How a tech 'watch list' can save CIOs from being caught out

Companies should create their own "technology watch lists" so they know when cutting-edge technology is ready for widespread adoption - and also to keep the CIO from being ambushed by other execs.

Research company Forrester said enterprise architects (EA) should build a list of technologies to watch, for CIOs to use to educate business peers and influence their strategy. Such a list should also ensure the CIO won't be caught out by other execs clutching case studies of the successful implementation of new technology at other companies.

"Your organisation needs a 'watch list' - even if it is for no other reason than to stay ahead of business leaders tempted to bring in news articles of an aggressive adopter's glowing results," the research company said.

When building their lists, firms should bring in their own specific context - from industry to market dynamics to cultural factors - as filters to determine which technologies could be significant to them. For example, mobile apps on smartphones might not be important to a manufacturer, though they might be very interesting to a professional services firm, the Forrester Research report The Top 15 Technology Trends EA Should Watch said.

Companies should also ask other firms what's on their watch list and why, and start working on strategies for highly complex and high-impact technologies now.

Forrester also published a list of the top 15 technology trends enterprise architects should watch, with 'real-time' business intelligence, packaged apps that incorporate software as a service and 'people-centric collaboration platforms' featuring high on their list of priorities.

The analysts said IT organisations need to include in their annual - and longer-term - plans an understanding of how changes in technology will inform business decisions, with enterprise architects being the "logical leaders for this effort".

Of its list of trends, regarding real-time BI, the researchers said: "A few years ago, business intelligence was about improved efficiency of back-office reporting; today, firms compete based on insights from analytics. With real-time business intelligence, the analysis emphasis will begin to encompass more than just basic reporting, shifting toward operational analytics, prediction and free-form exploration."

The report added that because some of the issues with software as a service - such as security and availability - are being resolved, take up is likely to increase in the next few years.

Another big impact technology according to Forrester will be increasingly people-centric collaboration technologies where profiling, tagging and communities are used to improve the way people in the business interact with each other. The report suggests this approach may mean email is relied upon less for communicating within organisations.

Other technologies judged by Forrester to be increasingly important over the next few years include policy-based SOA, mobile apps and business processes, cloud-based platforms, web 2.0-enabled business process management, the wider use of telepresence and client virtualisation.

Author of the report, research director Alex Cullen, suggested that the industry is currently entering a new period of technology innovation and growth.

"Who would have thought five years ago that cell phones would have 2MB data network connections for use by special mobile applications or that datacentre capacity would be available "on demand" over the internet and paid for by credit card?"

The full list of technology predictions according to Forrester include:

• Business intelligence goes real-time
• Business rules processing moves to the mainstream
• SaaS becomes ubiquitous for packaged apps
• Collaboration platforms become people-centric
• Policy-based SOA becomes predominant
• Apps and business processes go mobile
• Customer community platforms integrate with business apps
• Cloud-based platforms become standard
• Master data management matures
• Mobile networks and devices gain more power
• Data quality services become real-time
• BPM will be web-2.0-enabled
• Client virtualisation is ubiquitous
• Telepresence gains widespread use
• Security will be data- and content-based.