Forbes recently published an article that outlines the “Top Technology Trends for 2014 and Beyond”, as told by experts at Forrester Research.  It’s an excellent distillation of the trends we at Yottaa have observed of late.  Some highlights:

• “Physical and digital worlds are converging. As a result consumers expect uniform service whether they are in the physical world or if they are in the digital world.”
• “…’A great digital experience is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a make-or-break point for your business as we more fully enter the digital age.’ The report points to a growing number of firms that have chosen a mobile-first approach, but then [fall] flat because “systems of record cannot keep up with engagement needs.”
• “Forrester highlights that IT is losing its control over business intelligence platforms, tools and applications often due to IT’s inability to operate at the increased pace of the business.”
• “…Additionally, mobile strategies that have been a part of IT strategies across industries for a couple of years are now insufficient given the need to think of mobile as only one part of a broader omni-channel approach which requires a new kind of ‘application architecture that must be capable of supporting systems of engagement.'”

These comments square perfectly with our interpretation of IT, engagement, and digital experience. What we observe in the landscape today is that many businesses have simply amended existing strategies and structures to accommodate mobile and other new shopping behaviors. As a result they are struggling.  For example, 55% of time spent shopping online is from mobile devices, yet only 16% of shoppers ever convert or purchase on mobile devices. This kind of dissonance is seen wherever mobile is taking hold.

The comments also illustrate that it will take a wholesale new approach to effectively build for the future.  Business leaders will have to take risks by reforming their digital strategy — every CIO knows the greatest risk in ignoring mobile will be to create an outdated brand perception that drives users to more modern, mobile-friendly competitors.  Millions of mobile-equipped customers will flock to the few companies that get it right first. And then there’s this:

Forrester foresees a number of changes that will change infrastructure from [a] barrier to progress to [an] “enabler of business demand for engagement.” The report notes that leading companies are changing silo unified communications and collaboration, mobile device management and desktop computing to more efficiently deliver and foster employee engagement and innovation. Also, “converged infrastructure and software-defined networks are leading to the emergence of the software-defined data center (SDDC) as the new organizational model for intelligent infrastructure management – as a result, technology infrastructure will be able to deliver blazing fast performance on a variety of workloads, all at an affordable cost and level of complexity.“

These comments are validating for us at Yottaa.  We truly believe infrastructure should no longer be considered something that “just works” while other units focus on driving the business; that IT can and will be part of a holistic approach to optimizing business.

Moreover, the way that technology infrastructure is bought and sold is outmoded.  Just as enterprise software has evolved from its rigid and costly 1990’s-style model, technology should evolve to be flexible, affordable, and ROI-based.

Read the full article on Forbes here.