Oooh, Cloud + Mobile + Analytics

So Gartner released it’s Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2011 yesterday, and I had to jump on the back with some of my own observations.

Now, the lens I’m looking at Gartner’s list with is heavily based on my last 30 days at PwC. When we think about Cloud Computing @ PwC, which happens to be #1 on Gartner’s list, we tend to think about it in a slightly different way to most.

See, Cloud to us is an instrument, a technique, a mindset, I mean, let’s go all out, it’s a lifestyle. We take some of the smartest folks in leading business verticals, like Finance or Media & Entertainment for example, and challenge them to identify new ways of doing business where cloud computing (and other leading technologies by the way) is a key enabler. This leads to some amazing ideas and business outcomes!

When I look at the Gartner list, three things jump out at me. Cloud obviously, and I think Garner is right on the money when they suggest a lot of the action will happen in understanding how to select a cloud provider and how to maintain cloud services from a governance and policy perspective. Mobile is a logical extension of the cloud paradigm shift; if you start moving massive computing to the utility domain, then more immersive, intimate mobile devices are key. Business and lifestyle now collapse onto each other, and you need a mobile computing platform that can not only provide you with a meaningful social experience, but also one that is cognizant and capable from a business point of view. And finally, analytics. Well, my time at Live Labs and Windows Azure taught me one thing, if you can get lots of machines, talking to lots of other services (like Twitter, Bing, etc), and use that to correlate your own information needs, you’re on a winner. Being able to qualify a factoid against the web and social corpus, at real-time speed, directly from your palm, is infinitely powerful.

I’m also going to add in Interactive Experiences as a leading area, I mean, Kinect creates amazing possibilities in this area.

I’m super excited about where Cloud, Mobile and Analytics will intersect in 2011. What about you?