New Opportunities for Technology-Driven Business Transformation

The Rising Tide
Despite the economic turmoil caused by the “Great Recession,” developing nations and
less-developed countries are seeing surges in productivity and gross domestic product
(GDP)—bearing out the notion that “a rising tide lifts all ships.”
The block of developing nations collectively known as “BRICs”—Brazil, Russia, India, and
China—is growing rapidly. Concomitant with economic growth, we are also seeing the rise of
a middle class in these countries—which will significantly impact the quantities and types of
products the BRICs will be importing in the future. Imports of high-value goods are likely to
increase as low-value-added imports fall.1, 2
Africa is at last emerging from stagnation, bringing the continent’s collective GDP to roughly
the equivalent of Brazil’s or Russia’s. Real GDP rose by 4.9 percent per year from 2000
through 2008, and here, too, a middle class is on the rise. Just 32 percent of this increase has
come from Africa’s abundant natural resources; the other two-thirds has come from other
sectors such as wholesale, retail, transportation, telecommunications, and manufacturing.2
These transformations are taking place rapidly, and they will have significant impacts on the
global economy, and on where and how enterprises choose to do business. In our era of
increasing globalization, there is a greater need than ever before for communications,
collaboration, and innovation to take place across organizations that are culturally diverse,
geographically dispersed, and operating 24 hours a day around the globe. We must rethink
and reevaluate how we consume and deploy technology to improve business outcomes. In
addition, developing countries have the advantage of being able to implement the latest
technologies, often being unencumbered by legacy technology and communications
systems.
The Cisco® Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) has identified four technologies as
having the greatest potential to spur transformation for global enterprises within the next two
to three years: mobile Internet, business analytics, social networking, and cloud
computing. While an awareness of these trends has existed for several years, CIOs must
pay heed to the pending acceleration in these transformations as the global economic
landscape shifts to a new configuration.
1
Point of View
The World, the Economy, and You:
New Opportunities for Technology-Driven Business Transformation
By Gary Bridge, Rick Hutley, Joseph Bradley, Doug Handler, and Andy Noronha,
Cisco IBSG
Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG)
Cisco IBSG © 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Page 1

Point of View
Mobile Internet
Analysts expect significant growth in the use of mobile Internet technology from 2011 to
2013. IDC forecasts that the number of mobile devices accessing the Internet could exceed
1 billion globally by 2013.3 This growth will be driven by mobile users seeking to access rich
online applications and services. Business users, in particular, will access a growing list of
business applications from their mobile devices, and the lines between corporate and
personal use of mobile devices will continue to blur.4 By 2013, Gartner predicts that mobile
phones will replace PCs as the most common device for web access, with worldwide mobile
penetration rate reaching 90 percent by 2014.5
Mobile growth in developing nations is expected to be particularly strong, as mobile users
grow increasingly sophisticated. India and China alone are expected to account for more
than 295 million units in handset shipments in 2010, setting the stage for these two nations to
be drivers of mobile Internet growth in 2011-2013.6 Mobile users in developing nations are
primed to be mobile Internet users. In a recent primary research study of 6,000 mobile users
across 13 countries undertaken by Cisco IBSG, mobile users in developing countries were
found to be most likely to make their phones an “on-the-go” link to the Internet (see Figure 2).
Figure 1. Mobile Users in Developing Nations Are Receptive to the Mobile Internet
Percentage That Consider Their Phones To Be On-the-Go Link to Internet
Source: IBSG Connected Life Market Watch, 2009
Business Analytics
During the next several years, business analytics will assume a more important role in
decision making for global enterprises. The global financial crisis has exposed gaps in
businesses’ 7 operations, and has driven executives to question whether they have the
systems to capture, retrieve, analyze, and transform data into actionable intelligence.8
Gartner predicts that businesses will increasingly employ advanced analytical tools and

