There’s nothing that tells you it is December like the onslaught of tech prediction posts. But if there is one that every tech PR in the world should sit up and take note of, it’s the annual missive from tech analyst firm Gartner.

True to form, the company has revealed 11 “Predictions for IT Organizations and Users for 2012 and Beyond”:

1. By 2015, low-cost cloud services will cannibalize up to 15 percent of top outsourcing players’ revenue
2. In 2013, the investment bubble will burst for consumer social networks, and for enterprise social software companies in 2014
3. By 2016, at least 50 percent of enterprise email users will rely primarily on a browser, tablet or mobile client instead of a desktop client
4. By 2015, mobile application development projects targeting smartphones and tablets will outnumber native PC projects by a ratio of 4-to-1
5. By 2016, 40 percent of enterprises will make proof of independent security testing a precondition for using any type of cloud service
6. At year-end 2016, more than 50 percent of Global 1000 companies will have stored customer-sensitive data in the public cloud
7. By 2015, 35 percent of enterprise IT expenditures for most organizations will be managed outside the IT department’s budget
8. By 2014, 20 percent of Asia-sourced finished goods and assemblies consumed in the U.S. will shift to the Americas
9. Through 2016, the financial impact of cybercrime will grow 10 percent per year, due to the continuing discovery of new vulnerabilities
10. By 2015, the prices for 80 percent of cloud services will include a global energy surcharge
11. Through 2015, more than 85 percent of Fortune 500 organizations will fail to effectively exploit big data for competitive advantage

For any company involved in technology, these will make fascinating reading. But it is vitally important for tech PR professionals too. We’ve blogged on numerous occasions about the importance of thought leadership in tech PR, especially in our content-fuelled online world. Tapping into conversations in the tech industry and leading from the front is at the heart of many of the tech PR campaigns we run as an agency.

There are some key themes that come through in the above that many would find it hard to argue with:

Cloud computing – it seems to be everywhere, from security and energy impact to browser-based computing and putting data in the cloud. Much like another trend coming through (mobile) it seems as though Cloud Computing has been something the industry has been talking about for years and yet you suddenly feel it is climbing into public consciousness.

Mobile – we’ve been expecting it for years but I think 2011 will probably be crowned the ‘year of mobile’. And with the growth of tablet computing, mobile no longer just means smartphones. With 4G and technologies like Siri, the future certainly seems bright for mobile computing.

Cybercrime – it’s on everyone’s lips at the moment and Gartner’s prediction is certainly one that will make many businesses sit up and take note.

Businessification of IT – the fact that 35% of enterprise IT expenditure could be managed outside the IT department budget is a further sign of how technology is taking over everything we do when it comes to our professional lives. For businesses to succeed, they need to take note of this shift as quickly as possible. Whether that is making the most of cloud storage or exploiting trends like big data across the enterprise.

You can be sure we will be factoring these trends into the tech PR campaigns we run for our enterprise IT clients in 2012 and beyond.

What are the other trends you expect to see over the next few years? Are there any above that you would disagree with?

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