Eric Bilange, Head of Rich Engagement Services, Acision

Data privacy and security

As we move towards greater freedom and choice in terms of BYOD and more flexible working practices in general, it’s vital that the standards of security and products available to keep our data safe keep up with those looking to exploit weaknesses in technology.

Strong, yet lightweight, encryption on both a device and network level for communication and other work ensures privacy and integrity of our data. I would like to see more clarity in mobile app terms and conditions, and more clearly delineated and transparent access permissions. Users should be in full control of their own private data and apps should present simple and clear opt-in/opt-out options.

Desks to go mobile

There has been a general increase in remote working all over the world. However, most mobile devices today aren’t set up to the extent that they could actually replace your desk. The rise of OTTs has made instantaneous communication easy and now widely accepted and expected. Email is slow.

CIOs want new tools to make mobile working much easier while also protecting enterprise assets with strong privacy – so, open social networks are not usable. The adoption of more sophisticated messaging services will start to rise next year and this will help CIOs to facilitate this experience.

By giving employees access to lots of communications services within one app (or an array of apps), companies based around the world will be able to bring their field workers together. The future of mobile communications is using rich messaging, with negotiations dealt with in real-time. From a video consultation delivered via WebRTC, to paying a supplier by instant message, in 2015 mobile services will be based more around rich communications to ensure faster, more effective business processes.

Neil Kinson, vice president EMEA, Redwood Software

Back office functions

In today’s day and age, businesses work with greater complexity than ever before. Moving into 2015, we would like to see the ‘back-office’ function, a seemingly complex and ‘hidden’ process, receive even greater recognition as a strategic business asset both by the CEO and CIO. Combining an industrial mind-set with new, faster strategic process automation to make back-office work less tedious, risky and time-consuming will give leading organisations a definite competitive edge next year and beyond."

IDC

Analyst firm IDC predicted a whole raft of things that CIOs will need and be prepared for next year. Some of the predictions were:

The predictions from the IDC FutureScape for CIO Agenda are:

  • By 2016, 65% of global competitive strategies will require real-time 3rdPlatform IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS).
  • By 2016, security will be a top 3 business priority for 70% of CEOs of global enterprises.
  • By 2015, 60% of CIOs will use DevOps as their primary tool to address the speed and sprawl of mobile, cloud, and open source applications.
  • By 2016, 80% of CIOs will deliver a new architectural framework that enables innovation and improved business decision-making.
  • By 2020, 60% of CIOs in global organizations will be supplanted by the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) for the delivery of IT-enabled products and digital services.
  • By 2016, 80% of CIOs will accelerate 3rd Platform migration to counter premature obsolescence of current IT assets.
  • By 2018, 30% of CIOs of global organizations will have rolled out a pan-enterprise data and analytics strategy.
  • By 2017, 35% of vendor sourcing relationships around 3rd Platform technologies will fail, causing CIOs to roll out new sourcing processes.
  • By 2018, 50% of CIOs will relinquish IT’s traditional mode of technology control in favor of an open standards-based framework.

"The transformations brought about by the 3rd platform are having significant effects on how the business uses IT, how IT is delivered, and how the IT organisation is structured. Insightful CIOs will seize the opportunity to be key players in this transformation and elevate their role in the enterprise" said Michael Rosen, Adjunct Research Advisor with IDC’s Research Network.