Leading
the Way
Four pivotal information technologies are rapidly reshaping how enterprises operate:
Mobile technology, business analytics, cloud computing and social business.
IBM has a range of advanced software to help take advantage of these mega-trends.
M
obile Technology, Business Analytics, cloud
computing and social business are rewriting
strategic playbooks across industries, In
these spaces, new business possibilities
are emerging faster than many organisations can act on them, with significant IT
skills shortages and security concerns threatening progress.
Given the current trajectory of these trends, it’s easy to
imagine a world where customers purchase more through
mobile devices than computers, where analytics drive the
majority of real time decision making, where cloud becomes
the predominant IT delivery mechanism and where more
ideas emerge from social networks than from R&D labs.
IBM’s Strategic Investment in These Areas
Yet some companies are equipped to innovate at the front
edges of these fast moving technology trends and drive
strategic advantages for their organisations. What can
business and IT decision makers learn from this elite group
of pacesetters?
Through strategic acquisitions, IBM has managed to create
a complete offering around cloud, analytics, mobility and
social.
Fast Forward
The cloud offering includes solutions such as Softlayer
which allows the client to build and scale a solution whilst
offering a single management system.
For the past ten years in the IBM Global CEO studies, technology has been rising on the agenda of CEO’s worldwide.
It now outranks all other external factors- even market forces and economy- as the top driver impacting their organisations over the next three to five years.
Contributing to this transformation are four pivotal information technologies that are rapidly reshaping how enterprises operate: Mobile technology, business analytics, cloud
computing and social business.
As part of IBM tech trends research, IBM continue to explore how companies are responding to the opportunities
and risks introduced by new technologies. This year they
surveyed more than 1200 IT and business decision makers
who are determining when and how their organisations
adopt mobile, analytics, cloud and social technologies.
Nearly two thirds indicate these technologies are strategically important to their enterprises, However being an
ardent believer in the game changing potential isn’t enough.
Organisations face sizable adoption hurdles, severe skills
shortages and pervasive security concerns. Yet, a group
of pacesetters is out ahead, positioning their enterprises to
innovate, differentiate ad better understand and serve customers by capitalising on these four emerging technologies.
28 | www.firstdistribution.co.za
“
Four pivotal information technologies
are rapidly reshaping
how enterprises operate: Mobile technology,
business analytics, cloud
computing and social
business
”