The Wipro-CTO Forum survey reveals which emerging technologies will find favour with Indian CIOs in the next three years

In today’s day and age more and more technologies are emerging for enterprises of all shapes and sizes. With many companies now evaluating technologies like the cloud, and mobility, both of which have evolved at a phenomenal rate, CIOs today, are under even more pressure to bring their enterprises up to speed. Emerging Technlogies CIO Priorities

However, although emerging technologies such as the cloud, mobility, social media and analytics have immense benefits, utilising them in the wrong set of conditions can cost a company a lot in terms of benefits and ROI. It is important for CIOs today to really filter through what they need and what they can do away with. CIOs need to make the decision based on business needs and must make sure their capital is utilised in the best possible way. In light of this the CTOForum conducted a survey in association with Wipro so as to understand what CIOs’ perception was of emerging technologies and their applications within their enterprises.

The survey  was conducted by the means of telephonic interviews with top executives from enterprises spanning BFSI, Telecom, ITeS, manufacturing, media and so on, with revenue of more than 100 crore. CIOs were questioned on the importance of these emerging technologies and how much sense it makes to deploy these within their enterprise. The survey also touched upon how long CIOs estimated these technologies to proliferate within the enterprise.

“Emerging technologies today can have an immense value add within the enterprise if used appropriately. Deploying a private cloud for a conglomerate can make sense, but the same does not apply to small businesses which will have no use for the immense power of the cloud.

Our survey is designed to give IT management insight into what the community is doing  and what kind of business cases warrant the need for these emerging technologies. Mobility for example can have a maximum value add in sales force automation, and not in a media company where basic exchange sync and device management are the need of the day,” says Padmanabha T K, CTO, Wipro Infotech When asked what their enterprises expectations and mandate for their IT department

Along with mobility, analytics scored the highest as the emerging technologies enterprises are looking to implement in the next 1 to 2 years if not already. was, 40% responded by quoting operational excellence and IT being a source of competitive advantage as their mandates.

Out of all the emerging technologies – Cloud Computing, Mobility, Social Media and analytics; mobility and analytics seemed to have the highest priority when compared to the cloud and social media. When asked about how much the cloud matters in their organisation, most respondents mentioned that it has significant or moderate importance in their organisation, which goes to show that most companies are still evaluating the cloud in terms of usage in their organisations, whereas only those whose business models that warrant high performance computing and ultra scalability define the usage of the cloud.

Emerging as one of the top priorities for enterprises, mobility, is something that every organization is evaluating, with 60% of the CIO respondents mentioning mobility played a significant role in their organisation. With the rise in the number of devices and platforms available to consumers today, CIOs need to ensure that data is available on these various devices.

As far as social media is concerned, it is important only in case of enterprises that have direct consumer impact. Out of all the survey respondents, only 12.5% of the respondents believe that social media has a direct beneficial impact on their enterprises. The entire idea behind social media initiatives within companies is to gauge consumer awareness and brand value. In light if this social media would not make sense for  a company that manufactures steel, but it will be important for a company that manufactures motor bikes. In terms of the kind of companies that regard social media as beneficial would be television networks, B2C enterprises, advertising agencies and so on. One of the most important emerging technologies on the list, analytics is something that most CIOs are looking for within their organisation. Out of the survey respondents 60% of the respondents believe that analytics have a significant to crucial impact on their organisation and efficiency.

Enterprises need systems in place that can allow them to look at consumption trends and also monitor enterprise activities so as to know where to cut costs and in turn boost enterprise efficiency and response times. Along with mobility, analytics scored the highest as one of the emerging technologies that enterprises are looking to implement within the next 1 to 2 years if not already.

While many respondents cited Analytics and Mobility as their top priorities, there are CIOs who are still evaluating the clouds use in their organisation. However, these organisations can be classified as the types that need maximum scalability, efficiency and low cost of operation.

Overall, there is a wave of evolution around the corner. With the cloud and mobility being some of the top initiatives within enterprises, India Inc is definitely on the way to getting more mobile and precise, bringing a whole new level of efficiency into enterprises.

These initiatives will help enterprises gain competitive advantage and reduce time to market – things that are extremely crucial in the fiercely competitive and dynamic business environment that India harbours.