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December 9, 2005 2:01 PM PST

Gartner: IT managers should use Xbox

Staying up to date with technology should be a key part of companies' IT strategy for 2006, which means shelling out new consoles and head-mounted displays, according to analyst group Gartner.

Gartner has revealed the top 10 must-dos for IT managers in 2006, and along with the usual advice, such as working closer with the finance department, are other tips including exploring emerging technologies such as game consoles.

Released on Thursday, Gartner's "CIO Resolutions for 2006" are 10 guidelines designed to help IT managers plan their strategy for the next 12 months. The group claims that 2006 will be a "paradoxical year," because even though there will be a surge in technology innovation, the economic outlook is "unpredictable."

"In 2006, business and their IT organizations will be caught between opposing forces. An unpredictable economy and declining business confidence will combine with a surge in innovation as markets begin to embrace emerging technologies," said Mark Raskino, a Gartner research fellow. "To get through this confusing and unstable period, IT leaders must drive their organizations with one foot on the accelerator and the other hovering over the break."

Gartner's CIO Resolutions for 2006
1. Educate your business about the second Internet revolution (before someone else does).
2. Set some "do not migrate" orders in advance.
3. Target 2008 for major innovation delivery.
4. Get yourself and your team ready for your next jobs.
5. Start a significant "software as a service" implementation as a trial and education.
6. Organize your merger and acquisition capability.
7. Revisit capitalization with your chief financial officer.
8. Build your brand and your team.
9. Refresh your meetings with the chief executive.
10. Check out some 2006 "hot" technologies.

One unusual tactic proposed by Gartner is that IT managers should look to expand their technical horizons by exploring technologies that they may not have considered as business related. The analyst group says technology professionals should see, touch and use at least three of the following in 2006:

1. Web based micro-applications such as Writely.com or Num Sum;
2. Flickr;
3. A new generation of consoles such as Nintendo Revolution or Xbox 360;
4. A head-mounted display;
5. Google Earth;
5. An in-house pilot of consumer technology such as podcasting a company communication.

"Those who don't use the resolutions to get themselves and their organizations in good shape may find 2007 an unpleasant white-knuckle ride," said Gartner chief of research John Mahoney.

Andrew Donoghue of ZDNet UK reported from London.

See more CNET content tagged:
Gartner Inc., information technology manager, CIO, information technology, console

Add a Comment (Log in or register) 2 comments
Sounds like a great idea but:
by yrrahxob December 9, 2005 3:53 PM PST
The company I recently worked for which has approximately 40,000 employees nationwide and around 350 remote locations is still using MS-DOS based financial applications in all their remote locations so I don't think the powers that be will take heed to this message. When I left the company this past February, they were thinking about migrating everything to Windows 95 which is one reason I am no longer employed there. Believe it or not, there are still a lot of technologically backward companies in these here United States.
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Can I Charge Everything to Gartner?
by Joe Blow December 12, 2005 7:26 PM PST
I wonder how many companies that make the things Gartner named are customers of theirs for their studies? Seems like some truth-in-advertising might be appropriate here. I always get suspicious when I see "consultants" and "researchers" singling out specific products to buy/invest in. It would be really great if Gartner paid for me to make these acquisitions or, better yet, just send me all of the "evaluation" stuff they must get that comes with a letter that says "Oh, don't bother shipping it back to us manufacturers, because it would cost more in labor to process than they cost to make and ship to you.", (which may be true, but, at least donate it to a charity or non-profit educational cause).

Amen to the comment about dinosaur companies just now moving from DOS to Windoze 95 (although, because neither is Y2K compliant, I'm guessing this may be a bit of an apocryphal story). When I worked for the federal government, they kept some DOS 3.x and Windoze 95 programs running after Y2K by essentially executing them inside a wrapper or emulator that was built for Windoze 98 or later, because that was cheaper than reimplementing them, and then having to deal with the inevitable bugs that would be introduced in the rewrites (and they frequently didn't even have the source code).

Yeah, I know, I'm starting to date myself (the little woman is furious) talking about Y2K, but someone's gotta remember the mistakes to be committed again in the future, since we always made them at least once before in the past!

All the Best,
Joe Blow
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