Ibm business trends

1. Raising the game
The IBM Business Tech Trends Study
ibm.com/ibmcai | ibmcai.com

2. 2
Raising the game: The IBM Business Tech Trends Study
The future has arrived. Big data and
analytics, cloud, mobile, and social are now
mainstream, driving strategic opportunities
for the enterprise. How are leading companies
staying out ahead when everybody is
jumping into the fray? It turns out Pacesetters
have three key characteristics that give
them an edge: partnering is in their DNA,
analytics is their fuel, and combining these
four technologies is their breakaway move.

3. 3
About the study
This is the fourth study in the Tech Trends series. To gain
a current global snapshot of how organizations are using big
data and analytics, cloud, mobile, and social technologies,
the IBM Center for Applied Insights conducted a survey of
1,447 decision makers. Twenty-one percent of respondents
are C-level executives. Of the remainder, 40 percent represent
IT management and 39 percent business management,
comprising vice presidents, directors, and managers. These
participants span 15 industries and 13 countries.5
Fifty-two
percent work in organizations of 1,000 or more employees and
48 percent are from companies with fewer employees.
Last year, mobile data traffic was almost 18 times the amount
of traffic across the whole Internet a little over a decade ago.1
Use of social networking sites has risen 800 percent among
online American adults since 2005, reaching 73 percent in
2013.2
During the past two years, the world generated a
zettabyte of data, more information than we humans created
in all of history.3
And in 2013, worldwide spending on public
cloud IT services was estimated at $47 billion.4
The future everyone’s been expecting has now arrived. Big data
and analytics, cloud computing, mobile technology, and social
business are all in mainstream use–at enterprises of virtually
every size.
So what happens to the companies that were previously
gaining competitive advantages from the early adoption
of these technologies? How do they keep their edge?
Or do they?
In our 2012 study, we called these enterprises Pacesetters.
They were on the fast track. And despite the crowded
playing field evident in this year’s study, this segment is
still outperforming.
Like elite athletes, they didn’t get distracted when other
companies entered the field. They relied on good genes, with
a clear predisposition to partner. They trained themselves to
depend on the right fuel–analytical insights that are integral to
their decisions. And they learned how to combine these four
technologies, allowing them to craft innovative moves that put
more distance between them and their competitors.
Tweet this
Pacesetters are raising the game: they’ve
got the right DNA, right fuel, right
breakaway move.

4. 4
Raising the game: The IBM Business Tech Trends Study
Game on
Our 2012 study, Fast track to the future, underscored the
momentum building around these then-emerging trends.
At the time, only about half of the respondents had
adopted analytics and mobile. Social and cloud, meantime,
were deployed by even fewer (34 percent and 39 percent
respectively). Fast-forward two years and most piloting stages
are long gone. Adoption is the norm. Each of these four
technologies has now been deployed by at least 70 percent
of enterprises. Significant deployments of cloud and social
have almost tripled in just two years.
Now firmly established, big data and analytics, cloud, mobile
and social are more crucial than ever to how business gets
done. Nearly three-fourths of decision makers report that
these technologies are strategically important to their
organizations, up from two-thirds in 2012. They’re helping
organizations stand out within fiercely competitive industries,
gin up novel products and services, craft new business models,
and pinpoint which markets to attack.
Just as telling, this juggernaut shows no sign of slowing.
Three-fourths of enterprises plan to ratchet up their
investments in big data and analytics, cloud, and mobile, while
66 percent intend to spend more on social business. While
reaping the benefits of their past investments, companies plan
to keep forging ahead full steam.
Tweet this
Big data and analytics, cloud, mobile and
social are each now used by 7 in 10 enterprises.

