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3. IT Security: Security goes back to basics

The IT security situation in Canada is going to get worse before it gets better, says IDC, because Canadian companies are over-confident when it comes to their IT security, business leaders aren't taking it seriously and IT leaders aren't providing best practices.

The market is growing quickly, with 14 per cent growth predicted in 2008, but it's also fragmented. There's a disconnect between what managers are looking for, what executives are looking for, and how security vendors are pitching their solutions.

Companies need to assess and manage the risks to their organizations, a task channel partners can help with. Also, security needs to be further integrated into storage and other areas of IT. However, with security often not being viewed as a priority until an incident occurs, the security sales cycle may be long.

Mabrucco added IDC is seeing strong momentum in areas like managed security services.

4. Technology takes on the environment

While 94 per cent of organizations believe they should be doing more to reduce the impact of their environmental footprint, the percentage of organizations actually taking action is substantially lower.

More can be done by the government, said Mabrucco, around regulations, guidelines and incentives for green investment. There are also a lot of stakeholders when it comes to green IT and those stakeholders need to come together, an area where the IT industry can help. People are looking for more how-to information, best practices and case studies, plus process and workflow changes.

“The business of green is here to stay,” said Mabrucco. “This market is looking for a leader.”

5. Predictions by customer segment
a. Government Focus

The old adage is measure twice, cut one, and IDC says public sector organizations will be looking to do a lot of measuring in 2008. Government IT decision makers are increasingly being held accountable, so they'll be looking for more pervasive metrics, agency accountability, and other tools to help prove the return on investment for their IT spend.

Governments such as Ontario's are also working to develop their own detailed sets of performance benchmarks and metrics, so being able to make a clear and detailed business case will be increasingly important for vendors and partners selling into the public sector.

b. Financial Services Focus

In their drive for customer-centricity, financial services organizations will be looking for a more enterprise-wide view of their clients, and a more seamless customer experience across all their channels. That's actually been their mission for some time, said Mabrucco, and while they're making progress they're not there yet.

Risk management is also an increasingly important issue, and as the banks look to improve efficiency and focus on core operations Mabrucco said there will be increased opportunity for business process and IT outsourcing business.

c. Healthcare Integration

The use of integrated technologies to allow and support the capture of patient data will become increasingly important, said Mabrucco, as Canada's population ages. The aging population will shift the focus to chronic disease management, and to where care is given and by whom, making collaboration and access to real time information critical and opening the door for Web 2.0 technologies.

However, the increasing financial constraints faced by health care organizations, such as increasing staffing costs, will also hamper their ability to invest in technology.

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