What are the coming billion-dollar industries? In a recent webinar, Gartner said there is a set of forces coming together that are completely changing how we live and do business These forces are:

•    Mobile: expected to generate $52 billion and $5 billion in revenue from applications and devices respectively;
•    Cloud service: topping the list will be Security as a Service, Business Process Outsourcing, and Software as a Service, all a part of a $50 billion forecast;
•    Information & Database Management: Anticipating $35 billion in revenue, these services include advanced analytics of data, managing the size and speed of data and video on the corporate network, and data storage. In high demand are technologies that enable real-time access to specific information that users need to do business, as well as new analytic methodologies such as the integration of crowdsourcing to produce more accurate forecasts. 
•    Social: This revolutionary industry is likely to see $34 billion from ads, games, and subscription services alone.

What is behind the growth of these billion-dollar industries?

The driving force is a change in human behavior. Specifically, how people interact with each other, how they access and share information, and how they create in addition to consume. No doubt technology is the enabler, but the growth of these industries is powered by people. 

As a result, there is a power shift from corporate IT to the user driven by the consumerization of IT.  The users of technology are setting the new bar. BYOD with user-selected applications and communication through social media are two such examples. And today, computing environments are no longer static. Rather, they are dynamic environments, moving everywhere and anywhere across many devices. And enterprise Unified Communication solutions are helping to seamlessly integrate this new world. 

Strategies for IT
Invest in the areas where user behaviors are changing. Consider which devices and apps are used, how the consumers interact, where they engage in social, and what information they need to do business. Strategically, make sure your enterprise designs a mobile site especially for smartphones and tablets. Surprisingly, fewer than half of enterprises have done this, given that mobile device sales now exceed PC sales. 

Expect to see a rapid obsolescence of some existing architectures, and be flexible and fast to integrate certain new technologies. Mobile is one such example that cannot be ignored. Think about how your company can use mobile solutions to transform business. Industries such as healthcare, retail, and banking are leveraging mobility to great success such as virtual healthcare, mobile customer service in retail stores, and banking on smartphones. The opportunities are limitless.

Partner with Business Units. End users, empowered by the consumerization of IT, are making more of the decisions, and IT must respond. IT will have a better chance of anticipating and understanding the needs and opportunities of the organization by physically locating themselves in various departments and by sharing common job performance metrics. And, given how quickly the competitive environment can change today, just by observing the meteoric rise of startups and other disruptors like Amazon, Google, and Facebook, IT must be nimble, strategic, and outward thinking. Partnering across the enterprise organization will enable great success.