there are five channel hotspots
Feeling a sense of déjà vu? You should, since many themes that dominated technology solution providers' strategies in 2012 will continue to drive the agenda in 2013.
Here are five of the biggest information technology trends likely to come up often in customer conversations in the year to come -- regardless of whether your company chooses to build services or business practices around them.
Bring-your-own device, redux
If your staff is overwhelmed with figuring out how to manage the personal media tablets, notebook computers and smartphones that people are sneaking into the workplace, brace yourself. The trend will accelerate in 2013.
The most commonly supported devices are smartphones, followed by tablets, the data shows. The responses reflect the opinions of nearly 1,400 IT professionals at companies with fewer than 1,000 employees. About 55% of those respondents were from businesses with fewer than 100 people on staff.
"To be fair, people were talking about this a long time before they started doing it. … But we definitely are starting to see more widespread adoption of BYOD," said Dave Casey, CEO ofWestron Communications Inc., a network integrator in Frisco, Texas. "It's been slower than expected, but it's coming."
That means more IT solution providers and managed service providers (MSPs) will find themselves in the position of recommending to what extent (or not) their clients should support these devices within their infrastructure. Those recommendations might include implementing new security measures, including virtual desktop infrastructure, or specifying specific pieces of equipment or configurations that would be allowed to connect to the network.
The BYOD trend is having a related effect at the infrastructure level, often in the form of corporate wireless network investments. "Companies are struggling to keep up with the fact that so many devices are competing for a connection," Casey said.
Cloud adoption by small businesses
Although it may be partly a regional trend related to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy,Baroan Technologies is experiencing a dramatic uptick in Microsoft Office 365 deals, said Guy Baroan, founder and president of the solution provider, which is based in Elmwood Park, N.J.
Baroan views knowledge of the Microsoft cloud suite as essential for building deeper relationships with his clients, even if it means the company might lose out on some on-premises projects.
"This is the right thing for many of them, and by helping them evaluate their options, we are becoming more 'sticky' in these accounts," he said.
More than 62% of the SMBs surveyed by Spiceworks are using some cloud-based service, a significant increase over the first half of 2012. Another 11% of respondents indicate that they plan to start using them during the first half of 2013.
Disaster recovery investments (for real)
There is a clear link between the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy and a shift in how businesses are thinking about their disaster recovery options, no matter what region they call home.
Following the hurricane, many businesses across the Northeast were offline for days, because their contingency plans were far too regional in nature. Many New York-based companies, for example, were using replication sites in places such as New Jersey or Staten Island, which were also hammered by the hurricane -- leaving them offline for days.
What's different now is that companies are more willing to update their strategies frequently and to consider cloud infrastructure far away from their headquarters locations to be a viable option, Baroan said.
"As prepared as we were, we weren't prepared for the level of devastation. It was a reminder that plans need to progress and evolve constantly; they can't be fixed in time," he said.
This begs the question: When was the last time you talked to your clients about their disaster recovery plans?