5. 5
Tech adoption: A crowded playing field
Cloud
Big Data &
Analytics
Mobile
Social
No plans
to adopt
Adopting within
24 months
Pilot stage Limited
deployment
Significant
deployment
3%
7%
35%
40%
4% 6%
14%16%
26%
35%
40%
19%
5%
17%
8%
20%
36%
42%
14%
15%
6% 9%
11%
23%
26%
19%
38%
32%
21%
25%
23%
2014
2012
15%
3%
15%
23%
10%
19% 17%
31%
32%
39%
Deployment gains
since 2012
92%
59%
106%

6. 6
Raising the game: The IBM Business Tech Trends Study
Pacesetters score big
To understand the approaches organizations are taking to
these technologies, we revisited the segments we identified
two years ago:6
Pacesetters believe that these technologies are critical to
their business success and adopt them ahead of rivals.
Followers agree that these technologies are strategically
important but generally trail Pacesetters in adoption.
Dabblers are behind, or at best, on par with competitors in
terms of adoption, and their use of these technologies tends
to be less strategic.
Strikingly, it appears that Pacesetters are maintaining their
edge, even as the four pivotal technologies have gone
mainstream. About nine in ten of the Pacesetters say they are
gaining competitive advantage from big data and analytics,
cloud, mobile and social. That compares to just four in ten
Dabblers and seven in ten Followers. Just as crucially,
Pacesetters report they are better at achieving key business
objectives with these technologies than the rest of the field.
These differences show up across a range of business
objectives. Sixty-three percent of Pacesetters say they are
achieving their objective of accelerating product and service
innovation through mobile, nearly six times more than
Dabblers. Pacesetters are also turning to the cloud to improve
customer service, with almost 70 percent reporting that they’ve
met that objective. And Pacesetters report success in using
social business, analytical insights, and the cloud to improve
communication and collaboration with customers, employees
and partners five to seven times more often than Dabblers.
Their secret playbook
On an increasingly competitive playing field, what sets
Pacesetters apart? Compared to Dabblers and Followers,
Pacesetters are more likely to exhibit three characteristics that
help them get more out of these transformative technologies.
They’re partnering broadly and creatively, driving business
decisions with analytics, and combining the four technologies.
2012 20% 55% 25%
Pacesetter ranks have grown by seven points
Pacesetters Followers
2014 27% 54% 19%
Dabblers

7. 7
Pacesetters’ scoreboard
Pacesetters are more likely than Dabblers to achieve their objectives with these technologies
BigData&
AnalyticsCloudMobileSocial
Enhance communication
& collaboration
65% vs. 9%
Accelerate innovation
of products & services
57% vs. 10%
Improve customer
experience
63% vs. 11%
Increase workforce
efficiency
61% vs. 6%
Enhance communication
& collaboration
65% vs. 13%
Improve customer
experience
68% vs. 18%
Accelerate innovation
of products & services
63% vs. 11%
Improve customer
experience
59% vs. 12%
Sharpen insights &
decision making
58% vs. 18%
Enhance communication
& collaboration
72% vs. 13%
Improve customer
experience
54% vs. 9%
Expand into new
segments & markets
64% vs. 21%
Achieving goals:
Pacesetters vs. Dabblers

8. 8
Raising the game: The IBM Business Tech Trends Study
Partnering innovatively
The City of Honolulu wanted to improve government
transparency and efficiency while also increasing civic
involvement. Through cloud, the city opened up access
to years’ worth of municipal data and provided a
development platform that allows citizens and partners
to create and deploy new applications to improve the city’s
quality of life. Creations include a bus schedule app with
real-time arrival data and an app that lets citizens report
locations and share photos of broken street lights, aban-
doned vehicles and other problems. This crowdsourced
approach helps the city not only better engage its citizens
but also improve the efficiency of its own operations.8
Partnering
is in their DNA
Partnering is integral to how Pacesetters plan and execute.
Across every type of external partner and for every type of
activity we examined, Pacesetters partner more. They also
partner more creatively, recruiting less-traditional partners
for their efforts.
Take skills acquisition. While 40 percent of companies
still have moderate to major skills gaps, Pacesetters are
busy plugging their skills gaps by partnering with external
developers. However, they’re not just using tried-and-true
professional developers–nearly 80 percent of Pacesetters
are also turning to citizen developers.7
Compared to Dabblers,
Pacesetters are twice as likely to enlist citizen developers
for skills transfer and training. This fits right in with the
Pacesetters’ experimental nature: Nearly 60 percent of
Pacesetters proactively develop skills, experimenting even
before a clear business need emerges (only 8 percent of
Dabblers can say the same).
However, Pacesetters’ partnering isn’t just about skills; it’s
much deeper and more pervasive. They’re engaging less-
conventional partners like citizen developers, clients, start-ups
and academia to help drive innovation. They’re twice as likely
to enlist academia to help with product development, and
70 percent more likely to use start-ups for project execution.
And they’re remarkably inclusive when it comes to steering
their IT direction–Pacesetters are about 2.5 times more likely
than Dabblers to turn to academia, clients, start-ups and even
citizen developers for help with IT decisions.
Eighty percent of Pacesetters use citizen
developers. Who codes for you?
This creative partnering strategy seems to be working.
According to the results Pacesetters are reporting, they’re
more than five times as likely to significantly accelerate
innovation of products and services with cloud, analytics,
mobile technology and social business.
Tweet this
Watch to learn more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I9_zWKs_yA

