What’s Next in the Digital Services Revolution?
March 3rd, 2010 by Peter
In this day and age, we are creating and consuming more and more information. At a rapid pace.
As there is a greater need for people to access information on demand, technology must keep up. Services and applications such as VoIP, Skype, Unified Communications (UC), and Videoconferencing, which have developed in the last decade, have encouraged instantaneous sharing and collaboration among users.
With this evolving technology, there has been much debate about which “group” actually pushed this innovation. After speaking with several customers and reading industry reports and articles, it is becoming more apparent that consumers are driving the need for new technology. What was once considered technology for enterprises (with the goal of reducing costs and increasing productivity) has morphed into a consumer-driven model. These days, consumers are pushing demand and creating these new service requirements.
Jeff Mann, Gartner vice president summed up this theory nicely when he commented:
“They (consumers) are driving corporate user expectations and requirements, particularly as the blurring of work and leisure tasks and time drives a demand for personal products to be used for work purposes.”
Gartner isn’t the only firm who believes consumer applications/services are making headway in the enterprise space. Global IP Solutions recently sponsored a survey of 1,200 business professionals. Out of this set, 79% of the respondents said they currently use consumer applications such Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL, and Skype. That is a pretty substantial number.
This makes me wonder – with consumers wanting more services such as VoIP and video conferencing to make their personal lives easier, what is next in the digital services revolution? With the convergence of phone, internet, and even digital TV, what technology will we see in the upcoming year?
