Accenture Offers a Technology Vision

LONDON -- The emerging world of information technology is one in which data is king, social platforms evolve as a new source of business intelligence, and cloud computing finally delivers on IT's role as a driver of business growth, according to a new report from Accenture (NYSE: ACN).

The Accenture Technology Vision 2011 identifies eight emerging trends that challenge long-held assumptions about IT and are poised to reshape the business landscape. The report also offers "reaction steps" that high performing businesses and governments can take to prepare for the new world of computing.

"We took a look around the corner and saw a world of IT that barely resembles what enterprise computing looks like today," said Gavin Michael, managing director of R&D and alliances, Accenture, who supervised the project. "The role of technology changing; it is no longer in a support role. Instead, it is front and center driving business performance and enriching people's lives like never before."

One of the most significant trends identified in the report finds that the age of "viewing everything through an application lens is coming to an end." Instead, platform architectures will be selected primarily to cope with soaring volumes of data and the complexity of data management, not for their ability to support applications.

The tried and true relational database will not go away, but it will soon start to make way for other types of databases - streaming databases, for instance - that mark a significant departure from what IT departments and business users have relied on for decades.

"IT and business leaders will begin to view application services as utilities that can be procured off the shelf," said Michael. "The roles of application and data will be reversed, with data becoming the platform that supports application services. Business leaders, as such, will be encouraged to reframe their IT orientation around the idea of data platforms."

Accenture