For the most part, the experts and pundits seemed to disagree considerably on what the most important IT trends for 2007 are. In keeping with the festive tradition of predicting IT trends for the upcoming new year, this analyst decided to pull out her crystal ball, join the fray, and noodle on 2007 IT trends for SMBs.
Who's Who?
In the article "The 30 Most Important IT Trends for 2007," the authors aver that the information and statistics were "gleaned directly from the source: CIOs, CTOs, and other high-level technology executives." It is, however, unclear as to the distribution of these executives across company size and industry vertical. Are all companies represented, from the SMB to the large enterprise? This is unknown.
This analyst, however, believes that the CIO Insight survey population likely included IT executives from upper-middle to large enterprises. And to be fair, almost all the articles I have read regarding 2007 IT industry predictions are contradictory and confusing and often do not include the SMB or examine industry verticals closely. Moreover, few pundits and experts ever really re-examine their previous year's predications to determine if they were on the mark or in left field.
Let's All Party Like It's 1999
It does not take an Allison DuBois (from NBC's Medium) to forecast what the IT trends in SMB for 2007 will be. It really just takes some common sense. First, it is important to examine what the IT trends in SMB have been for the last several years. This might seem very pedestrian, but it does provide some useful insight into what we will see happening in 2007. SMBs, unlike their large-enterprise brethren, continue to identify most closely with their industry vertical. This is not new. And which industry vertical the SMB is in contributes to determining if it is likely to be a technology leader or a follower. Moreover, some industry verticals (e.g., healthcare) have not just been followers; they continue to drown in archipelagos of information. Some even lack rudimentary automation. Other SMB organizations have glided easily into portal technology and are even beginning to dabble in service-oriented architecture (SOA).
It is upon this type of information that we can proceed to extrapolate into 2007.
It's Still the Economy
For many SMB organizations, cost reduction is and will continue to be paramount. Reports on how the economy and job market are doing change as often as we change our socks. Incidentally, a recent eWeek.com article entitled "Holiday Season Brings Surge in Jobless Claims" indicates that "[t]he number of U.S. workers applying for jobless benefits climbed to their highest level in over a year, according to the Labor Department report released November 29." What the unemployment numbers do not include are those persons who are unemployed but are no longer collecting unemployment insurance. But I digress.... Suffice to say that SMB IT shops will continue to do more with less. Am I starting to sound like a broken record, for those of you who know what a record is?
Reports in 2005 indicated that IT budgets would increase, along with spending, in 2006. I have since seen similar predictions for 2007. What are these people smoking? Perhaps IT budgets have grown and may continue to swell for capital acquisitions and long-overdue projects (such as ERP upgrades, etc.), but do not get the idea that discretionary spending is on the rise.
On Your Mark, Get Ready, Set, Go
Competitive differentiation will also be key in 2007 as retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) SMBs, for example, struggle to compete against monoliths such as Wal-Mart. Other SMBs will worry about being subsumed in mergers and acquisitions. This will be especially true for SMB technology companies. Manufacturing companies will continue to feel the pinch as production work is outsourced. This can be a double-edged sword for the IT shop as it will need to rise to the occasion and globalize processing. The boon is that IT can earn kudos for a job done well.
Efficiency Expertise, by Any Other Name
Business process improvement—reported as "Job No. 1" in CIO Insight's "The 30 Most Important IT Trends for 2007"—will be important for SMBs as this is an area to reduce waste and redundancy and also to prove to upper management the value of IT. SOA may rear its nascent head, but for the SMB, SOA adoption will need to accompany hard return on investment (ROI). SOA has great potential, but SMBs will need to figure out how it will best work for them and upon what IT-supported business processes they are likely to get the most bang for the SOA buck.
How Do You Spell ROI?
Segueing into ROI, the CIO Insight report indicated that once again, demonstrating ROI will be the bane of IT's existence. This continues to be a problem, especially in the SMB, because many SMB IT managers do not also wear the accountant's visor. A quick and dirty solution: "hire" someone from accounting for a short time to help with demonstrating ROI. Trust me; it's worth it. Why try to re-invent the wheel?
The New Cold War
Another important trend for the SMB will be security, along with backup and recovery. Virtualization is the new mantra, and SMB IT shops must get on board. The world is not a safe place. Security breaches are reaching epidemic proportions—even in sophisticated IT shops. This also represents a huge area of risk and loss. Therefore, bullet-proofing systems and networks is likely to be an industry trend as well as a "top down" priority. Backup and recovery, however mundane, is another key area. Natural disasters, the omnipresent threat of terrorism, and federal regulations are daunting. It is imperative to have the required redundancy and a recovery plan. IBM Global Services (IGS) provides business continuity and recovery services to SMBs. It might be worthwhile investigating the cost/benefit of assistance from IBM or a Business Partner.
The Bottom Line: It's About the People
IT staffing has also recently been in the news. SMB IT managers will likely continue to seek IT professionals with knowledge of the business as well as the IT technology they will be developing and/or supporting.
Auld Lang Syne
Since we really cannot "predict" what the future will bring, it is the present that should inform SMB IT decision-making in 2007. MC Systems Insight invites its readership to share their plans for, and their thoughts about, 2007. Moreover, this analyst promises to revisit her predictions next year to determine how accurate or inaccurate they were.
Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year.
Maria A. DeGiglio is President of, and Principal Analyst for, Maria A. DeGiglio & Associates, an advisory firm that provides clients with accurate and actionable information on business and technology initiatives. You can reach Ms. DeGiglio at
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