Cloud, COBIT Will Enable New Ways Of Doing Business

Transformational technologies such as service-oriented architecture, cloud computing and Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) will enable new ways of doing business across industries, according to the Hype Cycle for information and communication technology (ICT) by Gartner, Inc. These transformational technologies are creating a major shift in industry dynamics leading to the creation of a new and improved — and sustainable — ecosystem.

Other technologies such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and x86 server virtualisation have very fast adoption rates and will become mainstream in less than two years by moving beyond large enterprise-class accounts and expanding into the small and midsize business (SMB) segment. In Hype Cycle terminology, they have either entered, or are about to enter, the Plateau of Productivity. “In India, most of the technologies have a high to moderate benefit for organisations and will take two to five years for mainstream adoption, with the exception of entity resolution and analysis, which will take five to 10 years,” said Asheesh Raina, principal research analyst, Gartner. “ICTs such as unified communications, mobile advertising, business service management tools and computational-fluid-dynamic (CFD) analysis are slipping toward the Trough of Disillusionment and are at the proof-point stage.”

“Those on the Technology Trigger (entity resolution and analysis, infrastructure as a service, media tablets, and solar energy technology) may take longer to achieve market acceptance, if at all. These technologies have less than 5 percent market penetration and long periods to mainstream adoption — generally a minimum of two years and as long as five to 10 years,” added Raina. In this Hype Cycle research, Gartner presents its views on the progress of some of the most interesting and significant technologies related to ICT in India. Technologies that contribute to the performance of an organisation, as well as to the wider economies in which they operate, are plenty. The 2011 Hype Cycle (see Figure 1) profiles 44 technologies that are relevant from the Indian market’s point of view. These technologies are categorised as emerging, mature and in-between based on several factors; all are important because they represent significant market and investment opportunities.

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India is one of the fastest-growing markets in terms of IT hardware and communications infrastructure consumption. With enterprises continuing to embrace IT to improve productivity and drive growth, penetration of ICT infrastructure has been growing rapidly during the past decade. The market witnessed high year-over-year revenue growth in 2010 compared with 2008 and 2009, which were marred by recession. Primary drivers include domestic consumption as a result of pent-up demand, increasing user maturity, software architectural advances, changing buyer patterns, and finally, the advent of newer alternative delivery models to consume software and services, such as the cloud and software as a service (SaaS).

“The overall technology lag (that is, global traction versus India traction) is slowly closing, and many organisations in India are open to exploring new technologies to attain that extra bit of business differentiation. The market is also witnessing the entry of local vendors in emerging, as well as mature technology segments, covering areas such as application development, business intelligence, business process management suites, CRM, data centers, ERP, HR management systems, and green and sustainability technology tools, and offering the same through SaaS and the cloud, “ said Raina.