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Deloitte Analyses Top Trends in the Technology Industry for 2009 |
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The Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) practice at Deloitte announced its predictions today for the technology sector in 2009, forecasting the growth of the netbook, increasing focus on green IT and the rise of generic brands as companies are likely to become more willing to try out cheaper, unbranded alternatives in an attempt to cut costs.
Dariusz Nachyla, head of TMT at Deloitte Central Europe, comments: “The future for the technology sector in 2009 will be challenging; however, there will be some clear winners in 2009. This year’s predictions include 2009 being a breakout year for the netbook, generic technology brands, and social networks in businesses.”
“We also expect companies to become even more conscious about energy consumption. For that reason, they might opt to outsource data processing to data centres which use the latest and most efficient technology.”
“Challenges will include tackling issues around the falling price of digital storage, which is causing file management to become reckless. In addition, an increased demand for electricity will lead to the introduction of SmartGrid technologies.”
The 2009 series of predictions has drawn on internal and external inputs from conversations with member firm clients, contributions from Deloitte member firms’ 6,000 partners and managers specialising in TMT, and discussions with industry analysts as well as interviews with leading executives from around the world.
Disrupting the PC: the Rise of the Netbook
In 2009 the momentum behind netbooks should grow, with new models offering better processors and improved hard drives. Although netbooks have the potential to threaten PCs and other sub-sector margins, careful market development and expanded applications offer significant opportunities as well. Technology companies should take advantage of the inexpensive low-power central processing units (CPU) of netbooks, with home-media systems, digital video recorders, and games consoles capitalising on the new CPUs. Wireless carriers are already looking to subsidise netbooks as a way to lock in wireless data subscribers. And netbooks can be used by office workers instead of conventional PCs and even replace field force workers’ clipboards or PDAs.
Common Sense of Green and Lean IT
In 2009, the outlook for energy remains uncertain and organisations should consider as many options as possible for reducing consumption. One source of ready savings is data centres. If housed in facilities originally designed for people, data centres should be reconfigured to reflect the needs of machines as poorly positioned vents or misdirected cool air wastes energy as well. More companies may want to consider outsourcing data centres, using facilities with the latest and most efficient technology. But the optimal approach could be to simply cap the size of data centres rather than assuming their inexorable expansion.
Generic Becomes the ‘It’ Brand
In today’s uncertain economy, a brand that once stood for quality, reliability, and even desirability may now only represent extravagance. In 2009, companies are likely to become more willing to try out cheaper, unbranded alternatives in an attempt to cut costs; however, enterprises considering changing suppliers should be sure to undertake a medium-term cost benefit analysis. Using new suppliers can require users to learn a new interface, which could cause a slowdown in productivity. Technology device manufacturers should consider how the impact of branding changes in an economic downturn. Manufacturers may need to develop low-cost or generic brands. Premium brands, however, may simply choose to suffer a near-term slump in sales, as dropping prices may cheapen its image in the long run.
For a copy of the report with all the 2009 Deloitte predictions, please email: almarketing@deloittece.com or visit the website: Technology Section
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Technology Trends 2009
Technology Trends 2009, report