Gartner's 10 predictions for IT industry for 2008 and beyond

http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/jan/31infotech.htm

Leading IT industry analyst firm Gartner Inc has highlighted 10 key predictions of events and developments that will affect IT and business in 2008 and beyond.
The predictions highlight areas where executives and IT professionals need to take action in 2008. The full impact of these trends may not appear this year, but executives need to act now so that they can exploit the trends for their competitive advantage.
"Selected from across our research areas as the most compelling and critical predictions, the trends and topics they address this year indicate a strong focus on individuals, the environment, and alternative ways of buying and selling IT services and technologies," said Daryl Plummer, managing vice president and Gartner Fellow, in a media release on Thursday.
The predictions that Gartner has made for the year 2008 focus on general technology areas rather than on specific industries or roles. These include:
1. By 2011, Apple will double its American and western European market share in computers: Apple's gains in computer market share reflect as much on the failures of the rest of the industry as on Apple's success. Apple is challenging its competitors with software integration that provides ease of use and flexibility; continuous and more frequent innovation in hardware and software; and an ecosystem that focuses on interoperability across multiple devices (such as iPod and iMac cross-selling).
2. By 2012, 50 per cent of traveling workers will leave their notebooks at home in favour of other devices: Even though notebooks continue to shrink in size and weight, travelling workers lament the weight and inconvenience of carrying them on their trips. Vendors are developing solutions to address these concerns: new classes of Internet-centric pocketable devices at the sub-$400 level; and server and Web-based applications that can be accessed from anywhere. There is also a new class of applications: portable personality that encapsulates a user's preferred work environment, enabling the user to recreate that environment across multiple locations or systems.
3. By 2012, 80 per cent of all commercial software will include elements of open-source technology: Many open-source technologies are mature, stable and well supported. They provide significant opportunities for vendors and users to lower their total cost of ownership and increase returns on investment. Ignoring this will put companies at a serious competitive disadvantage.
Embedded open source strategies will become the minimal level of investment that most large software vendors will find necessary to maintain competitive advantages during the next five years.
4. By 2012, at least one-third of business application software spending will be as service subscription instead of as product license: With software as service (SaaS), the user organisation pays for software services in proportion to use. This is fundamentally different from the fixed-price perpetual license of the traditional on-premises technology. Endorsed and promoted by all leading business applications vendors (Oracle, SAP, Microsoft) and many Web technology leaders (Google, Amazon), the SaaS model of deployment and distribution of software services will enjoy steady growth in mainstream use during the next five years.
5. By 2011, early technology adopters will forgo capital expenditures and instead purchase 40 per cent of their IT infrastructure as a service: Increased high-speed bandwidth makes it practical to locate infrastructure at other sites and still receive the same response times. Enterprises believe that as service oriented architecture (SOA) becomes common 'cloud computing' will take off, thus untying applications from specific infrastructure.
This trend to accepting commodity infrastructure could end the traditional 'lock-in' with a single supplier and lower the costs of switching suppliers. It means that IT buyers should strengthen their purchasing and sourcing departments to evaluate offerings. They will have to develop and use new criteria for evaluation and selection and phase out traditional criteria.
6. By 2009, more than one-third of IT organisations will have one or more environmental criteria in their top six buying criteria for IT-related goods: Initially, the motivation will come from the wish to contain costs. Enterprise data centres are struggling to keep pace with the increasing power requirements of their infrastructures. And there is substantial potential to improve the environmental footprint, throughout the life cycle, of all IT products and services without any significant trade-offs in price or performance.
In future, IT organisations will shift their focus from the power efficiency of products to asking service providers about their measures to improve energy efficiency.
7. By 2010, 75 per cent of organisations will use full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint as mandatory PC hardware buying criteria: Most technology providers have little or no knowledge of the full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint of their products. Some technology providers have started the process of life cycle assessments, or at least were asking key suppliers about carbon and energy use in 2007 and will continue in 2008.
Most others using such information to differentiate their products will start in 2009 and by 2010 enterprises will be able to start using the information as a basis for purchasing decisions. Most others will stat some level of more detailed life cycle assessment in 2008.
8. By 2011, suppliers to large global enterprises will need to prove their green credentials via an audited process to retain preferred supplier status: Those organisations with strong brands are helping to forge the first wave of green sourcing policies and initiatives. These policies go well beyond minimising direct carbon emissions or requiring suppliers to comply with local environmental regulations.
For example, Timberland has launched a 'Green Index' environmental rating for its shoes and boots. Home Depot is working on evaluation and audit criteria for assessing supplier submissions for its new EcoOptions product line.
9. By 2010, end-user preferences will decide as much as half of all software, hardware and services acquisitions made by IT: The rise of the Internet and the ubiquity of the browser interface have made computing approachable and individuals are now making decisions about technology for personal and business use.
Because of this, IT organisations are addressing user concerns through planning for a global class of computing that incorporates user decisions in risk analysis and innovation of business strategy.
10. Through 2011, the number of 3-D printers in homes and businesses will grow 100-fold over 2006 levels: The technology lets users send a file of a 3-D design to a printer-like device that will carve the design out of a block of resin. A manufacturer can make scale models of new product designs without the expense of model makers. Or consumers can have models of the avatars they use online.
Ultimately, manufacturers can consider making some components on demand without having an inventory of replacement parts. Printers priced less than $10,000 have been announced for 2008, opening up the personal and hobbyist markets.

