Is it technology or people...

The pressure has never been greater on the IT department to contain or take our cost and at the same time improve operational efficiency which remains the main driver for re-appraising how services are delivered to the user. Additionally, there is the need to provide access to information - from anywhere - to ensure data is secure, to ensure regulatory compliance, and corporate governance and to become more sustainable.

The technologies that will shape the desktop in the coming years evolve around virtualisation and the growing acceptance of services being delivered over the internet, via 'Cloud Computing'.

What is unquestionably the case is the economic landscape, that is, an unrelenting pressure to do more with less and or to do more differently? And, to do it more quickly than ever before. Enterprises are searching for ways to deliver products and services faster and more efficiently than the competition; to reduce risk and to do it whilst complying with the plethora of government regulations and legislation.

The analysts all point to a continuation of this commoditisation in hardware, storage, telecommunications and connectivity. The result will be more competition and fundamentally lower prices for consumers and businesses. This affordability will continue to change consumer behaviours which in turn will impact the enterprise in terms of how it meets the changing demands and expectations of its customers and its employees.

This is bringing about a shift in the balance of powers from provider to user. users from both the consumer and corporate perspective. Technology is now easier to use, more intuitive - and rather than dictating user behaviours, computers work the way the users behave. and this will continue to get increasingly easier. Ultimately, control is shifting from the programmers to just about everyone.

(ITadviser, Issue 58, Summer 2009)