The top ten enterprise IT trends for 2011

Security, cloud services and sustainability will be three of the most important trends in enterprise IT in 2011, according to Ovum.

The independent technology analyst has named its top ten trends for the coming year, which also include mobility, data management and data centre transformation. Business analytics, collaboration, IT financial management and context-aware computing also make the list.

Security

Security continues to be high on the IT agenda as the number of threats to businesses increases rapidly.

Data management

Data management will be a key area due to the sheer volumes now passing through enterprises.

Business analytics

The technologies’ ability to improve decision-making, identify new business opportunities, maximize cost savings and detect inefficiencies is driving its importance for organizations.

Mobility

In IT management, the mobility challenge in 2011 will be to embrace the new technology while developing a strategy that maintains a balance between user preference and productivity and corporate security and compliance.

Data center transformation

The role of the data center is witnessing a dramatic shift as the cloud computing era heralds a new dawn in the delivery of IT services in 2011.

Cloud services

Cloud computing will continue to grow steadily in 2011. Ovum believes that it is no longer a question of whether or not enterprises will use cloud computing, they already are. However, it is still early days for both providers and CIOs, who will grapple to take advantage in 2011.

Collaboration

To cater for changes in work practices, an integrated approach to collaboration is needed which includes social networking and video conferencing.

Sustainability

New opportunities will continue to emerge in 2011 which allow organizations to work in a more environmentally-friendly way.

IT financial management

The CIO should talk the language of business and put in place better IT financial management in 2011.

Context-aware computing

In 2011, CIOs should be looking to instrumentation, metering and wireless technologies to play a significant role in providing the context which can lead to automated business processes and increased productivity. 

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