It’s an exciting time to be in business IT. Mobility, cloud, social and big data continue to drive massive transformations and sustainable business growth. However, organizations will require stronger IT and business collaboration in order to adapt to these trends in the new year. Experts suggest the Third Platform is the answer.
“Next year the trends will be an extension of this year’s trends, but with more clarity and urgency,” writes Hitachi’s Hu Yoshida. “You have already seen disruption in the market place as vendors struggle to align with the changing demands of the business.”
Let’s take a look at how top IT trends are reshaping business, specifically in regards to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and where theses changes are expected to take us in 2015.
Mobility
Mobility continues to sit top of mind for business managers as they look for opportunities to boost employee productivity in today’s competitive landscape. According to Gartner research, mobile was among the top three CIO spending priorities in 2014, and it’s easy to see why this is expected to continue. Mobile is creating huge opportunities for business, but with these opportunities come security concerns.
Cloud
The cloud continues to bring agility and elasticity to businesses for on-demand services. Cloud computing allows companies to standardize, automate and simplify business processes. Fewer businesses face concerns about managing servers and backing up data as we continue into the new year. The cloud brings affordable and customized accessibility to powerful software for any business.
Social
Social allows businesses to engage with customers in real-time, while simultaneously seeking out sentiments of their customer basis to build relationships on a more direct level. Not to mention, social media platforms provide access to a massive online audience that would never otherwise be available.
Big Data
The big data trend has garnered huge attention in recent years. Businesses of all sizes are using big data for predictive analysis and decision-making. It allows organizations to correlate data in different ways so senior executives can run their business with precision.
The Third Platform
According to Crawford Del Prete, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Products and Chief Research Officer at IDC, it’s the Third Platform that you should really be keeping an eye on in 2015 and beyond. This is what is truly driving sustainable business growth, Del Prete notes. Unlike the First Platform (the mainframe computer system), and the Second Platform (the client-server platform), the Third Platform is built on mobile devices, cloud services, social networks and big data analytics.
“Companies will need to look at how they mash up the four big trends (social, mobile, cloud computing and big data) into next generation cognitive platforms,” says Del Prete in an interview with The Huffington Post.
The Third Platform is transforming the correlation abilities of big data into prediction solutions that fit consumer needs. “By 2020, we believe that the combination of the Third Platform and cognitive computing can reduce the number of knowledge workers by as much as 15 percent,” Del Prete says.
In order to drive digital transformation and adoption of the Third Platform, business owners must realize it’s not about technology, but rather business factors and people, the Huffington Post article reads.
At the end of the day, businesses must continue to look for ways to streamline processes and consolidate data as much as possible. Microsoft Dynamics can help. To learn more, contact us by email at sales@VoxISM.com or by phone at 1-905-840-7477.