Gartner predicts top vertical industry predictions for IT firms for 2014

Involves 12 strategic planning assumptions that CIOs should factor into their enterprise planning and strategy-setting initiatives

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Gartner Inc, has revealed its top industry predictions for IT organisations and users for 2014 and beyond. The NYSE-listed IT research and advisory company's annual 'Predicts' research on industry trends titled 'Top Industries Predicts 2014: The Pressure for Fundamental Transformation Continues to Accelerate' features 12 strategic planning assumptions that CIOs (chief information officers), senior business executives and IT leaders should factor into their enterprise planning and strategy-setting initiatives.

“Transformation remains a critically important phenomenon across all industries. Many industries will face intense challenges in 2014 and beyond, and will have no choice but to radically change their established business models. Last year saw many industry decision-makers focusing on adopting new technologies to improve business operations by addressing developments such as the Nexus of Forces, the convergence of social, mobile, cloud and information. Today, by contrast, leaders are significantly shifting their business models and processes,” Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, vice-president and analyst at Gartner, said in a release.

She said that this trend was driven in part by the challenges of consumer empowerment and market commoditisation, which in many ways were greater than in the past, and were particularly difficult for traditional enterprises to address.

“The need to digitalise the business and be customer-centric is also crucial, and requires new approaches to information delivery, communication and transactions. Business leaders and CIOs must carefully assess their industry-specific strategic requirements, including the demands of consumers and business partners, to map out transformation plans based on new technology availability, consumer demographic/behavioral changes and market conditions,” he added.

CIOs and other IT and business leaders should use Gartner's predictions and recommendations to better understand the forces that are changing their world and develop strategies to address the requirements of this fast-changing business environment.

The top industry predictions include:
* By 2016, poor return on equity will drive more than 60 percent of banks worldwide to process the majority of their transactions in the cloud.

* By year-end 2017, at least seven of the world's top 10 multichannel retailers will use 3D printing technologies to generate custom stock orders.

* By 2017, more than 60 percent of government organisations with a CIO and a chief digital officer will eliminate one of these roles.

* By 2017, 40 percent of utilities with smart metering solutions will use cloud-based big data analytics to address asset-, commodity-, customer- or revenue-related needs.