Tech becomes ultimate enabler

As technology becomes a way of life, social and contextual computing are set to transform the way consumers and businesses function.

Steve Prentice, vice-president and Gartner fellow, said at the Gartner Predicts 2010 event in Sandton this week that a fundamental shift has taken place in the way people interact with technology.

“A lot of changes we're seeing indicate that it's not about technology for technology's sake, but about being tech-enabled, and the way people use technology. More than ever, people have choices - to do things, to communicate, and to share ideas.”

Prentice quoted Intel research fellow Genevieve Bell, saying that, “Technology succeeds when it meets a need that people care about.”

He added that a relationship is developing with technology on the one hand, and society and individuals on the other, and enterprises are getting caught up in this process.

According to Prentice, the consumerisation of IT, a trend previously identified by Gartner, has now evolved to social computing, where computers are not seen as an element of technology but as a tool to run one's social life.

“Social computing, as the extension and maturisation of the consumerisation of IT, is set to be the most significant trend of the next 10 years.”

He pointed out that many people make use of very complex technology every day, without necessarily understanding the way it works. “People are not interested in how technology works; they're interested in that it works, period. And when it doesn't they want it fixed immediately.”

For Prentice, the next generation of computing is all about “availability, accessibility and the ability for individuals to share and connect”. This incorporates the concept of destination, with like-minded individuals capable of building communities free from the constraints of geography.

He noted that the proliferation of devices has changed the way society perceives technology, creating an 'always-on' digital lifestyle where people expect to be able to find all the information they want, when they want it. “We live in a world which is digitally-enabled and socially connected.”

According to Gartner, more than five billion devices are currently connected to the Internet, with the number set to increase substantially as more interconnected devices are installed. “This has resulted in a growing tsunami of data, numerical, multimedia, structured and unstructured, which both informs us and overwhelms us,” it states in its Top Trends 2010 report.

The firm states that by 2012, the interconnections between mobile, social, Web, and communications offerings will mean mass market opportunities for context-aware computing will emerge.

“Location is the key to context, time is the trigger,” said Prentice. “By tapping into the power of the network, and accessing historical data, we receive richer content about what we have done, where we are, and what we're about to do.”

He pointed to the way combining information from many different sources creates a context of 'where you are, and when you are there', and that this context is becoming increasingly important.

Gartner predicts emerging context-enriched services will use location, presence, social attributes and other environmental information to anticipate an end-user's immediate needs, for more usable functions.

The firm adds that one of the major challenges for IT is unlocking the potential of increasing interconnections, and predicts 75% of new search installations will include a social search element. “Such advances will allow for systems that synthesise useful knowledge rather than create noise.”

For end-users, this will mean an even greater awareness of the various knowledge systems and management of their profile - the 'digital me' - a part of which will be based on information gained through various sources, notes Gartner.

This linkage between real and digital worlds means context-based information is available at the point of decision. “The emergence of this 'real world Web' will bring the power of the Web, which is today perceived as a 'separate' virtual place, to the user's point of need of information or transaction.”

For this reason, Gartner advises businesses to place increasing scrutiny on context-aware computing and its impact on their industries and work processes.