9. 9
Skills transfer/
training
Project
execution
Product
development
IT directions/
decisions
Professional
developers
Citizen
developers Academia Start-ups Clients
Pacesetters
Skills transfer/
training
Project
execution
Product
development
IT directions/
decisions
Dabblers
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Percent using a given partner for an activity
2.6xas likely to engage
Start-ups for
steering IT direction
2.0xas likely to engage
Citizen Developers
for training
Pacesetters partner more...
...and more creatively

10. 10
Raising the game: The IBM Business Tech Trends Study
Analytics
is their fuel
Pacesetters are turning into insight-driven enterprises.
They started by laying a strong analytical foundation. They
built up mature big data and analytics capabilities and
cultivated analytical skills throughout their organizations.
But it’s not enough to just stock up on analytical talent. After
all, insights that sit on the shelf are useless. The hallmark of
an analytically fueled organization is having a culture that’s
inclined to act on analytical results and insights. And nearly
70 percent of Pacesetters say analytics are integral to how their
organizations make decisions.
At the same time, Pacesetters are serious about building even
greater analytical sophistication so they can remain on the
cutting edge. During the next two years, 60 percent–versus
29 percent of Dabblers–plan to increase investments in
analytics by 10 percent or more. And they aren’t just focused
on data generated by their existing transactional systems.
They’re expanding their use of analytics in the newer spaces
of social and mobile.
There’s one area where even Pacesetters have room for
improvement. Only one-third of Pacesetters (and a mere
5 percent of Dabblers) have crafted a comprehensive,
enterprise-wide analytics strategy. As competition continues
to heat up and analytics impacts business strategy even more,
a mature strategy can be essential for staying ahead.
Tweet this
Analytics for early detection, better prevention
Though heart failure afflicts more than five million U.S.
adults and costs US$32 billion annually, early detection
and prevention is difficult. Virginia health system Carilion
Clinic is applying natural language processing technology
to analyze “unstructured” data in electronic medical
records, such as doctors’ notes and discharge papers.
This data can provide a more complete understanding
of patients but often goes unanalyzed. Carilion is also
using predictive modeling to identify at-risk patients.
Carilion reported that with the help of this sophisticated
analytical approach, the pilot project identified 8,500
patients at risk of developing heart failure, with an 85
percent accuracy rate. Through analytics, Carilion is laying
the groundwork for targeted interventions that can help
prevent more severe and costly medical complications.9
Nearly two-thirds of Pacesetters are
increasing big data & analytics investment
by double digits.

11. 11
7 in10
say insights
are integral to
decision making
60% plan to increase investment
in Big Data & Analytics 10% or more over
the next 2 years
80% or more plan to increase use
of social media and mobile analytics over
the next 2 years
89% have mature
Big Data & Analytics capabilities
74% have most of the
Big Data & Analytics skills needed
Today
Tomorrow
Pacesetters run on insights

