Overheard: Gartner announces 10 future trends that IT professionals need to plan for

The predictions highlight areas where executives and IT professionals need to take action in 2008. The full impact of these trends may not appear this year, but executives need to act now so that they can exploit the trends for their competitive advantage.

Gartner Highlights Key Predictions for IT Organisations and Users in 2008 and Beyond

Short version:

1) Apple will double its U.S. and Western Europe unit market share in computers.

2) 50% of traveling workers will leave their notebooks at home and use other mobile devices for Internet access.

3) 80% of all commercial software will include elements of open-source technology.

4)  At least 1/3 of business application software spending will be  service subscription instead of  product license.

5)  Early technology adopters will purchase 40% of their IT infrastructure as a service.

6) More than 1/3 of IT organizations will have environmental criteria in their top-six buying criteria for IT-related goods.

7)  75% of organizations will use “full life cycle energy” and “CO2 footprint” as mandatory hardware buying criteria.

8 ) Suppliers to large global enterprises will need to prove their green credentials with an audit in order to retain preferred supplier status.

9) End-user preferences will decide as much as half of all software, hardware and services acquisitions made by IT.

10) The number of 3-D printers in homes and businesses will grow 100-fold over 2006 levels.