CMR has shared IT and device trends for enterprise CIOs to watch out in 2014.
Tablet
2014 is going to be the first non-Android year for tablets in India. While the Tablet vendors will continue to pursue the Android portfolio, the focus will however, remain more on Windows platform.
To support high speeds networks, CMR expects LTE enabled tablets being released in 2014 by various vendors across platforms.
There will be transition in screen size from 7inch to 8inch, primarily to increase the differentiation of tablets from the Phablets.
Tablet adoption in enterprises to go up as a result of ‘TAAS’ (Tablet as a Solution) which will be a combination of hardware, LoB (line of business) apps, cloud and other elements required by an enterprise to recognize Tablet as a high productivity device.
Finally, 2014 might find the differentiating answer between a smartphone and a Tablet in the consumer space, particularly after the emergence of Phablets. Once such alternative worth exploring would be differentiating Tablets for consumers based on the life stage of potential users. This could eventually mean emergence of Tablets for kids, youth, professionals, elderly and women.
Structured Cabling
The fiber optic cabling is likely to drive the SCS growth in the country. Need for future-proofing of networks and data centre consolidation is likely to be primary drivers.
We expect a transition in copper cables combination usage from Cat 6 and Cat 6A to higher versions of Cat 6A and Cat 7.
The increasing demand from Infrastructure, hospitality and education sectors would see deployment of structured cabling solutions to create new revenue streams for vendors.
Vendors are expected to see new investments coming in from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities on account of Government spending, real estate expansion and infrastructure development.
Enterprise Communications
Enterprises will remain focused at enablement and development of mobility solutions. This would essentially mean emergence of mobile phone, tablet and the app environment within enterprises to increase the overall productivity as well as yield higher RoI spent on the mobility enablement.
So far, enterprises were focused around inter-networking and integration of legacy Windows based enterprise computing with the emerging Android based mobility devices. Now, this will include enabling of Windows based solutions across devices.
Enterprise mobility will graduate from simple enabling of functional app to complex development of Line of Business (LoB) apps. Some of the industry segments to lead would include BFSI, retail and manufacturing.
Play of M2M (Man-to-Machine and Machine-to-Machine) poised to rise in the India enterprise. Apart from office automation, customer support and servicing will be a major application area.
Cloud telephony will see higher adoption rate among the India Inc. particularly the SMBs for their need to serve better with limited investment horizons.
With LTE services on the rise, enablement of IP infrastructure will grow within the enterprise domains. This will eventually lead to adoption of converged telecommunications.
2014 onwards, enterprise telecom operators will start creating services and packages for SMBs apart from serving the large enterprises.
Communication patterns and analytics will play a significant role in determining effective enterprise communications.
Video, Social Networking and PIM (Presence & Instant Messaging) applications are likely to see rise in usage among India Inc.
