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.

Social connectedness and leveraging “the collective” were two big topics presented this morning. IT should embrace these ideas. UCLA research determined that the human brain feels pain and is more sensitive to pain when a person is socially excluded, even in an online social activity. People want to be connected.

I mentioned yesterday that the government makes datasets available to the collective intelligence of the world in hopes of solving our most challenging problems. This collective approach was presented again today. Examples included Ford Motor Co. They gave Ford Fiestas to 20 somethings for 6 months to see what they thought. The British government wanted to audit all the expense records of the Members of Parliament (MP) but didn’t have the staff to do it. They opened up the records to the public and over half the records have already been reviewed. The public participated not just to see how the MPs were spending money, but many participated to just be a part of the process. Several MPs are no longer there and this work will affect their elections next year.

We’ve also heard of individuals who’ve been able to get corporations to respond to issues when they post them in a public digital space. A gentleman’s guitar was broken by U.S. Air baggage handlers and he made a YouTube video about it. Over 5.7 million people tuned in and U.S. Air payed attention. He used typical processes to have his problem resolved and when that didn’t work, he changed his approach. There are many stories like this – because it works.

Analysts also discussed the importance of keeping an fresh eye on institutional IT data and measures - looking for new trends and new patterns that indicate new directions in IT indicators.

TAGS: Gartner, IT, Technology, Research, IT Collective

Vivek Kundra, President Obama’s newly appointed CIO, sees an opportunity to elevate the role of CIOs overall especially in the public sector. The public sector is falling behind on having CIOs at the table where innovation and planning occur at the top levels of an organization. Tactically, he plans to focus IT efforts on transparency, security, data portability, agility and innovation. Transparency is key from the administration’s perspective because the U.S. Government spends $76 billion annually on IT.

One of the most visible outcomes to Kundra’s leadership thus far is the Federal IT Dashboard offering visibility and transparency into the projects and investments in IT by the government. Representatives, senators, cabinet secretaries, watchdog  groups, and citizens alike can all keep an eye on government IT projects.

Another of Kundra’s initial efforts, Data.gov offers access to government datasets that previously weren’t available. The availability of this data is driving massive innovation efforts never before seen. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released data from their research on the human genome and innovation on research in personal medicine has skyrocketed.  Similarly, when the Dept. of Defense released data on their latest satellite research, it also resulted in massive amounts of innovtion. The idea is to have many eyes on the problems of the world – share data and reap the benefits of the innovation that follows. Kundra states that New York City and San Francisco are in process of following suit with similar efforts in their respecitive cities.

TAGS: Gartner, Federal Government, IT, Technology, Innovation,  Research, CIOs

Several top Gartner analysts offered opening comments at Gartner Fall ITxpo and Symposium in Orlando, FL this morning. Failing financial markets was the hot topic as it impacts all aspects of the IT business. As budgets tighten IT must innovate, cut, manage capacity, focus core services, and invest in infrastructure needed for the long haul. Modernization is also a focus as much IT infrastructure is dated. Leveraging IT staff and customer ideas will enable innovation in the face of many challenges. IT businesses must understand their operational environment and they must deliver real tangible business value. IT leaders who are courageous will carry the industry forward.

TAGS: Gartner, IT in 2008,