Gartner Predicts Key Tech Trends for 2006

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The end of the year is typically the time for predictions about the future. What technology or trend will be the winner next year or the year after?

But research firm Gartner, has jumped into the prediction fray with an early entry, proclaiming that it has identified, “six IT industry trends that it expects will cause significant disruption and drive opportunity for business and the IT industry in 2006 and beyond.”

The six trends identified by Gartner include, notebook computers, telephony, the IT job market, Business Process Outsourcing, Healthcare software and regulatory compliance issues.

Computer notebook usage has been growing at a rapid clip for years. Notebooks are not always used strictly for work purposes by employees as mobility and work extend the technology beyond normal office boundaries. Gartner is now predicting that within the next two years (by 2008), 10 percent of companies will mandate that their employees purchase their own notebooks. Gartner figures that firms will have some form of a “notebook allowance” similar to a car allowance offered by some companies today.

The IT job market is also predicted to undergo a shift with the need for specialists declining in favor of what Gartner calls “versatilists” that handle multiple disciplines and assignments. By 2010, Gartner has predicted that the IT specialist job market will decline by 40 percent.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) service providers are also predicted to be big winners moving forward. According to Gartner’s forecast, BPO service providers will reap an $11 billion bounty from insurance companies by 2008 as insurers update their legacy systems. Gartner expects by 2008 BPO, will have the intellectual property and technology platforms to align with the distribution channel (for example, bank and investment houses) and launch insurance ventures that capture up to one percent of the global annual premium total of life, annuity, and property and casualty products.”

This article was first published on InternetNews.com. To read the full article, click here.