Tech trends – Page 2 – mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

7 strategic CIO priorities for 2013-2014

Modern IT departments have an amazing opportunity. The speed at which technology currently evolves combined with the rising importance of technology in the business puts IT departments in a prime position to impact their companies more than ever before.

Unfortunately, that’s not happening in most companies.

In fact, the research firm, Gartner, estimates that, “Enterprises realize on average only 43 percent of technology’s business potential.”

The big question: How can IT departments drive that number up?

If IT departments hope to maximize their impact in this day and age, they must focus their attention on the right priorities–which falls squarely on the CIO’s shoulders. So, what key areas must CIOs focus on in the near future? To help you answer that question, I’ve solicited feedback from industry experts and compiled their advice (as well as some of my own) below. Here are a few strategic priorities that CIOs must focus on in the near future. …

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3 new trends created by mobile (that you can’t ignore)

By Joe Stangarone / Mobile, Tech trends

As I’ve mentioned in the past, mobile is the fastest growing trend in history. In fact, I just read a study that puts smartphone adoption in the U.S. at over 50%.

When you consider that the iPhone was first released in 2007, that is an absolutely mind-blowing statistic. In nearly 6 years, smartphones (as we know them today) have gone from 0 – 50% adoption.

Today, I’d like to go a step beyond the growing mobile trend. I’d like to examine trends created by the rise of smartphones and tablets. Specifically, I’d like to focus on ways mobile is changing business.

So, how does the rise of smartphones and tablets change business? What new trends are cropping up? While I’m sure there are more, here are 3 big business trends created by mobile: …

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Weekly recap: 5 trends that will drive the future of tech, don’t be fooled by false metrics, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / Business Analytics, BYOD, Tech trends

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on tech trends, false metrics, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Don’t be fooled by false metrics
As one of the points made in this recent article on reporting, false metrics are a common problem in the world of reporting and BI. While we certainly have no shortage of data, choosing the right data is often the biggest hurdle faced when building reports or BI apps. …

Weekly recap: 5 trends that will drive the future of tech, don’t be fooled by false metrics, and more…Read More »

7 major web development trends of the next 5 years

By Joe Stangarone / Tech trends, Web Development

Driven largely by the rise of mobile computing, web development has evolved dramatically over the last 5 years. Just think: Five short years ago, we developed web applications for use on a PC. Now, we develop applications for multiple devices.

While I could list many more ways web development has changed in the last few years, I’d like to instead focus on the future. How is web application development changing? What big trends will shape web development over the next 5 years?

I’ve compiled a list of trends that I believe will shape web application development in the coming years, which includes both my own predictions and predictions from others. While I don’t consider this a comprehensive list, I do believe that each of these trends will affect web development in the coming years.

One more thing: As this is a business-focused blog, the trends below are geared primarily at business application development…though most of them apply to development in general. Of course, if you think I forgot any major trends, please feel free to add them in the comments. …

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Weekly recap: 2013 IT salary survey, tech trends for developers, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / IT Salary, Modernization, Shadow IT, Tech trends

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on the 2013 salary survey, tech trends for developers, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Long term tech trends developers need to know
I particularly liked the author’s take on the mobile market in this article: “The mobile market is a merciless meat grinder, a never-ending battle for vendors, consumers, and developers.” He makes a great point. With all of the turnover in the mobile market, we can’t possibly know which platform or device will be popular in even two years time. Kind of makes native app development seem a little risky from a business standpoint… …

Weekly recap: 2013 IT salary survey, tech trends for developers, and more…Read More »

Weekly recap: 2013 IT priorities, why BI is failing businesses, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / Business Intelligence, Tech trends

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on why BI is failing business, 2013 IT priorities, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Why business intelligence software is failing business
While the need for business intelligence is growing, many BI solutions don’t adequately meet the company’s needs. Why not? This article highlights a few reasons, like poor usability and a lack of personalized notifications and alerts. BI software should be simple to use and should automatically alert users when certain data thresholds are met. …

Weekly recap: 2013 IT priorities, why BI is failing businesses, and more…Read More »

Weekly recap: Digital technologies a top CIO priority, do you need a custom app, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / BYOD, Mobile, Tech trends

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on a recent CIO survey, the need for custom mobile apps, and more. I hope you find them useful:

5 new smartphone OS’s bet on HTML5 and improved UIs
Did you know that 5 new smartphone operating systems are scheduled for release this year? Will any of them become the next iOS or Android? Perhaps a better question: If your business is building native mobile apps, how many of these new operating systems do you plan to support? …

Weekly recap: Digital technologies a top CIO priority, do you need a custom app, and more…Read More »

3 new realities IT must learn to accept

By Joe Stangarone / Tech trends

How would you describe your IT department? Are they innovators, laggards, or somewhere in between? In case you’re unfamiliar with those terms, they come from the technology adoption lifecycle concept–a sociological model developed in the 50’s that describes the adoption or acceptance to new products or innovations.

While that concept is generally applied to consumers, I believe it just as easily applies to IT departments.

Every major technological shift comes with varying levels of acceptance among IT departments. Some drive new trends (innovators). Some welcome new trends with open arms (early adopters). Others sit back and wait to see what everyone else is going to do (majority). Still others are reluctant to change, with some even actively fighting it (laggards).

That being said, some trends are out of your control. These trends are driven by consumers. It doesn’t matter which category your IT department falls under–you must adapt. In fact, you could refer to these as more than just trends. They’re realities. In other words, they’re not up for debate. You can’t sit back and wait to see what others will do. You can’t refuse to change.

