Gartner looks to next generation internet

Capitalising on next generation internet technologies to improve staff performance is essential if businesses are to grow in the knowledge economy, says analyst Gartner.
Gartner predicts the majority of Global 1000 companies will adopt next generation internet technologies by 2008.

The main characteristic of the next generation internet – referred to as web 2.0 – is greater collaboration amongst users, content providers and businesses.

The UK’s growing knowledge economy – based on the creation of knowledge in a high performance workplace – is seen as the most effective way to compete with emerging economies in the face of globalisation.

Regina Casonato, managing vice president at Gartner, believes using technology to improve staff efficiency rather than focusing on cost cutting and replacing workers with automation, requires conventional definitions of business output to be changed.

‘Productivity cannot be measured by output per hour in a high-performance workplace,' she said.

Gartner estimates that $100bn (£53bn) was spent globally on high-performance workplace technologies in 2005 including networking, communications, storage, output devices and wireless extensions.

Research from Gartner shows chief information officers are committed to improving performance. Collaboration technologies associated with Web 2.0 entered the top 10 technology priorities for the first time as the fourth largest technology concern.

This is further demonstrated by the growth of the collaboration software market which grew 21 per cent in 2005 ahead of all other sectors.

Gartner believes by 2015 social and technological changes will see workers spending 80 per cent of their time working collaboratively – though not necessarily in person.

Nikos Drakos, Gartner research director, says a collaborative approach results in improved customer satisfaction.

‘As well as personalised customer service and targeted service delivery, customers can be involved in the early stages of product or service design, customisation or even delivery and support,' he said.

Gartner maintains the implementation of successful collaboration technology is fast becoming as important as economies of scale in competitive advantage.

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Further Reading

Why the UK needs to capture impact of IT