding in overseas emerging markets. In Europe prepaid country markets and attractive lost-cost LTE phones will also offer key opportunities for these brands.”

    Here’s a look at sales by platform:

    Gartner expects sales of smartphones to reach 1.2 billion units in 2014.

    Images via Gartner

  • Gartner: Over 3/4 Of Mobile Apps To Fail ‘Basic’ Security Tests Through Next Year

    In general, we shouldn’t consider mobile apps particularly secure for the foreseeable future. That is if Gartner is correct in its latest analysis.

    The firm said this week that over 75% of mobile apps will fail basic security tests through 2015. This is not particularly comforting for businesses.

    Gartner notes that enterprise employees download from app stores, and use mobile apps that can access enterprise assets or perform business functions, and that the apps have “little to no security assurances”.

    “Enterprises that embrace mobile computing and bring your own device (BYOD) strategies are vulnerable to security breaches unless they adopt methods and technologies for mobile application security testing and risk assurance,” said Dionisio Zumerle, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Most enterprises are inexperienced in mobile application security. Even when application security testing is undertaken, it is often done casually by developers who are mostly concerned with the functionality of applications, not their security.”

    “Today, more than 90 percent of enterprises use third-party commercial applications for their mobile BYOD strategies, and this is where current major application security testing efforts should be applied,” said Zumerle. “App stores are filled with applications that mostly prove their advertised usefulness. Nevertheless, enterprises and individuals should not use them without paying attention to their security. They should download and use only those applications that have successfully passed security tests conducted by specialized application security testing vendors.”

    Gartner looks even further into the future, and says that by 2017, the focus of endpoint breaches will shift to tablets and smartphones. Through that year, it predicts, over 75% of mobile security breaches will be the result of mobile app misconfigurations as opposed to “deeply technical” attacks.

    Image via Thinkstock

  • Gartner: SCM Software Revenue To Hit $10 Billion This Year

    Supply chain management software is on pace to hit $10 billion in revenue this year, according to a report from Gartner. That would be an increase of 12.2% over last year, and would be the biggest growth the industry has seen since 2011.

    The firm surveyed nearly 450 North American supply chain professionals in the fourth quarter of 2013. Respondents said inaccurate forecasts of demand for products and variability of demand were leading obstacles impeding their progress toward achieving goals within their organizations. Gartner says both problems can be overcome with the help of supply chain initiatives and technologies.

    “The market for supply chain technologies is buoyant,” said research vice president Chad Eschinger. “Both supply chain execution and supply chain planning revenues are on course to grow at double-digit rates in 2014.”

    “Through 2018, 40 percent of new spending and 80 percent of recurring end-user spending will focus on advancing and extending foundational supply chain capabilities,” he said.

    The firm estimates that 70% of businesses will pursue a single-platform strategy to integrate disparate systems, to improve supply chain visibility through 2018.

    You can find Gartner’s full “Forecast Analysis: Supply Chain Management Software, Worldwide, 1Q14 Update” report here.

    A couple months ago, Gartner released its Supply Chian Top 25 list for 2014 with Apple in the top spot, followed by McDonald’s, Amazon, Unilever, and P&G. Samsung, Cisco, Intel, Colgate-Palmolive, and The Coca-Cola Company rounded out the top ten. See the full list here.

    Image via LinkedIn

  • Gartner Introduces Categorized IT Program Management Framework

    Gartner has come up with five program types to help program managers categorize programs and plan for them accordingly. Correct categorization, it says, is key to IT program management.

    Analysts from the firm will discuss how to use this framework at its Program and Portfolio Management & IT Governance Summits June 2-4 in National Harbor, Maryland and June 9-10 in London.

    The five program types are: Bottom-up, Change-oriented, Policy-driven, Outcome-driven, and Transformational.

    The ability to categorize IT programs and assign them to appropriate tactics, skills and resources, Gartner says, is “critical to the generation of positive outcomes.”

    “The adage ‘the right tool for the right job’ is every bit as appropriate to IT programs as it is to carpentry or plumbing,” said Michael Hanford, research vice president at Gartner. “Understanding different program types, the characteristics, requirements and benefits involved, and how they should be applied to meet different organizational, structural or governance needs is too often neglected in the early stages of planning.”

    Bottom-up is for when multiple projects are recognized after they’ve started as part of a larger set of problems, and as sharing dependencies. These are put together into one program so they can be better controlled while reducing redundancy.

