This is my first post of 2012... So Hope you all had a great Holiday season and got much needed break, rest and time off and like me energized to tackle new Challenges of 2012!
I took some time to travel to far off places and with my travels I have observed amazing trends, which I remember discussing in my previous post and it is around surge and ubiquity with mobile technologies. I have seen that in regions that we have termed as “growth Markets” like India, Africa etc, have skipped an entire generation of communication channels ( traditional mail, e-mails) and jumped straight to mobile based communication either due to:
1. Lack of access to computers, traditional phone lines (POTS) or
2. Simple access to these i.e. either at workplace or at home.
However, access to Mobile phones is rampant. For one, they are lot cheaper than traditional computers, and provide significant level of access to cyberspace. In many countries SMS based applications are rampant as not everyone can afford smart phones. Now this trend resonates with one trend we see in developed economies like the EU, US and SA --- same is true with digital natives.
Conclusion: In many ways the world is converging to this universal communication channel, be it the village scholar in Africa or a teenage student in US – They all seem to be humming the same tune.
Why is this relevant:
Businesses all around the world are and will try to capitalize on this converging platform. As this platform access is local with potential global reach.
Here is where we come in:
I was at Lotusphere 2012 last week, and the theme of the conference was “Business made Social” – The entire conference was dedicated to technologies aimed at bringing people together and harnessing the collective knowledge and decision making capability on a single collaborative platform. Lotus brand will call it communities, but the point is to harness the collective power organizational social network to address the new business models. --- This.. I think is an emerging platform where we will do business. Of course some of the trends painted was in my opinion hype and far reaching but there is certain amount of truth in productivity achieved with personal/social network.
Tying it all in:
We see a global trend and then we see new models – some adapting, some leading and yes some dying failing to adapt. So our conversation with our client – as I have always asserted needs to be relevant.
Many clients have said - first it was SOA, now it is cloud, and spotting the trend this year it will be Social-Mobile, are we just coining new fancy terms to combat the same problem? I do not know , but I certainly know that it is an evolution, virtualization came before cloud and is an important component of the Cloud. Cloud, which is not just confined to provisioning and automation, is real. Our role is greater at this time to help our clients understand the distinction and partner with them to make the right choices. I would even argue that resonating with the theme of “evolution” that certain elements and tenets of cloud computing may even be foundation for a robust Social – (and/or) Mobile foundation. And is Social – Mobile strategy different?
I would argue NOT… I would say Mobile is now a channel to be Social --- everything else is ‘supporting technology base’!
As always I will be interested in your thoughts and opinions!
So to Embrace 2012 - MY focus will be on the following areas:
1. Middleware runtime - Focusing back to basics with WebSphere runtime and base WebSphere centric application Infrastructures. This is due to intense competition from OSS.
2. Mobile Platform - I think this is relevant as it creeps into application infrastructure and amalgamates mobility platform, social network and social channels that interact with enterprise hosted application infrastructure.
Lastly,
3. Focus on core and relevant technologies that address our client’s pain points!
Have a Great weekend!
:)
Nitin