What are these realities? While I’m sure there are more, I’ve put together a short list of 3 realities that your IT department must learn to accept: …

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The big tech trend that you can’t ignore

By Joe Stangarone / Application Architecture, Tech trends

What’s the most important tech trend going into 2013? Some say mobile. Others say cloud computing. There’s also lots of buzz surrounding areas like BYOD, consumerization, shadow IT, and business analytics.

They’re all wrong. There’s one trend that’s more important than all of those trends combined, yet is widely ignored. It’s a trend that determines a company’s ability to take advantage of many of those new “hot trends” (mobile, cloud computing. etc…) that everyone is talking about.

What is that trend? This important, yet widely ignored trend is the shift towards modern application architecture. Yes, I know it sounds boring. Who wants to talk about architecture when they can talk about exciting trends like mobile apps, cloud computing, and analytics? You might…once you see what good architecture lets you accomplish.

What’s driving this trend? Companies are slowly realizing that their outdated application architecture is holding them back. They’re realizing that without modern architecture, they’re not even ready to think about the other new trends of the day.

So, the big questions are: How does outdated architecture hold you back from new trends? How does modern application architecture help your company adapt to current trends? To answer these questions, let’s take a look at the impact application architecture has on a few of the current tech trends. …

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Weekly recap: Top 10 strategic technologies for 2013, eCommerce mistakes, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / Business Intelligence, eCommerce, Tech trends

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on the strategic technologies for 2013, Business Intelligence, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Business intelligence and why you need it
Business intelligence is a hot topic right now, but why is it so important? Why does your business need “business intelligence” all of a sudden. Here’s an article that will help you answer those questions. …

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Weekly recap: 10 time management tips, predictive analytics, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / Business Analytics, ERP Systems, Tech trends, Time management

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on time management tips, predictive analytics, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Predictive analytics. Making little decisions with big data
As I mentioned in this article, predictive analytics is one of the next big trends in Business Intelligence. What is it, and how is it useful? This article attempts to answer those questions. …

Weekly recap: 10 time management tips, predictive analytics, and more…Read More »

The huge trend that no one is talking about

By Joe Stangarone / ERP Systems, Tech trends

The cloud may get all of the press these days, but are companies actually doing anything about it? Probably not as much as the press would have you believe. I recently spoke with an IT professional at a large company about that very subject. When asked if his company had any plans for the cloud, his response was simple and straightforward: “Our whole business runs on the mainframe, and it runs well. Why would we move to the cloud?”

While it’s just one company, and one opinion, I get the feeling that many businesses are in a similar situation. There are many, many companies that have invested so much time and money into their current systems, they couldn’t possibly justify ditching everything and moving to the cloud any time soon.

That begs the obvious question: If these companies are stuck with old systems, how can they possibly keep up with tech trends? What if they want modern features and capabilities that aren’t supported by their outdated system? …

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What is NFC, and how can it help your business?

By Joe Stangarone / NFC, Tech trends

The topic of Near Field Communication (NFC) came up again this week with reports that the new iPhone will contain NFC chips. While I don’t care to speculate about the new iPhone, I do believe NFC is about to become very important for businesses in the next few years.

Why is NFC so important? How will it impact your business? Today, I’d like to answer those questions. In this article, we’ll take a look at the basics of NFC and how it can help your business.

What is NFC?

NFC is a technology standard that is used to transfer data between two devices at close range (usually within 4 inches of one another). For example, two NFC-equipped smartphones could transfer a data file simply by touching the devices together.

However, NFC goes far beyond transferring data from one smartphone to another. The real power of NFC comes in the form of tags. NFC tags are essentially paper-thin circuits that store data which can then be read by (or even overwritten) by an NFC-equipped device, like a smartphone. NFC tags can be placed almost anywhere, and can store all types of data. For instance, NFC tags could be placed on walls, embedded in paper, built into products, and much more.

How is this useful?

So, how is NFC useful to your business? The answer: All sorts of ways. Rather than try to explain every possible way, let me share a few examples of different ways businesses could (and probably will) use NFC in the near future: …

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6 big Business Intelligence trends of the near future

By Joe Stangarone / Business Intelligence, Tech trends

Business Intelligence (BI) is changing. In the past, BI was used mainly by company executives, providing them with monthly/yearly reports on various aspects of the company. Using this data, executives could formulate company plans and strategies.

While BI is still a vital piece of the planning and decision making process, this idea of “traditional BI” is quickly fading. As the workforce becomes more mobile, BI is moving outside the confines of the office. Modern business leaders demand real-time BI that’s always accessible–from anywhere at any time using any device. They demand BI that gets the right information into the right hands precisely when it’s needed.

So, what trends are driving this new approach to BI? Here are 6 key trends that I believe will dramatically alter the BI landscape in the very near future. …

6 big Business Intelligence trends of the near futureRead More »

Keep your skills current and stay productive

By Joe Stangarone / IT Skills, Tech trends

Are you struggling to keep up with tech trends? Are you finding a declining demand for your aging skills? I understand the dilemma. How do you pick up a new skill or programming language and remain productive at the same time?

This story on ITJungle.com is inspiration for all those struggling to keep up with the ever-changing tech trends.

Basically, it showcases an RPG programmer with some ingenuity. He designs Java-based web app and recently created an iPhone application for his company. The best part: He doesn’t even know Java, yet is a very productive Java developer. Want to learn how? Check out the article for the whole story.