Mr Bertrand Bidaud: Next-generation analytics will be able to work out not just what the consumer is looking for today, but even anticipate what may interest the consumer in the future.

A “strong and practical” legal framework for the protection of intellectual property rights coupled with factors such as location, an English-speaking population and the ease of doing business enable Singapore to offer unique opportunities for IT service providers, said research firm Gartner, in its IT Services Market Assessment Ratings for 2011-2012.

This assessment was presented as part of a briefing on Singapore Outlook at Trends by Gartner’s Managing Vice President Mr Bertrand Bidaud, in October. According to Gartner, the Singapore IT services marketplace is an attractive midsize market, with a mix of multinational and local service providers. Singaporean businesses have the ability to spend and invest in IT services within the country, and its strong government acts as a market driver, a provider of infrastructure as well as a policymaker.

Overall, Gartner expects enterprise IT spending in Singapore to grow 4.78 per cent from S$17.59 billion in 2011 to S$18.44 billion in 2012. Cloud computing, which was second in Gartner’s list of Top IT Project Priorities for Singapore enterprises in 2011 after IT governance, will continue to be a key area of focus for IT departments.

Generally, the bulk of the cloud computing budget goes to virtual private clouds (36 per cent), followed by the public cloud (23 per cent), community cloud (19 per cent) and the provision of external cloud services (15 per cent),
said Gartner. 

From the perspective of how technology changes the business experience, a key development will be the emergence of the “Internet of things”, with more machines linked to other machines to enable applications such as remote meter reading.

Another important trend from a business viewpoint is next-generation analytics. Today, many websites already have analytics running in the background whenever consumers visit the site to look for certain products or services. For example, if the consumer is checking out a book, the analytics software will help identify the user’s reading preferences and search the website for books of the same genre, and list those out for the consumer as well.

Next-generation analytics will go a step further – it will be able to work out not just what the consumer is looking for today, but even anticipate what may interest the consumer in the future, said Mr Bidaud.

“For example, if your wife was looking at a prenatal website and, in three months’ time, a newborn baby’s website, the inference is that this may be a new mother. Subsequently, she may receive relevant information on baby food, toys, and educational materials that pertain to the child’s developmental age.”

In terms of the impact of technology on the human experience, Gartner said tablet computing will continue to dominate the ICT landscape in 2012, but it will carve out its own segment in the marketplace without replacing existing technologies.

Also among the top strategic technology trends for 2012 are mobile-centric applications and interfaces as well as technologies involving the user’s context and social experience. For example, today, users can easily locate the ATM nearest to them or find out the exact time their bus will arrive at the bus stop. These are examples of how information is being added to real-world scenarios to help users, said Mr Bidaud. In 2012, there will be even more such applications that could enhance the lives of users, he added.