12. 12
Raising the game: The IBM Business Tech Trends Study
Integration is their
breakaway move
Each of these technologies on its own is powerful. But
Pacesetters are aiming to deliver an even bigger punch by
combining them.
For example, social media has reset our expectations as
consumers, employees, and business partners, and companies
have ratcheted up investments in response. Pacesetters,
though, are already onto the next level. They’re weaving
together mobile and social to further expand the reach of their
networks and strengthen connections. Pacesetters are dishing
up social tools on mobile five times more than Dabblers.
But bolstering engagement via social tools and mobile
technology is just one piece of the puzzle. Pacesetters are
intent on building strategic advantages from the data coming
their way. They’re six times more likely to use analytics to
drive functionality on mobile applications or provide workers
with insights when and where decisions are made. And they’re
equally ahead on using analytics to mine social data, for
example, to better understand markets and customer needs.
Among Pacesetters, cloud computing often underpins the
deployment of other technologies. It can play a critical role in
how they manage today’s deluge of data and scale their
technology operations and initiatives. Compared to Dabblers,
Pacesetters are four to seven times more likely to use cloud to
help deliver the other three technologies. Cloud technologies
can help them deploy mobile and social offerings more quickly
and broadly, better manage the data they’re generating, and
gather information from a wider array of sources. Cloud also
lets them tap into high-performance computing capacity for
more sophisticated analytics.
Combining technologies for smarter energy operations
Bharat Light and Power (BLP) is one of India’s largest
clean energy companies. To generate more green power
and improve efficiency, BLP is combining cloud, analytics
and mobile technologies. BLP built a cloud infrastructure
to help better manage its wind farms and make use
of the immense amount of data produced by its power
generation sources. The company applies analytics to
help generate insights from this data, such as pinpointing
equipment or utilization issues. BLP expects proactive
servicing to boost turbine availability by 3 to 4 percent
and cut infrastructure provisioning more than 90 percent.
The company plans to engage citizens via mobile and
social—informing them about their power usage and
better understanding their energy demand.10
Tweet this
Pacesetters are four to seven times more likely
to integrate these technologies.

13. 13
Inside the integration playbook
6xmore likely to use
social media analytics
6xmore
likely to use
mobile analytics
Cloud at
the core
57% of Pacesetters use
Big Data & Analytics
on the Cloud
53% of Pacesetters
use Social Business
on the Cloud
55% of Pacesetters
use Mobile on
the Cloud
6x
4x
7x
5xmore
likely to deliver
social business
via mobile
Pacesetters
vs. Dabblers

14. 14
Raising the game: The IBM Business Tech Trends Study
Staying on the leading
edge demands more
than adoption–it
requires a strategic,
collaborative approach
Broaden your idea of
partnering–who you
engage and when
Act on insight,
not instinct
Combine technologies
to amplify results
• Plug skill gaps creatively. Have
you considered using academics,
start-ups or clients to train your
staff? Are you using crowdsourcing
or engaging citizen developers for
expertise and speed?
• Treat innovation as a team sport.
What about bringing in clients or
academia to help with product
development? Have you consulted
clients or start-ups when making
strategic IT decisions?
• Collaborate better. Are you using
social business tools to engage
partners? Cloud to scale your
collaborations? Analytics to better
understand your ecosystem?
• Get equipped for advanced
analytics. Are you taking the plunge
into new data sources like unstructured
data (e.g., social media)? Building
more sophisticated capabilities (e.g.,
predictive and prescriptive analytics)?
• Train your team. Does your
organization have the right mix of
technical and business skills to use
your analytical toolset and
interpret results?
• Act on insight. Has your
organizational culture embraced
use of evidence-based insights
–rather than gut instinct–for
decision making?
• Engage easily. Are you making
social business capabilities
available via mobile (to employees,
partners, clients)?
• Make your mobile apps smarter.
How can you blend the intelligence
of big data and analytics with the
convenience of mobile to create
innovation for your customers
and employees?
• Combine strategically. How
can cloud speed and scale your
other technology initiatives? Can
integrating technologies help you
create new products or even new
business models?

