We’re wrapping up another year – and what a year it’s been. We’ve been on a roller coaster ride and it doesn’t seem set to slow down in 2009.
Canadians faced another federal election in 2008 (and could face another one next year). And while our election seemed to be a big waste of taxpayers’ money, the U.S. made a statement of change by electing Barack Obama. We officially entered into a recession, amid extreme volatility in the markets, where many people lost their savings. The Canadian dollar plummeted, while oil prices bounced around from extreme highs to extreme lows. We’ve already seen large-scale layoffs and will likely see more. As we head into 2009, there’s a climate of uncertainty in the air.
And this hasn’t escaped the channel. IT budgets are being cut, and many companies are putting projects on hold. But there are some areas where technology will do well – and these are areas where IT can save customers money. Right now, it’s all about short-term ROI – seeing the value right away, rather than in two or three years.
D&H Distributing, for example, has actually seen an increase in business during these tough economic times in the areas of mobility, SMB servers and storage. Maybe it’s because SMBs are smaller and more nimble, and perhaps better positioned to weather an economic storm than large enterprises.
Software-as-a-service is expected to do well in 2009 – everything from ERP to CRM to HR applications. SaaS will be particularly appealing to smaller businesses that can’t afford to deploy this technology themselves, but can justify a small recurring fee each month – if it can help them be more competitive. And, this might be a time when larger enterprises seriously consider SaaS, so they can avoid large-scale rollouts. Already, we’ve seen disties beef up their SaaS offerings as we head into the New Year.
Another area is virtualization – from servers to storage to desktops. It’s all about using (and reducing) existing resources, rather than buying new ones. While many businesses have already embraced server virtualization, on the desktop side, virtualization allows them to use existing hardware and postpone refresh cycles.
In a recent conversation with Citrix execs, I was told of a customer who bought old PCs from a school for about $20 each, then gave employees brand-new monitors and ran desktop virtualization. Employees thought they had the latest and greatest, while the company saved a ton of dough on hardware. That may be an extreme example, but it shows why desktop virtualization has some serious appeal.
Many industry experts agree that mobility will continue to do well, as will videoconferencing and collaboration technologies that help businesses cut travel costs.
Videoconferencing isn’t new, of course, but the technology has improved dramatically, and it’s far more appealing these days than the hassle and expense of air travel.
Portfolio management systems that offer collaboration tools and reporting capabilities are also expected to do well.
Business intelligence is another area that could thrive, since it can help businesses become more strategic and make better decisions through better use of their data.
The price point has come down, and front-end interfaces are easier to use, so even smaller businesses can take advantage of BI. They don’t need an analyst on staff; Average Joe can now make his own pie charts and graphs.
For the channel, 2009 doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom – it may simply represent a shift toward these types of technologies. D&H went through the Great Depression – and it’s still here. So here’s to another year, one that could be full of silver linings.
