Digital Lifescapes

When we look back on 2016, it will likely be remembered as a year of transition for many business technology vendors -- particularly those that were unable to react quickly to the pervasive enterprise IT buyer trends in the marketplace. Meanwhile, there's always an upside for those who have foresight. Worldwide IT spending is expected to post a slowdown in 2016. Having achieved annual growth of 5-6 percent (in constant currency) since a recovery from the financial crisis in 2010, the global IT market is expected to increase by just 2 percent overall this year. Total IT spending on hardware, software and services will reach $2.3 trillion in 2016. Including telecom services, total information and communication technology (ICT) spending will increase by 2 percent to $3.8 trillion, according to the latest worldwide study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Exploring the Key Performance Indicators IT spending was relatively stable in 2015, in spite of the volatile global ec...

The commercial applications for social networking and social media platforms in the enterprise has experienced mixed results. Part of the challenge stems from the use of the term Social Business to describe this phenomena -- since many executives still question the value of Social technologies. That being said, there are encouraging signs that the market for these offerings is maturing, as software vendors expand the definition to incorporate more familiar business-oriented solutions. The Social Business Applications Market is expected to grow from $13.9 billion in revenue in 2014 to $37 billion in 2019, according the the latest worldwide market study by 451 Research. The specific market segments included in the analysis are Marketing Automation, Social Media Monitoring & Management, Enterprise Collaboration, and Web Experience Management. As end-users and enterprises continue to embrace the Social Business movement, 451 Research believes this will lead to a healthy market ...

A new global market study by ABI Research finds that integration with social networks will add significant value to enterprise machine-to-machine (M2M) strategies in the coming years, as more savvy company leaders discover the innovation enabling potential of the Internet of Everything. Initially, this trend will concern internal social channels -- such as Salesforce.com’s Chatter -- which is forecast to be actively used by 60,000 enterprises at end-2013. Going forward, the emphasis will shift towards Facebook and other consumer-facing networks, which ABI Research forecasts to cover 2.9 billion users by end-2018. "There’s an intriguing intersection developing around social networks and M2M services. At this stage the activity is nascent, but over the next five years we expect the relationship between the two to become increasingly synergistic," said Aapo Markkanen, senior analyst at ABI Research . The innovations it results in will add a strong social ingredient to th...

BIA/Kelsey forecasts U.S. social media advertising revenues will reach $9.2 billion in 2016 -- that's up from $4.6 billion in 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.2 percent. According to the finding from their fall update, the local segment of U.S. social media advertising revenues will grow from $1.1 billion in 2012 to $3 billion in 2016 (CAGR: 28 percent). "The year 2012 can be viewed as social advertising’s coming of age," said Jed Williams, program director, social local media at BIA/Kelsey . The continued development of native ads, such as Facebook Sponsored Stories and Twitter Promoted Tweets, and the acceleration of mobile monetization will be the primary drivers of social advertising growth through 2016. BIA/Kelsey defines social media advertising as money spent on advertising formats across social networks. Social display advertising will continue to account for a higher percentage of revenues, due in large part to Facebook’s Ma...

The time has come to think seriously about enterprise social networking and consider its role within the commercial online collaboration strategy development process, according to the latest market study by Ovum. In a new report, they say that the enterprise social networking market is starting to mature and is now moving from the introduction phase into the growth phase. Strategic acquisitions have already been made by start-ups and establish vendors alike. That being said, I'm still left wondering -- are there examples of substantive applications that make the resource investment worthwhile? "Ovum's current assessment of the enterprise social networking market indicates that Jive and Yammer are the two vendors that organizations are most eager to compare and contrast, but other vendors are generating significant business and revenues from their offerings," said Richard Edwards, analyst at Ovum . A recent vendor recap suggests that IBM Connections produced $1...

More forward thinking companies that market their business-to-business (B2B) offerings online are using social media as a key ingredient of their marketing mix. Marketers believe that the more focused B2B networking sites, such as LinkedIn, are an effective way to generate leads -- while more casual social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, are helping to reach customers in new ways. "Leveraging social media for branding and awareness-building can help humanize B2B companies, establish them as thought leaders, and offer new touch-points for connecting with customers and prospects,” said Kimberly Maul, analyst at eMarketer . Social Media Marketing as a Mainstream Practice As of May 2011, 89 percent of U.S. based B2B companies were using social media marketing , according to web survey company iTracks. Their survey was conducted among Business Marketing Association members, CMOs and other senior employees overseeing B2B marketing programs. The majority of sur...

According to the latest market study by ABI Research , the global enterprise collaboration services market will reach $3.5 billion in revenue by 2016. In 2010, the market registered 51.7 percent year-on-year growth to reach $898.6 million. Cloud-based freemium services are currently driving adoption, and volumes are likely to experience an even higher CAGR between 2011 and 2016. Positive social media experiences in the mainstream user population have prompted people to demand similar services in the enterprise environment. Applications convergence, business process integration, and technology consolidation have been three key adoption drivers of these social interaction platforms in the enterprise. Cloud-based platforms are gaining increasing relevance as vendors believe a cloud strategy is indispensable with the market becoming truly multi-modal and the number of social interactions over mobile devices increasing exponentially. "Mobility is emerging as a key functionali...

International Data Corporation ( IDC ) had already predicted that the next wave of business technologies would begin its transition into the mainstream during 2011. Today, spending on these technologies is growing at about 18 percent per year and is expected to account for at least 80 percent of business technology spending growth between now and 2020. "The industry's shift to the 3rd Platform will accelerate in 2012, forcing the industry's leaders to make bold investments and fateful decisions," said Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC. Overall, IDC now forecasts that worldwide IT spending will grow by 6.9 percent year over year to $1.8 trillion in 2012. As much as 20 percent of this total spending will be driven by five technologies that are reshaping the business landscape -- smartphones, media tablets, mobile networks, social networking, and big data analytics. Meanwhile, emerging markets (defined as all markets except North America,...