If you have a CIO or IT manager who is in the know, you may have already had discussions about the following items. If you manage the IT functions yourself, then read carefully so you don’t miss the boat!

• The consumerization of IT. No surprise here, consumer technologies like the iPhone and the Droid, tablets, etc. are creeping into the workplace. If you haven’t dealt with this issue, the time has come to allocate a portion ofyour IT budget to secure and support these new technologies. These “cutting-edge” technologies (well, they were “cutting edge” at the writing of this blog-in a week they could already be dated) can allow employees to be more productive and most likely little training would need to be involved as employees are already using these technologies outside of the work environment.

Handling all that data. A push for developing business intelligence and analytical tools is on the rise to help businesses manage the massive amounts of data they have. Experts agree that utilizing analytical tools will be a key competitive advantage in 2012. Why just store all that data? Why not try and get something out of it? Before building a giant data integration and business intelligence strategy, CFOs need to ask themselves one main question: What kind of data does the business value most? How can your IT staff deliver information and reports that your company needs most if they don’t know the answer to question 1?

 
Cloud computing. The Cloud is not going away. If you don’t even know what the Cloud is, it’s an umbrella term for delivering hosted services over the Internet. Low-cost cloud services are expected to become increasingly available, as well as traditional vendors are offering or will be offering cloud services. The ability that business leaders will have to reach out and download a new cloud service without the assistance of an IT staff will only increase in 2012. One key thing to think about if you move to the Cloud is how to keep all those services integrated and secure.

Blog based on article at CFO.com “How 3 Big IT Trends Will Affect You and Your CIO in 2012”

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