Forbes to CIOs: Discover the value of enterprise data |

Welcome to 2011, where, to paraphrase several leading analyst firms, nothing in IT that we don’t already know about will boom in the next 12 months. How boring is that?

When we looked at the usual predictions from industry analyst firms such as IDC, Gartner and Forrester, (see links to their lists) it seemed that they were taking a very conservative approach on the coming trends for year 2011.

However, among the many predictable predictions (cloud, social computing in enterprise, tablets, etc.), we found two very interesting pieces worth sharing to kick off the new year. On the lighter side, have a look at 10 Crazy 2011 Search Engine Marketing Predictions, where Aaron Goldman of MediaPost swings for the fences. If any one of these events were to occur, it would be one of the hottest IT topics for a few months at least!

Ed Sperling, one of the most talented technology journalists in the Silicon Valley. We recommend subscribing to his RSS feed on Forbes.

And with a CIO-issues focus is Forbes’ Ed Sperling, who wrote “CIOs: Be Careful What You Wish For. Not exactly a classic 2011 predictions piece, but he pegs a few poignant trends happening right now. In it, he says: “…cloud computing will unclutter technology to the point where the focus will migrate from technology to data. At that point data can be examined from a business standpoint—particularly its value to the business—rather than just where it is kept and how it is secured.”

Enterprise data. It’s something that Convertigo has been involved with for 15 years, but it has never been more important to the C suite than it is now. This makes our jobs much more fun!

Five years ago, we worked with IT staff almost exclusively. Today, we rarely close a deal with at least one line-of-business person involved, and with a real business driver – possibly a profit center — behind the desire to buy the Convertigo Mashup Server. Given this trend, it’s no surprise that Sperling says, “the new CIO job description will be a deep understanding of the value of data—not just the technology—and how it can be applied to the business.”

Sperling also says that a CIO’s ability create value out of data will earn her a spot at the corporate strategy table. We couldn’t agree more. Many of our clients (IT and line-of-business roles) are finding faster career paths and significant growth opportunities by proactively seeking out the places in their enterprises where the power of data can be unlocked for new strategic advantage.