IDC Government Insights: 2012 Technology Predictions and Trends

I attended IDC Government Insights Predictions 2012:  Government conference call today.  I look forward to the IDC series of conference calls every year as it helps me understand the critical issues and trends that impact Information Technology decisions.  

The conference call was led by IDC Vice President Thom Rubel, and IDC Research Directors Ruthbea Clarke, Shawn McCarthy, and Adelaide O'Brien 

Summary and Key Themes

IDC says that the Government spending on IT in the U.S. will reach $82B.  The majority of that is Federal, with spending at the Federal level split about evenly between DoD and Civilian initiatives.  IDC expects the majority of this spending will be allocated to improve decision-making, operational efficiency, and citizen services for 2012

Overall, IDC believes there are four overall themes to watch in Government spending for 2012:

1. Operational Efficiency:  Broader strategies are need to reduce operational costs
2. Mobility:  Better management and provision of services are required
3. Smart Government:  Improve the value of information and broaden service channels
4. Economic Sustainability:  Investing to improve quality of life and promote economic growth/competitiveness

Top Ten Predictions for 2012

The 2012 predictions lists are developed from IDC analysts, who draw upon their ongoing discussions with industry clients, vendors, and years of experience.  The list below was sourced from the conference call slides.

1. Cloud Computing.  “Up to 10% of States will have shared cloud hubs by the end of 2012, rapidly growing to 65% of the States by 2015”.
2. Social Media.  “The use of social media for U.S. Local, State, and Federal organizations will begin the move from experimental to systematic information dissemination and collection.”
3. Mobility.  “Mobility will become the number 1 IT governance issue and moves beyond device management to encompass broader business issues.”
4. DataCenters.  “Small datacenters in the U.S. Federal government will hit the endangered species list in 2012 and be reduced by 70% with State and Local governments following suit.”
5. Business Process Outsourcing.  “Over 20% of government IT and business process outsourcing requests for proposals will include service-level agreements tied to internal business and/or program outcomes.”
6. Smart Cities.  “The growing availability of intelligent technology solutions will accelerate global investment in smart city technologies to $40.9 billion in 2012.”
7. Service Level Agreements.   “Due to increased use of cloud computing, CIOs will spend up to 20% of their time in 2012 reviewing the terms and conditions of service-level agreements and mover toward standardization.”
8. Big Data.  “Governments will take small steps to satiate their big appetite for Big Data.”
9. Communication Networks.  “Foundational high-speed communications networks will finally hit critical mass.”
10. Smarter Government.  “Governments will start updating legacy systems and engage in cross-agency collaboration that will move them to a higher stage in smart government maturity.”

The last few minutes of the conference call was spent going over recommendations and guidance to those in governments and those at vendors who serve governments.

For More Information

• Conference Call Replay (registration required): IDC Government Insights Predictions 2012:  Government and  IDC Government Insights Predictions 2012:  EMEA Government 
• Reports:    Asia/Pacific Government Insights 2012 Top 10 Predictions and U.S. Government 2012 Top 10 Predictions, Document # GI231773
• Community:  The IDC Government Insights Community has blogs, videos, forums, resource library, events etc. all designed for those interested in the Government IT industry
• Newsletter:  You can sign up for the IDC Government Insights newsletter
• The IDC 2012 Predictions portal is at: http://www.idc.com/research/Predictions12/Main/index.jsp

Comments

[Tom Potsale]

Thanks for the minutes of the conference call and guidance