Cloud computing, data analytics and agile development will be the key government technology trends in 2012, according to independent technology analyst firm, Ovum.
In a new report, titled 2012 Trends to Watch: Government Technology, the firm stated that 2012 will be the year that governments turn to Cloud computing, data analytics and agile development to in response to times of severity.
Ovum research director and co-author of the report, Dr Steve Hodgkinson, said Cloud computing is maturing as a development in the way computing can be sourced and managed and governments need to factor the opportunities and risks of Cloud computing into both their industry development policies and internal IT strategies.
The report stated that another key trend in 2012 would be increased interest in data analytics.
“Governments are increasingly in competition with many different stakeholders to determine the facts upon which policy decisions should be based and citizens increasingly expect them to have access to authoritative and accurate data.
"This means that agencies need to be planning and implementing strategies to enhance their approach to business intelligence,” Ovum analyst and co-author, Nishant Shah, said.
The report also mentioned that many governments will embrace agile development in 2012, after becoming increasingly frustrated with the high costs and disappointing success rates of large IT projects.
Ovum advocated a cautious approach to shared services and noted the emergence of Cloud computing as an alternative path.
“Ovum believes that there will be major failures in the shared services space in 2012 to add to those seen in Australia and the UK over the past few years,” Hodgkinson said.
He added that the secret for success and Cloud computing is shared services to focus on IT infrastructure and commodity applications.
