People cannot plan for the future, unless they can visualise and predict what the future will look like. The same holds true for the IT industry. Even with global economy faltering, the IT industry is striding and creating new technologies for companies and people. For instance, Cloud computing is changing the way companies now buy their software. Previously, companies had to shell out large amounts of money every 2 to 3 years to renew their software licence and then wait for the updated software to be delivered through the Internet. Today, majority of enterprise software is being delivered through Cloud computing and it is envisaged that in future, this would be the sole mode of delivery.

What the Future Holds in the Short-term?

Because of the slump in global economy, organisations may not invest too much in new technology in the short-term. But while the world economy is going through tough times, investing in technology and reaping benefits will be too good for organisations and companies to forget about it. Therefore, in the near future, companies will be investing in new technologies with the intention of saving on costs. Major players in the IT industry, such as IBM, Fujitsu, Sun and Unisys, have realised this goal of organisations and are launching many new services and products that will help their clients save costs.

Future of the IT Industry in the Long-term

The credit for the recovery of global economy will ultimately go to IT and technology firms. Many new ideas, services and products will define the future of the IT industry and thereby the economy.

With the world getting more conscious and aware of saving the environment, organisations will look for IT products that offer environmental sustainability. Today, virtualisation technology is flourishing and has become an accepted part of the IT infrastructure. However, in the future, virtualisation technology will extend to storage, desktops and even networks. In fact, it is for certain that desktop virtualisation along with mobile computing will make traditional desktop obsolete and extinct.

Another area where IT industry will change will be server hardware. There will be more competition between organisations that offer UNIX-based servers, both high-end as well as mid-range servers. With improvements in multiprocessing and virtualisation, industrial servers will get consolidated. This will be an attractive proposition for organisations that are looking to save on the costs of cooling and power usage, as they will be able to see ROI within just 6 to 9 months.

Software companies have realised the importance of writing software for browsers rather than a specific operating system. So, there will be new web technologies, similar to HTML5 and possibly better in the future that will be able to run on any browser.

Smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices have caused a revolution of sorts. People are no longer content being stuck in one place to access their emails, social networking sites, websites and even their work. Hence, mobile computing will evolve and develop further to fulfil this need.

Accepting the Obvious – Technology is here to Stay

The world is never static. It constantly is in a state of flux and change. The same holds true for technology and IT products and services. The IT industry will stay and become a major part of businesses and organisations, albeit it will be constantly changing and evolving. Businesses and organisations that do not embrace technology will not survive. The changes that the IT industry will bring will be intense and profound, and organisations and businesses will have to keep abreast of the changes that industry is bringing about continuously in order to be competitive, modern and in tune with their customers’ requirements.

This post was bought to you in partnership with Modis, experts in IT careers.