    Change oriented programs are described as those that are triggered by a high-level need for big change, and normally include multiple initiatives.

    Policy-driven is for those unique to government and the public, including social, charitable, and nongovernmental organizations. These will usually enable provision of a law, regulation or defined service, and continue until no longer funded or outright canceled.

    Outcome-driven is for programs “driven by a concept of, or a vision for, a product, service or generally identified set of results, or to address a specific need.”

    Finally, Transformational is for programs that “represent an effort that transcends the organization’s current vision and its recent history and direction.”

    Naturally, Gartner has a report going into all of this in much more depth, though it’s about $200.

    Image via Gartner

  • Gartner Releases Supply Chain Top 25, Apple Leads For 7th Consecutive Year

    Gartner Releases Supply Chain Top 25, Apple Leads For 7th Consecutive Year

    Gartner has released its 10th annual Supply Chain Top 25, and Apple is at the top of the list for the seventh year in a row. McDonald’s came in second for the second consecutive year.

    A couple of new companies entered the list this time: Seagate and Kimberly-Clark.

    The composite score is calculated using the following equation: (Peer Opinion*25%) + (Gartner Research Opinion*25%) + (ROA*25%) + (Inventory Turns*15%) + (Revenue Growth*10%).

    “2014 marks the 10th year of our annual Supply Chain Top 25 ranking,” said Stan Aronow, research vice president at Gartner. “As we reach this milestone, we have several longtime leaders with new lessons to share and a number of more recent entrants from the high-tech, consumer product and industrial sectors in the Top 25.”

    Gartner points out three trends for supply chain leaders including: understanding and supporting the fully contextualized customer; a convergence of digital and physical supply chain delivering total customer solutions; and supply chain as trusted and integrated partner. Gartner elaborates on each of these in a press release.

    Image via BusinesWire

  • The CRM Software Market Grew By 14% Last Year [Report]

    The customer relationship management software market grew by 13.7% in 2013, according to a new report from Gartner. That’s worldwide. The market reached $20.4 billion in 2013 compared to $18 billion in 2012.

    Software as a service (SaaS) represented over 41% of CRM total software revenue last year, according to the firm. Demand, it says, was driven from organizations of all sizes looking for easier-to-deploy alternatives to replace old systems as well as those seeking to “implement net-new applications or provide alternative complementary functionality.”

    “High levels of end-user investment in digital marketing and customer experience initiatives were the primary growth drivers of the market in 2013,” said Joanne Correia, research vice president at Gartner. “CRM will be at the heart of digital initiatives in coming years. This is one technology area that will get funding because digital business is critical for companies to remain competitive.”

    The competition among vendors has been heating up, at least with the big players. The top five vendors accounted for 50% of CRM software revenue in 2013.

    Most of the revenue (52.9%) came from NOrth America, though Western Europe saw 15.2% growth. Combined, the two regions accounted for about 80% of all CRM spending throughout the year.

    You can find the full report here.

    Image via Gartner

  • Gartner: Digital Marketing Budgets To Increase by 10% This Year

    Gartner: Digital Marketing Budgets To Increase by 10% This Year

    Gartner released some new findings from a survey of marketing executives. Among these are that digital marketing budgets will increase by 10% this year, and that on average, companies spent 10.7% of their annual 2013 revenue on overall marketing activities. Digital marketing spending averaged 3.1%.

    The firm surveyed nearly 300 people in the U.S. mainly answering for their entire organization (21% reported U.S.-only data), representing businesses with over $500 million in annual revenue. The average was $4.4 billion. it spanned eight industries: financial services and insurance, high-tech, communications, manufacturing, media, retail, government and healthcare. The survey was conducted between last July and September.

    11% said they spent over half of their marketing budgets on digital activities last year compared to 3% the prior year. Digital marketing represented an average of 28.5% of the total marketing budget last year, compared to 25.5% in 2012, according to the report.

    77% have a chief customer officer (CCO) or similar position. 81% have a chief marketing technologist in 2013, up from 70% the prior year.

    .

    “Marketing leaders are securing bigger budgets to define markets, develop offerings, and attract, acquire and retain customers,” said Yvonne Genovese, managing vice president at Gartner. “Digital marketing is taking an increasing share of the marketing budget with annual digital marketing operating budgets totaling 3.1 percent of a company’s revenue in 2013, as compared with 2.6 percent in 2012, representing a 20 percent increase.”

