SMBs to Rush to the Cloud in 2014

Information Technology tends to see the bright sun in 2014 in the areas of Cloud services for SMBs and individual consumers, Big Data analysis and Visualization tools and techniques, Augmented Reality, and last but not the least Internet of Things . Cloud Services has been around for a while and was majorly the area that was of focus for Large Enterprises however, with more and more consumers becoming aware of the benefits offered by cloud services for information access and exchange, SMBs also need to gear-up soon. The year 2014 would see more and more small and medium businesses making their shift towards cloud based service offerings in thirst to reach out to end consumers. SMB cloud offering essentially will also allow them to gel well with the end customer and cater to their day-to-day needs and wants, like refilling of house-hold stuff would no more be carrying shopping bags to retail stores, instead it would ideally be a matter of few clicks on the mobile device and get delivery at your doorsteps right away.

With the realization of challenges that one may face with the data being generated around by various connected systems and resources, it becomes a necessity to dig deep and pull the right set of information from the vast oceans of "data". Big data is all about finding that right set from the loads of data being generated till date. Enterprise as well as consumers would need tools and techniques to analyze and visualize the results being extracted from various data sources including social channels and media. 2014 would see organizations investing heavily in ‘big data analysis and visualization' based solutions to penetrate deeper into the market with competitive and effective products and services offerings. Few examples of consumer-side analysis based on social channels and media are - sentiment analysis and social ratings of the individuals for defining popularity.

Augmented reality is like a child who is gifted with various super natural powers and is exploring his way out with each application. Thanks to Google Glass, where we can see first big commercial implementation of the technique we always saw in Bond movies, for real use. Augmented reality is not new to world however, its application is what will shape the future of IT. Augmented reality would not only provide information to be displayed in more contextual and connected form, but also help in predictions and trending aspects. It's not difficult to visualize Augmented Reality applications for rehabilitation and human body aids. With the possibilities and threats of connected smarter systems it is undeniable that there are few things yet to be understood and shaped when we look at Internet of Things. However, 2014 would continue exploring greater possibilities and areas of applications for IoT. IoT in its core is about getting most of things by tying them together through network and since we know Internet is the most widely and openly available network as of now, we see these things being connected together via Internet. In times to come, there would be choice of network and secured gateways which would allow the connected devices or things to be operated out from Internet in more secured way. Looking at the diverse IT trends, it will be interesting to identify the right mix of technologies and partners that will help businesses to cater effectively and effortlessly to their end consumers.