Gartner Trends @ ITxpo

Gartner analysts describe what’s happening in video today as similar to mobile computing 3-5 years ago. It’s at the beginning of the big explosion and everyone wants to know more about how to successfully implement all forms of video in their enterprise.

Video in the enterprise comes in many forms and styles including events, on-demand, sharing and collaboration, mobile video, surveillance, and digital signage.

Collaborative video can take various forms and there’s a purpose to each. These include personal or desktop video, small room or group video, video appliances with executive endpoints, HD group video systems, and immersive telepresence. Understanding the differences and the various outcomes each offers, is a key to understanding what’s best for the enterprise – and we must help those in the business define their expectations to determine what technology best fits their need.

In the telepresence marketplace Cisco, Polycom, Tandberg, and Teliris rated most positive. And now that Cisco purchased Tandberg, analysts are further optimistic in this space.

Network architecture and infrastructure is a key component to successful video deployment in the enterprise. Have a collective and strategic approach to both the network and video deployment are a must going forward.

Nothing really new on the PMO/PM front, but here are a few highlights from today’s session.

Focus on expectations management – not communications management. Manage expections with:

• 360 degree communication
• Targeted multi-channel communication
• Focus on closing the gap between reality and expectations
• Continually assess the expectations of each group
• Work diligently to determine what each group needs to know

When driving change projects for the organization, bear in mind that there are struggles that individuals may go through during the change process. These are:  blame > denial > testing > skepticism > disbelief > hope > hard work > initial success > acceptance > ongoing success.

To help them through this as smoothly and as efficiently as possible, project managers must do the following:

For a PMO to be successful, an accurate IT Project Dashboard is critical. For a PM to be successful, an engaged project sponsor will make all the difference.

Peter Weill is the Chairman of the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), and partners with Gartner on this research. His presentation today was based on many years of research on the value of reuse in information systems.

Weill’s research shows reuse really pays off, but not all reuse pays off equally. He states that firms with more reuse not only perform better financially, but their CIOs are also rated as more effective. MIT CISR and Gartner assessed levels of reuse and performance in more than 1,000 firms focused on business process, data and technology reuse enterprisewide and within business units.

Reuse can come in the form of technology reuse, data reuse, and process reuse. Reuse in departments is easier to do first, but real value comes from reuse on an institutional level. Create centers of excellence and create consistent processes across organizations and locations. Key words he used to describe a path on how to implement reuse in an organization were: Start, Consolidate, Govern, Measure, Share, and Create Incentives.

More of his research is available through the Gartner EXP site.

According to Gartner analysts David Cearley and Carl Claunch, “A strategic technology is one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise during the next three years. Factors that denote significant impact include a high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar investment or the risk of being late to adopt. Companies should factor these technologies into their strategic planning process by asking key questions and making deliberate decisions about them during the next two years.”