10 main trends of automation: social software, analytics, clouds and CRM

In the annual forecast of the major technology trends the Nucleus Research company paid special attention to cloud computing. Thesis number two of the next forecast is that clouds cardinally change development process of software: it becomes not only much quicker, but also consists of much bigger number of iterations.

Researchers explain it so: "If changes can be made "on the fly", the companies can carry out once deployment, and then, as required business, to adapt the application or to make it more clear". Growth of talented developers in the network environment "throws down a challenge to traditional system integrators which usually hide for man-hours and large projects", researchers add.

Thesis number one from Nucleus: use of elements of social networks will stimulate changes in corporate applications, increasing performance of the companies. According to analysts, the most successful firms next year will apply social technologies to the organization of more productive enterprise. They will get advantage of implementation of access to network of mobile devices of employees for joint work and stimulation of their activity during breaks, in day and night time of day.

According to Rebecca Uetman (Rebecca Wettemann), the vice president of Nucleus for researches, this trend is comparable to development of e-mail 10-15 years ago, and those considerable changes which it entered to activity of the companies. "Actually we found out that one of the scenarios of use of applications which are most distributed for heads, like Chatter and Yammer - to share opinions, news, results and also other information which, as a rule, goes on a bulletin board or bulk mailing by e-mail, - she told. - Also there is an opportunity for financiers – to control the questions optional to them in some cases, such as activity of the specific client or project".

Trend No. 3 - "SAP Reemerges", belongs to use of applications of enterprise resource planning in mobile devices and other areas. Trend No. 4 - "Users select bigger, but not best of a set", characterizes such trend: the enterprises are guided not on the vendors offering "target functionality with clear pure benefit" more, and by "multipurpose products". As approves Nucleus, powerful producers, like IBM and Oracle today, "increase labor productivity, providing bigger functionality in one application and allow the companies to make much more with one data source".

Forecast No. 5 – "Is more than abilities to manage Big Data for all" - means fast development of tools of analytics and their importance for corporations. It is one of spheres where the innovative development (for example, integration of programmable micrologic circuits), merges and company takeovers and also new product development and pricing models will continue (for example, the new equipment of Oracle for databases).

Other trends are designated as follows.

No. 6: the capital moves from labor costs to technology. Following to this trend will allow the companies to invest more in IT, at the same time reducing the staff of specialists, analysts consider.

No. 7: there comes decade of the "growing wiser" software. "Next decade the software having a bigger intuition, integrated, self-training so will be made that will help end users - to work more productively", - the research company draws a conclusion.

No. 8: working resources will be optimized. Using analytics tools personnel management processes develop very quickly so the companies will get rid of inefficient employees.

No. 9: investments into health care. Promotion and development of storage systems of electronic records "will direct investments into services and data acquisition devices", along with applications of management of these data.

No. 10: revival of attention to customer service quality. Investments into customer relationship management as the companies aim to save the most profitable customers will continue and to attract new. Besides, they should deal with security concerns, and "clients will trust them as they direct development of communities of social network and mobile "cloud" where borders personal and professional are not always accurately defined", analysts emphasize.