Frost & Sullivan: Technology – Not Business – To Drive New Business Models in 2012
Announcement posted by Frost & Sullivan 16 Feb 2012
The cloud, mobility and social networking will change the way business thinks
Frost & Sullivan today announced its three foundation predictions for the Australian ICT industry in 2012. These are: Cloud computing will become mainstream; the rise in cloud services will drive mobile computing; and the pervasive nature of social networking plus the need to manage online reputations will see social media widely integrated into business activities.
In addition, due to the dovetailing of these three trends, Frost & Sullivan predicts an inversion of the traditional relationship between technology and business so that rather than responding to business needs, developments within the ICT sector will increasingly drive business process change, in some instances forcing the creation of new business models.
This shift in relationship is already evident in the media, retail, travel and hospitality industries and will become widespread across other sectors in the coming 12 months. The scenario was outlined in Sydney today by Frost & Sullivan analysts at the company's 2012 ICT Outlook briefing.
Executives are warned that no matter what their industry they will need to closely monitor the activities of technology firms, particularly leaders such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook, to assess how developments in these trends may impact their operations. “Consider the effect of mobile payment products such as Google Wallet, which are enabling technology firms to compete with financial services firms and which will change the way people spend money,” says Andrew Milroy, Vice President – ICT Research Asia Pacific, Frost & Sullivan.
Within the enterprise Frost & Sullivan predicts the emergence of a new environment, one powered by the cloud with applications delivered via the Software-as-a-Service model to virtualised desktops. As distinctions between fixed and mobile communications erode and the workplace becomes device-agnostic, the concept of “bring your own device” will become readily accepted. Tablet adoption, which witnessed good growth in 2011, will continue to expand within the enterprise as the devices are used for e-mail, collaboration and video.
On the consumer side, Australia has seen quite a remarkable uptake in smartphones, with the country having an even higher penetration rate that the United States at the moment according to Marc Einstein, Tokyo-based ICT industry manager for Frost & Sullivan. He added that one of the key reasons Apple and Samsung went to court in the market is that both have done so well. Mr. Einstein believes that this rapid growth in smartphones will continue to fuel a growing m-commerce and m-payment sector while machine-to-machine communications and m-health are also set for rapid growth in the market.
All of this will lead to an increase in the number of employees opting for remote or home working arrangements. Video conferencing – using mobile, desktop and room-based systems – will increase, changing the way employees work and collaborate, and the role of the physical office will shift, becoming a place for face-to-face meetings rather than the hub of day-to-day corporate activity.
Unified communications (UC) are crucial to achieving this vision, enabling essential applications in the areas of conferencing and collaboration, messaging, presence, email and contact centre management. With more than $2 billion spent on UC solutions in the past three years and growth predicted to continue for the long term, UC is an area of intense vendor and channel competition.
To date the majority of UC deployments in Australia have been procured as application silos. Decisions are made on the basis of an individual project rather than with a “big picture” solution in mind. It's a pattern of behaviour that Frost & Sullivan believes will continue in the short term. This year almost 50 percent of UC revenues will come from voice and by 2017, the conferencing and collaboration segment is expected to account for close to 24 percent of all UC revenues.
Effect on the Channel
The move to the cloud will require significant change within the ICT channel. Audrey William, Research Director - ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, warns, “Resellers and system integrators who rely on license fees and box shifting are likely to face extreme challenges. Traditional services margins are already thinning so there is an urgent need for the channel to re-invent itself. The cloud will bring new opportunities but to capitalise on them, resellers and systems integrators are going to have to find different ways of adding value for clients.”
Other major predictions for 2012 include:
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com
In addition, due to the dovetailing of these three trends, Frost & Sullivan predicts an inversion of the traditional relationship between technology and business so that rather than responding to business needs, developments within the ICT sector will increasingly drive business process change, in some instances forcing the creation of new business models.
This shift in relationship is already evident in the media, retail, travel and hospitality industries and will become widespread across other sectors in the coming 12 months. The scenario was outlined in Sydney today by Frost & Sullivan analysts at the company's 2012 ICT Outlook briefing.
Executives are warned that no matter what their industry they will need to closely monitor the activities of technology firms, particularly leaders such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook, to assess how developments in these trends may impact their operations. “Consider the effect of mobile payment products such as Google Wallet, which are enabling technology firms to compete with financial services firms and which will change the way people spend money,” says Andrew Milroy, Vice President – ICT Research Asia Pacific, Frost & Sullivan.
Within the enterprise Frost & Sullivan predicts the emergence of a new environment, one powered by the cloud with applications delivered via the Software-as-a-Service model to virtualised desktops. As distinctions between fixed and mobile communications erode and the workplace becomes device-agnostic, the concept of “bring your own device” will become readily accepted. Tablet adoption, which witnessed good growth in 2011, will continue to expand within the enterprise as the devices are used for e-mail, collaboration and video.
On the consumer side, Australia has seen quite a remarkable uptake in smartphones, with the country having an even higher penetration rate that the United States at the moment according to Marc Einstein, Tokyo-based ICT industry manager for Frost & Sullivan. He added that one of the key reasons Apple and Samsung went to court in the market is that both have done so well. Mr. Einstein believes that this rapid growth in smartphones will continue to fuel a growing m-commerce and m-payment sector while machine-to-machine communications and m-health are also set for rapid growth in the market.
All of this will lead to an increase in the number of employees opting for remote or home working arrangements. Video conferencing – using mobile, desktop and room-based systems – will increase, changing the way employees work and collaborate, and the role of the physical office will shift, becoming a place for face-to-face meetings rather than the hub of day-to-day corporate activity.
Unified communications (UC) are crucial to achieving this vision, enabling essential applications in the areas of conferencing and collaboration, messaging, presence, email and contact centre management. With more than $2 billion spent on UC solutions in the past three years and growth predicted to continue for the long term, UC is an area of intense vendor and channel competition.
To date the majority of UC deployments in Australia have been procured as application silos. Decisions are made on the basis of an individual project rather than with a “big picture” solution in mind. It's a pattern of behaviour that Frost & Sullivan believes will continue in the short term. This year almost 50 percent of UC revenues will come from voice and by 2017, the conferencing and collaboration segment is expected to account for close to 24 percent of all UC revenues.
Effect on the Channel
The move to the cloud will require significant change within the ICT channel. Audrey William, Research Director - ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, warns, “Resellers and system integrators who rely on license fees and box shifting are likely to face extreme challenges. Traditional services margins are already thinning so there is an urgent need for the channel to re-invent itself. The cloud will bring new opportunities but to capitalise on them, resellers and systems integrators are going to have to find different ways of adding value for clients.”
Other major predictions for 2012 include:
- Social media will create opportunities for growth in the contact centre domain
- Expect the emergence of numerous Australian social media start-ups
- Acquisitions of service providers and channel partners will become common in the next 12 months
- E-mail will evolve into a more collaborative platform that includes social media, video, voice and collaboration
- Contact centres have reached the juncture where customer experience must be enhanced to incorporate social and mobile trends
- Smartphone penetration will reach 70% of active users in 2012, Android remain the leading OS
- 4G will start to take off in 2013-2014
- M-commerce and M2M communications will be the fastest growing new mobile verticals
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com