By John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
June 7, 2010

The emergence of the cloud, the potency of the new Web, and the proliferation of mobile devices are just some of the key technology trends global outsourcing provider Accenture is seeing to take over the enterprise world in the next three to five years.

In an announcement made before the press hours before the annual CIO Forum where the company gathered local CIOs and IT mangers to update them on new technology trends, Michael Redding, the BPO firm’s global managing director for Accenture Technology Labs, their R&D division, highlighted seven key trends that will define the way enterprises run their businesses.

Foremost of these trends is the jump to cloud computing, which Redding describes as a “powerful trend” that can match IT supply to business demand. “20% of servers in the world are bought by only four companies: Amazon, Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft,” he pointed out.

This enables the aforementioned firms to offer their servers for rent, which is a form of cloud computing. “Every layer of the stack can be subscribed to as a service,” Redding explained. “So instead of owning the hardware, they can just rent it.”

IT equipment, however, is not the only element of IT being dispersed by new technology developments. Special equipments—such as video and audio players—are slowly being replaced by new Web 2.0 elements, according to Redding.

“Now, the browser is all you need,” he emphasized. Redding highlighted the emergence of HTML5, which is able to deliver rich media experience through the browser, instead of other standalone applications. “This will change the way CIOs deliver applications to their employees,” he added.

Another change in the application delivery space is brought about by mobility, which is opening up the enterprise to new channels and devices acting as doorways to information. “Smartphones are not expensive phones, they are cheap computers,” the Accenture executive remarked.

Redding said CIOs should first think about building their mobile platform, because today, “the way to reach customers is through mobile.”

The name of the game, therefore, is flexibility, or as Accenture would candidly put it, elasticity. “The successful enterprise of tomorrow is going to be flexible, and can adapt to a number of factors and changes in the industry,” Redding added.

Other technology trends Accenture is foreseeing to dominate global organizations include: fluid collaboration through major software platforms; the rise of social media and the creation of the conversation economy; the use of data to make decisions in order to differentiate; and the fourth generation of system development, which relies on cloud-based architecture.

Accenture is a global management, consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company, with a 181,000 employee base in over 120 countries. In its delivery center in the Philippines, the company employs at least 18,000 people to service global clients in Europe, North America, and Asia.

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