At breakneck speeds, the enterprise world is changing. Consider the technology advances in just one year: new mobile devices and business applications, the social networking phenomena, the explosion of cloud computing, and the evolution of Unified Communications. Let's take a look at a few key business trends and the impact on enterprise IT:

2010: The PC
2011:  App-enabled Smartphones and Tablets
The first milestone as reported by ComputerWorld is the coming historic shift where smartphones and tablets overtake PCs as the fastest-growing mobile devices. The PC market will continue to grow, but no longer at the same pace. It will not be

uncommon for employees to own a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, and other mobile devices. This world is all about business agility, connecting with people when you want, accessing information when you need it, and creating content and conducting business anytime and anywhere. Enterprise IT will need to embrace the device explosion and focus on device compatibility, security, and application management.

2010: Network and PC Security
2011:  Security for Mobile Devices, Applications and the Cloud
Network security and device security take on a whole new role as we enter this post-PC era. With multiple devices accessing the corporate network, enterprise IT will be focusing security management technologies on mobile devices, social networking, and applications.  Says CIOinsight, enterprise IT will be looking more at “the newest authentication and infrastructure security management technologies – such as endpoint management, encryption key management, and trusted operating systems.”

2010: On-Premise
2011:  Server Virtualization, Cloud Computing, & Hosted Collaboration Tools
Today, enterprises are conducting a big part of their business online, be it financial transactions, retail transactions, sales contracts, internal HR forms, etc.  And many of these transactions are being initiated via mobile devices (think the new tablet, smartphones and other M-to-M devices).  Business mobility is compelling enterprise IT to move more management off-premise to take advantage of the speed, redundancy, and cost savings of Internet-based infrastructure and service models.

Not only that, with new business applications bursting onto the scene, enterprise IT is finding it easier to host and manage these applications in the cloud.  Collaboration solutions too, such as Google Docs, are born in the cloud.  Even server virtualization, despite complications with network management, is becoming the new normal as enterprises think about green solutions and more ways to reduce costs.

In the mobile and Internet-based world, the possibilities for enterprise IT to transform their companies are limitless, as long as they keep up with the trends.