The Leading Edge - Summer 2011 - PKF - 8

technology

5 talked-about tech trends – should you care?
By Danielle Toth

ith technology constantly advancing, businesses may find it difficult to know which trends they can ignore and what they really need to know for their business. Jeff Rudolph, partner-in-charge of the technology division at Sikich LLP, a member of the Leading Edge Alliance, shares his thoughts on five talked-about tech trends. PAY ATTENTION TO Smartphones Smartphones will only continue to grow in popularity. About a half billion cell phones connect to the Internet, and that number is expected to jump to 5 billion in just two to three years, Rudolph says. Businesses should look to smartphones as marketing tools (reaching out to connect with customers and prospects) and as communication tools. “Our company, for example, just brought in a new smartphone policy. Anyone can use any smartphone, and we reimburse them,” Rudolph says. “The employees are more productive – I mean work is 24/7. “The younger generation especially is used to being online and giving instantaneous answers all the time. There’s going to be a big push for businesses to respond to their clients and colleagues quickly due to the smartphone.” Cloud computing Another technology businesses should be talking about if they aren’t already is cloud computing, which allows companies to store and access their documents, photos, presentations and more online so they can access them anywhere with an Internet connection. The lure for many companies is that cloud services cost significantly less than buying software and internal infrastructure equipment every few years as well as providing physical space to house that technology, Rudolph says. In turn, the company’s IT department no longer needs to focus on maintenance and can take a more innovative role within the

Businesses shouldn’t spend the time and money on an app just to have it.
five servers, you could have maybe two, and you save on electricity. It is also good for disaster recovery because the servers are smart and back themselves up onto other servers.” PROCEED WITH CAUTION Apps While it seems you can’t turn on the TV or surf the Web without hearing about a new app, Rudolph says only one in four apps are used. “It’s very trendy to have an app right now,” he says. “I’d say a company should look into developing an app if it has a business model where an app makes sense. For example, it makes sense for a lot of banks. You can take a picture of your check and deposit it. Or a CPA firm could set up an alert when a client’s tax return is done. But businesses shouldn’t spend the time and money on an app just to have it.” Tablet computers While tablet computers receive a lot of buzz, it is a trend businesses can hold off on, Rudolph says. While many upper managers use and enjoy tablets for business, it will be a while before they find their way into mainstream business use. “Tablet computers are really good for looking up information, but not so good for outputting information because the interface is not that great,” Rudolph explains. “You have the virtual keyboard on the screen, but it can be hard to type, and you can only type so much. While the tablets are very good at looking up information and getting information, I don’t think they’re really set up for heavy input.” LE
SUMMER 2011

business, he adds. “The only real downside is the lack of privacy if you have many people using your company cloud, and if the cloud provider goes down, you’re out of luck,” Rudolph says. “Businesses should always back up their data.” Virtualization Virtual creation of a physical technology, such as a server or operating system, presents some opportunities. Businesses usually use multiple servers to handle their computing needs, but some of those are underutilized, Rudolph explains. For example, a server that holds a business’ payroll application is used at near-capacity only twice a month and rarely, if ever, used the rest of the month—that’s inefficient use of a server. “Virtualization allows you to take one physical server and create virtual servers on it,” Rudolph explains. “So you’d have multiple servers residing on one physical server, and they would take advantage of the downtime of the server. You maximize the use of your servers and decrease cost because instead of

The Leading Edge - Summer 2011 - PKF

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