Point of View
models to enable simulation, prediction, optimization, and other business analytics to
empower better decision making.9
Enterprise technology vendors have launched service offerings to support the analytics
needs of global enterprises. In 2009, IBM launched its Business Analytics and Optimization
services unit, its first new services business unit since 2002. The group employs more than
4,000 consultants and more than 450 researchers and mathematicians to deliver analytic
services designed to “improve the speed and quality of business decisions.”10, 11 IBM also
has made strategic acquisitions, most notably those of Cognos and SPSS, to boost its
portfolio of business intelligence and predictive analytics solutions. In a recent interview, IBM
CFO Mark Loughridge stated, “When we look at business analytics, we think that opportunity
is going to be as big as TRM (trading and risk management) or ERP.” 12
Due to the rise of improved connectivity and network bandwidth, the cost of compelling an
analytically driven customer purchase has fallen dramatically. Years ago, business analytics
was used to support product-level marketing or logistics. Now, analytics can be inserted at
the transaction level and be used to customize a specific customer experience.
Social Networking
Industry watchers believe that 2010 is the year that social networking achieves critical mass
in terms of acceptance and adoption in the enterprise. Economic factors, maturing tech-nology,
and the desire by workers to integrate their personal and work lives will accelerate
this trend.11 Enterprises will exploit the power of social computing on two fronts:
● They will use social software and social media within their organizations to improve
employee collaboration and knowledge sharing.
● At the same time, they will use social networking to drive awareness, participation, and
integration with their external constituents—customers, partners, suppliers, and the
public—around the globe.13
Figure 2. Explosive Growth in Social Networking Users
Source: Cisco IBSG, 2009

Point of View
Cloud Computing
According to IDC, cloud services will grow at six times the rate of traditional IT offerings,
representing an annual growth rate of 26 percent. Still, by 2013, cloud services are
projected to account for just 10 percent ($44 billion) of IT spending, up from 5 percent ($17
billion) in 2009. Thus, most of the expenditures related to cloud computing will be on the
transformations that cloud computing enables rather than on the cloud itself. Inevitably,
however, the compelling economics of cloud computing will result in a significant
percentage of enterprise IT migrating to the cloud. (For more on this subject, see “Getting to
the Silver Lining: Taking the Cloud Challenge,” by Jim Cooke, included in this compilation.)
Figure 3. Cloud Services Forecast: 2009 and 2013
,
Source: IDC, September 2009
Conclusion
The core disruptive technologies of mobile Internet, business analytics, social networking,
and cloud computing will transform the preferred IT delivery and deployment models for
global enterprises. As new markets open in regions of the world formerly considered
unproductive, the need for effective communications and collaboration among widely
distributed people and operations will grow exponentially. Enterprises will do well to evaluate
how investment in these disruptive technologies may be instrumental in creating a position
of strength once the economy fully recovers; those poised to move fast will likely win the
race.

Point of View
Endnotes
1. “Is This the ‘BRICs Decade’?” Dominic Wilson, Alex L. Kelston, and Swarnali Ahmed,
BRICs Monthly, Goldman Sachs, May 2010.
2. “What’s Driving Africa’s Growth,” Acha Leke, Susan Lund, Charles Roxburgh, and
Arend van Warmelen, McKinsey Global Institute, June 2010.
3. http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/329304/idc_1_billion_mobile_devices_will
_go_online_by_2013/
4. Ibid.
5. http://www.cmswire.com/cms/enterprise-20/gartner-top-technology-predictions-for-
2010-and-beyond-006390.php
6. http://www.infoworld.com/t/business/2010-predicted-idc-220
7. http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1210613
8. http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/smarterplanet/business_analytics.html
9. http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=16268
10. Ibid.
11. http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/
security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222301613&subSection=All+Stories
12. Ibid.
13. http://www.cmswire.com/cms/enterprise-20/gartner-top-technology-predictions-for-
2010-and-beyond-006390.php
Kathy Keenan of Cisco IBSG provided writing and editing assistance for this paper.

New Opportunities for Technology-Driven Business Transformation

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