15. 15
About the authors
Sandy Carter is IBM General Manager Ecosystem
Development, responsible for IBM’s worldwide focus on
building key ecosystems around core growth areas such as
Cloud, Mobile, Social, Analytics, and Cognitive Computing.
Author of three books, including best-seller Get Bold,
she has been named “Top 10 in Social Media” in the Forbes
Global Top 40 in Marketing, “Ten Most Powerful Women
in Tech,” and one of M2M’s (Internet of Things) most
powerful women in technology. Sandy can be reached at
scarter@us.ibm.com, via Twitter @sandy_carter, or through
her blog socialbusinesssandy.com.
Susanne Hupfer, Ph.D. is a consultant with the IBM Center for
Applied Insights, where she conducts fact-based research for
innovation leaders. Her recent work includes the IBM Under
cloud cover and Champions of Software as a Service (SaaS) studies.
Previously, she worked in IBM Research, helping to direct
the IBM Center for Social Business. Prior to joining IBM, she
co-founded a technology start-up that developed software to
help users seamlessly manage their electronic information in
the cloud. She holds five patents and a doctorate in computer
science from Yale University. You can contact Susanne at
susanne_hupfer@us.ibm.com or on Twitter @cybersooz.
Also check out her posts on the Center’s blog.
Contributors
Meeyoung Yoon
Bill Day
Angie Casey
Caroline Day
Laura Fonda
Balaji Sreedhar
Julie Yamamoto
About the IBM Center for Applied Insights
ibm.com/ibmcai | ibmcai.com
The IBM Center for Applied Insights introduces new ways of
thinking, working and leading. Through evidence-based research,
the Center arms leaders with pragmatic guidance and the case
for change.

16. XIE12347-USEN-00
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2014
IBM Corporation
New Orchard Road
Armonk, NY 10504
Produced in the United States of America
August 2014
IBM, the IBM logo and ibm.com are trademarks of International Business
Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries or both.
If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first
occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol (® or TM),
these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned
by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may
also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. Other
product, company or service names may be trademarks or service marks
of others. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the web at
“Copyright and trademark information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may
be changed by IBM at any time. Not all offerings are available in every
country in which IBM operates.
The performance data and client examples cited are presented for
illustrative purposes only. Actual performance results may vary
depending on specific configurations and operating conditions.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED
“AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF
NON-INFRINGEMENT. IBM products are warranted according
to the terms and conditions of the agreements under which they
are provided.
Please Recycle
Notes and sources
1 “Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast
Update, 2013–2018.” Cisco. February 5, 2014. http://www.cisco.com/c/en/
us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/
white_paper_c11-520862.html
2 “Social Media Update 2013.” Pew Research Internet Project. December
30, 2013. http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/12/30/social-media-
update-2013/; Olenski, Steve. “Social Media Usage Up 800% For U.S.
Online Adults In Just 8 Years.” Forbes CMO Network blog. September 6,
2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2013/09/06/social-media-
usage-up-800-for-us-online-adults-in-just-8-years/
3 Shaw, Jonathan. “Why ‘Big Data’ Is a Big Deal.” Harvard Magazine.
March-April 2014. http://harvardmagazine.com/2014/03/why-big-data-is-
a-big-deal
4 “IDC Forecasts Worldwide Public IT Cloud Services Spending to Reach
Nearly $108 Billion by 2017 as Focus Shifts from Savings to Innovation.”
IDC. September 3, 2013. http://www.idc.com/getdoc.
jsp?containerId=prUS24298013
5 The growth markets studied include the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia,
India, China), Mexico, and South Africa. Mature market countries studied
include Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, and United
States. To smooth any geographic distortion, responses were weighted
based on 2012 GDP data from The World Bank: data.worldbank.org/
indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD
6 As in 2012, we segmented respondents into three types of organizations
based on how they rated the technologies’ strategic importance to their
businesses and their pace of adoption relative to competitors.
7 By citizen developer, we mean an end user or hobbyist programmer who
creates new business applications as a side venture outside of their normal
work responsibilities.
8 “The City and County of Honolulu creates a customized cloud.” IBM.
September 2012. http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?info
type=PM&subtype=AB&htmlfid=ZSC03142USEN
9 “IBM Predictive Analytics to Detect Patients at Risk for Heart Failure.”
IBM. February 19, 2014. http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/
pressrelease/43231.wss
10 “Bharat Light and Power and IBM Collaborate to Drive Business
Growth and Build Smarter Operations.” IBM. November 19, 2013. http://
www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/42524.wss