The Third Platform – A ‘To-Watch’ IT Trend in 2013

Earlier this week there was an article that highlighted a forecast from IDC which predicts that IT spending will grow 5.7% in 2013, and the main drivers of this growth will come from services on the “third platform.” You’ve known about PaaS (Platform as a Service), but the term “third platform” might be new to you as the forecast was just released in late November. According to IDC, it’s a combination of “mobile computing, cloud services, social networking, and big data analytics technologies” that are industry-specific.

So in the coming years, cloud platforms for various network devices are expected to be less generic and more customized to meet the specific needs of each industry. Even more than now, IT service provider firms will become extremely knowledgeable and specialized in order to deliver personalized cloud packages to their target markets. The outlook seems to be promising as industries’ IT operations can maximize productivity and cost-saving. However, do you think there might be problematic disintegrations between various industry-specific cloud platforms? For example, those that usually work together (manufacturers and retailers, mining and raw material processing, etc.) might implement drastically different platforms, and thus, workflow might not go as smoothly as expected. What are your thoughts about this new trend? Comment and let me know.

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The Third Platform – A ‘To-Watch’ IT Trend in 2013

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