Technology Solution Provider Unveils Fourth Annual Tech
Trends to Watch Study, Reveals Key Topics on the Minds of
Technology Professionals
Farmington Hills, MI, January 8,
2013 – When CIOs and CTOs turn to social networks, what
are they tech-talking about? Logicalis, an international IT
solutions and managed services provider (http://www.us.logicalis.com/),
conducted its fourth annual “Top 10 Tech Trends to Watch” study in
December 2012 to find out. The study, which analyzes CIOs’
and CTOs’ social media conversations, helped Logicalis determine
the important buzzwords and trends on top IT execs’ minds.
Least surprising was the experts’ in-depth discussions about the
cloud. Most surprising was the fact that two of the top 10
topics included in-depth discussions about managed services.
“There’s no better way to find out what’s on
customers’ minds than to tap into their social media buzz and hear
just what they’re talking about,” says Lisa Dreher, vice president
of marketing at Logicalis. “Hearing first-hand what topics
and concerns CIOs and CTOs are posting in blogs, forums, Facebook
and Twitter gives us critical information that we can use to tailor
our services to meet their needs. It’s something every
company should do at periodic intervals throughout the year, but
particularly as the year winds down. End-of-year discussions
like these indicate clear trends that can drive innovation.”
What Are CIOs and CTOs Talking
About?
1. Cloud: No
top-10 list about technology would be complete without including
the
cloud today. But, in the case of CIOs and CTOs and what
they’re chatting about, there were a host of critical sub-topics
that included managed services for the cloud, the rising importance
of hybrid clouds, moving applications to the cloud, and the ongoing
debate over private versus public clouds.
2.
Mobility: Gift-giving over the holidays included
an array of techno-devices that will surely make their way into
corporate environments. CIOs and CTOs, bracing for the influx
of new gadgetry and the impact of that wide assortment of devices
on corporate IT systems and security, were talking about mobility
with increasing fervor toward the end of 2012, making the
bring-your-own-device (BYOD) movement and its associated management
and security issues top-of-mind among social media
conversations. “Logicalis commissioned a significant BYOD
study in late 2012 that showed the U.S. is ahead of other
countries in asking employees to sign BYOD agreements, something
that CIOs and CTOs are surely discussing now, at the start of a new
year,” says Mark Kelly, Logicalis vice president of Communication
& Collaboration.
3.
Security: There’s a reason the word
security contains “IT.” From the impact of BYOD to the
possibility of data loss due to superstorms and other disasters,
CIOs and CTOs tasked with keeping their companies’ data secure –
both physically and systematically – have had plenty to talk
about.
4. Vendor
Management: Managing a data center is hard enough from a
technical perspective, but the asset and contract management that
necessarily goes with it adds burdens that IT execs are beginning
to realize can be effectively
outsourced.
5. Big Data:
When it comes to data-intensive operations, IT pros are faced with
an array of challenges from meeting peak demands for computing
horsepower to how to store all the data created.
6. Social
Media: Not only is social media a convenient way to tap
into the thoughts and opinions of colleagues, but it’s also
becoming “the world’s fastest, largest and most accurate focus
group,” Dreher says. “CIOs and CTOs are clearly learning to
tap these resources to see what IT trends they need to plan for and
to find out what strategies their peers have employed that they too
might want to adopt.”
7. Data Center
Efficiency: Running an efficient data center without
unnecessary redundancies and wasted computing power is a top
priority for IT pros today. Knowing this, Logicalis hosted a
five-part series of discussions about data center efficiency with
technology execs focused on key issues like data center
optimization, cloud computing, sunsetting old IT assets, network
rationalization, and managed services in late 2012.
8.
Innovation: Change is happening every day and a
new normal has to be developed. With data centers at the
heart of most corporations, CIOs and CTOs have to re-think end-user
computing, modernize application development and evolve their
infrastructure before the need for the services and solutions
they’re creating even exists.
9.
Outsourcing: Two areas of surprise in this year’s
study included the increase in discussions about vendor management
and about
outsourcing. Top IT pros are beginning to see the
advantages of doing what makes them a specialist in house, and
turning over the reins for more mundane tasks to an experienced
third party’s managed services team, freeing both time and
resources to focus on more strategic technology projects.
10. Data
Storage: As corporations rely increasingly more on their
data and information, storage discussions among the technology
experts supporting these companies naturally included everything
from storage requirements to the solutions needed to meet those
data management requirements.
About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international IT solutions and
managed services provider with a breadth of knowledge and expertise
in communications and collaboration; data center and cloud
services; and managed services.
Logicalis employs almost 3,000 people
worldwide, including highly trained service specialists who design,
specify, deploy and manage complex ICT infrastructures to meet the
needs of over 6,000 corporate and public sector customers. To
achieve this, Logicalis maintains strong partnerships with
technology leaders such as Cisco, HP, IBM, CA Technologies, NetApp,
VMware and ServiceNow.
The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of
over $1.2 billion, from operations in the UK, US, Germany, South
America and Asia Pacific, and is fast establishing itself as one of
the leading IT and Communications solution integrators,
specializing in the areas of advanced technologies and
services.
The Logicalis Group is a division of Datatec
Limited, listed on the Johannesburg and London AIM Stock Exchanges,
with revenues of over $5 billion.
For more information, visit http://www.us.logicalis.com/.
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