Sitting as we are at the end of the year, the trade press recently has been full of predictions for content and information management, and it’s very hard to know which scenarios are the most likely. For example, some experts1 are on record as saying mobility will be all the rage, while others don’t even have it on their list.
The thing to remember is that it’s all very situational: for what kinds of businesses? of what size? with what problems? from which analyst specializing in what coverage? It’s useful and important to read ’em all, but be sure you take the opinions under advisement rather than rush off and do something just because “so-and-so says.”
Not that you’d ever do that – but I’m sure you know people who would, and you can show them this article to talk them out of it.
And now, without further ado: Weissman’s World Big 8 Predictions for 2011 –
1. Spending on information and process solutions will increase modestly as organizations realize that, slow times or not, they still have to get stuff done.
2. Inexplicably, organizations still will continue to place insufficient emphasis on the up-front diligence required to ensure the smooth implementation of, and maximum total value from, their initiatives.
3. Cloud computing (for both software and infrastructure) will edge into mainstream thinking and force new levels of focus on, and offerings surrounding, configurable service-level agreements.
4. Social computing will begin to recede as a business issue – not because it isn’t relevant, but because it will come to be viewed as just another communications channel.
5. SharePoint will keep rocking and rolling, but the initial rush will be tempered by a better understanding of where can fit best and what its true costs can be.
6. Interoperability will move toward the top of the charts as a key issue, fulfilling a trend first identified and significantly researched by this observer in 2002.
7. As it does, a groundswell of reorganizations will begin as bridges are built between IT and such other critical operations groups as forms, records, and telecommunications.
8. Most technology stacks will continue to plunge toward commodity status, leaving ‘service’ and ‘value’ as the items of most critical interest.
1 The best definition of ‘expert’ I ever heard: “X” is the unknown, and “spurt” is a drip under pressure. Fill in your own candidates here!
Got some predictions of your own? Here’s another one of mine: you will sign up for Weissman’s World free newsletter by January 1 and download your FREE “Key Questions” guides for imaging, SharePoint, and vendor selection. Click here for details!