    “Customer experiences with a brand or organization span so many channels — both online and off — that customers have come to expect consistent experiences, no matter where an interaction initially takes place,” added Laura McLellan, research vice president at Gartner. “Customer touchpoints include websites, mobile apps, social profiles, directory listings, on-site search, email interactions, communities, call center and more; hence, the increasing popularity of the role of the chief customer officer to help guide the customer right through the buying cycle and beyond.”

    You can find the full report here.

    Image via Gartner

  • IT Industry to Grow 3.2% This Year

    IT Industry to Grow 3.2% This Year

    As the computer industry deals with the transition to a mobile majority, IT spending is still on-pace to grow significantly in 2014. Market research firm Gartner this week issued a new report predicting that IT revenue will grow 3.2% in 2014, hitting a massive $3.8 trillion worldwide.

    This growth is coming despite the recent slowdown seen in traditional PC markets. Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are making up the difference, but mature mobile markets such as the U.S. are already showing signs of saturation as growth prospects for the segment turn toward emerging markets such as China.

    Overall the market for tech devices is set to hit $689 billion this year, up 4.4% from device revenue in 2013. However, the shift in the market toward low-end devices and emerging markets is driving down average sales prices for mobile devices.

    “Globally, businesses are shaking off their malaise and returning to spending on IT to support the growth of their business,” said Richard Gordon, managing VP at Gartner. “Consumers will be purchasing many new devices in 2014; however, there is a greater substitution toward lower cost and more basic devices than we have seen in prior years.”

    Much of the IT growth predicted for 2014 will come from the enterprise software and services segment. Traditional PC manufacturers have already been seen reorganizing their businesses to take advantage of this spending shift.

    Gartner predicts that enterprise software revenue is set to grow nearly 7% to $320 billion while IT services spending will rise 4.6% to $964 billion. The markets for these products are expected to see continued growth in the coming years as businesses invest more heavily in online infrastructure.

    “The ‘Nexus of Forces’ (the convergence of social, mobile, cloud and information) continues to drive growth across key major software markets, such as CRM, database management systems (DBMSs), data integration tools and data quality tools,” said Gordon. “In fact, organizational adoption of data management technologies to support the Nexus will cause spending on DBMSs to surpass operating systems, making the former the largest enterprise software market in 2014.”

    Image via Thinkstock

  • The Overwhelming Majority Of CIOs Plan On Changing Technology, Sourcing Relationships

    As many as 70% of CIOs intend to change their technology and sourcing relationships in the next two to three years, according to new survey results from Gartner.

    A variety of reasons were cited by CIOs from around the world. Still, there is a common theme among these reasons, and it’s basically about clients’ current providers not being able to adapt to change.

    “The picture is clear for service providers as clients are struggling to keep up with change,” said Gartner managing vice president Eric Rocco. “They are strongly considering changing the providers they work with as part of responding to this change. Market share will shift to service providers able to help clients respond to the business and IT opportunities and challenges that are overwhelming more than half of organizations today. Service providers need to convert this picture into an opportunity rather than a threat.”

    “Digital business is an unstoppable and irresistible catalyst for change — change that will affect the fundamental foundations and baseline assumptions of every business,” he added. “The digital business revolution is underpinned and enabled by the macro technology forces of cloud, social, analytics, mobility and the Internet of Things. Not every business fundamental will need to change to the same degree, nor will every technology driver have a role to play in every business scenario; however, businesses that decide to ‘wait and see’ are likely to become irrelevant.”

    The firm projects the IT Services market to grow 4.6% this year, but notes that the entire industry won’t grow uniformly. Hardware support, for example, isn’t expected to grow as much as say, cloud-based infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and business process as a service (BPaaS), which are the two fastest-growing segments. This year, these two are projected to grow by 44.9% and 12.4% respectively.

    The report points out that cloud-based services are cannibalizing more traditional models, but the driving factor of this is agility rather than cost.

    You can find the full report here. Gartner is also hosting Sourcing & Strategic Vendor Relationships summits in June and September, where it will discuss issues facing the IT services industry.

    Image via LinkedIn

  • Gartner: European CRM Budgets To Be Strong In 2014

    European customer relationship management (CRM) budgets remain strong, despite economic uncertainty, according to a survey from Gartner. About half of those polled intend to increase CRM spending this year at an average increase of 2.5% over last year’s budgets.

    While plenty of them don’t yet know which way they’re going to go with their budgets, and more intend to keep them the same, as you can see from the graph below, very few plan to decrease. Less than any of the previous three years, in fact.

