The most simple and obvious to see for the new year is that the technologies for cloud, applications and mobile will continue to play an increasingly important role in enterprise IT. This statement gains strength when one sees that there is a desire for huge projects that make organizations grow sideways and not forward. And the opportunity to reduce these costs cannot be the main motivator. If the company wants to innovate, you need to select a project reasonably practicable that can be quickly and well executed. I predict that these are the technologies that will solve the problems of time more than any other.

When you start to look at everything in terms of time rather than money, the landscape and the solutions begin to change. For example, middleware projects are often associated with change in scale. Thinking about moving from mainframe and client / dedicated server for the web. Thinking about changing web applications to service-oriented architecture (SOA). Everything has been “great” for a long time. Large expensive means. Great means slow. If the company wants to win the game, you need to think about what is cheaper and faster, for example, pay per application or how many resources it consumes, or even pay for the number of connections in your enterprise service bus (ESB). Aside from public cloud, we know that it does not occurs in organizations. I believe there is a unique opportunity and certainly interesting for middleware technologies, different from the way we currently do.

Two factors may boost the standpoint of functionality: Cloud computing development and applications. With its feasible and affordable delivery model, the cloud will allow the middleware to be adopted in places that had never been before, including potentially to the SME space. I have seen the growing excitement around the cloud in recent years, and this is now translating into action. The middleware that shows everywhere and, for the masses, can become a reality, since large and cumbersome barriers begin to shrink.

The move to lightweight frameworks and containers is not new in itself, but the development needs to take a robust architecture. Now, these projects need to connect with some back ends or SOAs. You must have balance to give people who care about risk more confidence that it will work.

Finally, an area that is already in the mainstream is mobile computing. But it is likely to accelerate the pace of adoption even in corporations. The organizations that do business with consumers – for example, companies in the healthcare and retail banks – are seeking to significantly enhance the mobile experience for their customers. Being able to provide services through a phone, tablet or device is embedded in my opinion, incredibly important today and perhaps even the most important factor in our market.

However, it is not just the consumer side. The movement called Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) mirrors this trend from a corporate perspective. These changes can lead to more choice, and applications for phones and tablets may also exert a great influence on how IT technologies leads to the knowledge worker. As if mobile technology fits in the cloud and in developing lightweight solution? Well, the end users are those who are demanding that the lines of business (LOBs) change quickly. Mobile technology is that, ultimately, can gather everything and be pivotal for middleware walk forward from the cloud that allows for application solutions and development.

I hope some of these thoughts echo what you have seen or heard. The cloud, mobile technologies and applications continue to play a role in the construction of the panorama of corporate IT, but in new and exciting ways. These technologies have become tools – the means to new ends – and I do not think we are even close to see the full extent of its impact on the world. As these technologies mature, will open new doors and create new visions, and that’s what makes now an exciting time to join the action.