Marketing Fundae

Professor at a marketing class was explaining marketing concepts: You see a gorgeous girl at a party। You go up to her and say, "I am very rich।Marry me!" That's Direct Marketing.
.You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl। One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says, "He's very rich।Marry him." That's Advertising.
You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number. The next day you call and say "Hi,I'm very rich.Marry me." That's Telemarketing. You're at a party and see a gorgeous girl. You get up and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour her a drink. You open the door for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her a ride, and then say, "By the way, I'm very rich.Will you marry me?" That's Public Relations.
You're at a party and see a gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says, "You are very rich॥" That's Brand Recognition.
You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say, "I'm rich.Marry me" She gives you a nice hard slap on your face. That's Customer Feedback !!!!!
You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say, "I am very rich.Marry me!" And she introduces you to her husband That's demand and supply gap.
You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say, "I am very rich.Marry me!" she turns her face towards you.............and...........she is your wife ! That's competition eating into your market share.

Indian retailers, design firms scouting for talent from Europe

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/01/03/stories/2008010352280500.htm

Indian retailers, design firms scouting for talent from Europe
Swetha Kannan
Bangalore, Jan. 2 Shortage of design talent in the country forces Indian retailers and design firms to look at talent from Europe. While the number of designers in India is woefully inadequate, the scene is the reverse in Europe – where there is a huge supply and very little work.
Design is no longer only about fashion designing. With the retail sector set to grow big time in India, the role of retail and product design has become vital. It involves the entire gamut of services from packaging, branding and product designing to visual merchandising. With heightened awareness and sensitivity to good design, adequate skilled manpower is the need of the hour.
Idiom Design and Consulting, the design company from the Future Group, had a few months ago, employed five-six designers on a “time period bound” “contract basis” from France and Poland to work on its various projects. It is open to employing European designers again in future too. Design firms such as JHP, Astound and Fitch have also worked on Indian retail projects. London-based JHP has designed the retail stores of some of Arvind Group’s brands, while British design firm Astound has worked on Reliance Fresh stores. This is only the tip – the reverse outsourcing story is set to grow if the demand-supply situation in India continues.
According to an Indo-Dutch market scan done by a Dutch delegation in August last year, India has about 3,000 practising designers, compared to one lakh designers in the EU. Says Mr Girsh Raj, Founder Member, Idiom Design and Consulting: “Idiom has in the past employed the services of designers from Europe… not for global involvement or understanding but because of lack of design talent in the country. There are just a handful of design schools.
In fact, Idiom alone can absorb all the designers from every reputed design school every year.” The talent crunch is both in terms of numbers and skill, he adds.
Ms Revathi Kant, Business Head – Design, Titan Industries, agrees that there is a serious shortage in India. “While around 1,000 people pass out of the top design institutes every year, the industry’s demand is eight-fold,” she says.
Contrast this to the scene in Europe, where there are more designers than there is work. A scenario that has prompted European designers to look at India for work.
Although there is no great advantage in employing European designers , it definitely makes sense to “try them out” since there is an obvious interest from Europe and also considering that there are not many in India to choose from, says Mr Raj. He says European designers “love the fact that there is so much work in India. Also, there is an emerging market here compared to saturated markets in Europe… besides like in every other industry, they think that sooner or later, there is money to be made for them in India.”Importance of design
The importance of aesthetics and design is growing in the Indian market today and retailers cannot afford to have a blinkered vision anymore. Ms Sujata Keshavan, Director, Ray + Keshavan, a brand and design consultancy firm, says, “For long we blithely ignored design. We merely copied products. But now involvement in design has become an absolute must for retailers. They can ignore design at their own peril.”
Since European designers have limitations of lack of understanding of the Indian cultural context, besides reluctance to work in the “chaotic” environment that India provides, Indian designers have a real edge. But for now, the numbers just don’t seem to add up!
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