    Gartner research director Jim Davies said, “The survey findings highlight the continuing trend for organizations to commit to improving the management of their customer relationships. We are observing an increasing number of large, transformational projects being undertaken as organizations look to embrace social and mobile interactions for sales, marketing and customer support.”

    “Organizational commitment to the customer experience continues to rise, as business leaders appreciate the benefits of providing differentiated and consistent cross-channel experiences,” he added. “A new objective added to the list of options this year was “increase customer engagement,” which jumped into the No. 2 position and further demonstrates the growing desire of European organizations to get closer to their customers and have a more mutually beneficial relationship.”

    The firm projects that the CRM market in Western Europe will grow at over 9%, hitting $5.5 billion by the end of the year.

    The poll was conducted in Q4, and included organizations from 20 industries and 30 countries. According to the firm, both B2B and B2C companies were represented, and were evenly split between those with a business and those with an IT focus. There were 102 respondents in all.

    Image via Gartner

  • Android Tablets Outsell iPads in 2013

    There’s a new tablet leader in town. The year 2013 was a big step for Android tablets. For the first time ever, they outsold the iPad. Sales for the Android tablet reached 195.4 million last year, which is a 68 percent increase in total sales over 2012.

    According to Gartner, Inc., Android tablets now makeup 61.9 percent of all tablets sold, iPads 36 percent, and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 2.1 percent. This is a big drop off for Apple whose iPads dominated over half of the market just last year at 52.8 percent.

    Roberta Cozza, a Gartner research director, spoke of Android’s current place in the market, “In 2013, tablets became a mainstream phenomenon, with a vast choice of Android-based tablets being within the budget of mainstream consumers while still offering adequate specifications.” Cozza also discussed the importance for companies to keep improving technology, “As the Android tablet market becomes highly commoditized, in 2014, it will be critical for vendors to focus on device experience and meaningful technology and ecosystem value — beyond just hardware and cost — to ensure brand loyalty and improved margins.”

    However, it isn’t all bad news for Apple. They still dominate the high-end tablet market. While the Android tablet has successfully marketed itself to appeal to cost-conscience consumers, mobile experts don’t believe that the market shift will have a dramatic effect on Apple since iPad users buy and browse more than users of other leading tablets. We saw the market shift the same way with the iPhone. Several competitors took chunks of the smartphone market from Apple, however, iPhone consumers still accounted for the largest share of buying and browsing.

    If you’re interested in buying an Andriod tablet, here’s a link to a list of the five best that “represent the highest-quality Android-based tablets currently available” according to CNET.

    Image via YouTube

  • Gartner Urges CIOs To Address ‘Fast-Approaching’ Reality of Legacy ERP

    Gartner Urges CIOs To Address ‘Fast-Approaching’ Reality of Legacy ERP

    Gartner predicts that by 2016, the impact of cloud computing and the emergence of postmodern ERP will mean “legacy status” for highly customized ERP systems, and urges CIOs to take action to address this “fast-approaching reality”.

    “The need for agility and responsiveness has led highly customized ERP implementations to an impasse, creating a subset of legacy ERP installations that must be dealt with constructively,” said Andy Kyte, vice president and Gartner Fellow. “Early ERP adopters, particularly large enterprises in energy, manufacturing and distribution industries, are paying the penalty of a decade or more of excessive customization. Businesses looking to improve administration today can take advantage of lower costs, better functional fit and process flexibility offered by blending cloud applications with on-premises applications in what we now refer to as ‘postmodern ERP.”

    “When ERP was in its heyday, CEOs and business executives wanted reliable and integrated solutions, so they seized upon ERP as the way to provide this,” Kyte added. “Business stakeholders still want these same qualities, but now they assume that these qualities will be present in any software solution, and their requirements have switched to the twin concerns of lowering IT costs and seeking increased flexibility. A system that is not sufficiently flexible to meet changing business demands is an anchor, not a sail, holding the business back, not driving it forward.”

    Gartner also made a couple other bold predictions. By 2018, it says, at least 30% of service-centric companies will move the majority of their ERP applications to the cloud.

    Even sooner – by 2017 – it says, as many as 70% of organizations adopting hybrid ERP will fail to improve cost-benefit outcomes unless their cloud applications provide differentiating functionality.

    Gartner research VP Carol Hardcastle finds the outlook “worrying”.

    You can find Gartner’s actual report on all of this here.

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