Innovation & evolution, the keys to success

Analysts are saying that the world has entered into a post-PC era currently dominated by social media, cloud computing, and mobility. Over the past months, the IT field has seen various developments described using terms such as ‘bring your own device,' ‘big data', and ‘IT projectization' that portend a 2013 characterized by even more innovation and evolution.

So what are some of the trends that the global IT community and technology stakeholders can expect in the coming year?

Social, Mobile, and Cloud

The convergence of social, mobile, and cloud IT infrastructure has been coined SoMoClo by some industry experts. SoMoClo enables enterprises to deliver an end-user experience that connects its workforce to the social network anywhere via mobile, and provide employees with data whenever they need it through the cloud.

Big Data and Analytics

The sheer volume and scope of data is changing the way that business intelligence systems are processing information in order to ‘slice and dice' it into usable chunks of up-to-the-minute, accurate information from across an organization. Providing keener insights into internally-generated data to help to anticipate trends, facilitate planning and support speedy decision making. This is where a proven enterprise resource planning (ERP) system comes into play, making it possible to extract, process and package data from all areas of a business from a single access point in real-time.

Many agree that 2012 was the year of big data, and that this concept and the new analytics that go with it are expected to gain further traction in 2013.

The Cloud

 Although cloud computing has been a favorite IT buzzword over the past few years, in 2012 the concept saw steady maturity especially as adopters began settling into the three types of clouds that have managed to clearly form shape: the full internet cloud-also referred to as the ‘public cloud'; the private cloud which involves significant virtualization; and the hybrid cloud which integrates public and private components. The private and hybrid clouds are expected to welcome a broader audience in the coming year and beyond.

Edge Apps

The majority of companies that have invested heavily into ERP over the past 15 years need more capabilities than their legacy systems deliver. Core ERP vendors and other multi-platform players are exploring applications that tap and stretch ERP into other activities such as supply chain and collaboration. These emerging apps are simple plug-ins to a core ERP solution, in the same manner that apps add functionality to a mobile phone. The sustained emergence of such ‘edge applications' in 2013 will showcase the ease of integrating existing ERP and new edge solutions.

Savvy decision makers in businesses need not fear when a new technology arrives. Proactively leveraging new trends to boost business growth and success is a process. They should periodically assess their technology assets; figure out if these are still relevant and if they can provide a competitive edge not only today but tomorrow as well. The next step is to merge proven, existing solutions with the strengths of new ones to come up with a powerful suite that provides better performance and greater returns. This mindset will help decision makers welcome the new IT developments of 2013.

For the enterprise IT professional, the coming year brings hope of ground-breaking, best practice packages that can respond to the growing complexity of business processes and leverage the potential of the hottest technology trends. Especially as enterprise data is expected to grow by a phenomenal 650% within the next 5 years, and with 80% to come in an unstructured form at that. Mobility, another key trend, will require a paradigm shift in organizational information sharing and communications; to give an idea of the sweeping changes ahead, around 80% of businesses worldwide are expected to assist their workforce with the support of tablets by next year.

The key for industry is to keep abreast of technology developments and be attuned to current and upcoming trends to deliver high-value and timely solutions to organizations.

Epicor stays ahead of the latest trends through solutions such as its next-generation Epicor Internet Component Environment (ICE) business architecture. Based on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)-a critical enterprise platform for the next decade-and web services technology, Epicor ICE enables enterprises to harness the full power of social, mobile and cloud innovations. The architecture was conceptualized out of the belief that nothing stays still in the global economy and business landscape and so enterprises must be equipped to adapt to constantly changing markets and capitalize on high-potential technology trends.

Through an agile, next-generation business architecture such as Epicor ICE, organizations can use emerging technologies to achieve smarter business intelligence, more efficient enterprise searching, and on-demand access to ERP data from any device.

Harvey Firestone, the American entrepreneur who founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, said that ideas are more important than capital or business experience. Indeed, ideas are the main assets that make possibilities limitless for business and even for life. By tapping into the latest ideas in the IT field coming out this 2013, enterprises can position themselves for further innovation, expansion, and success. n