In theatre, the fourth wall denotes the imaginary line between the performer and audience. It’s an important part of the process, providing a filter for the audience to view what is happening on stage. Breaking down the fourth wall can be exciting and disruptive, as actors go beyond the traditional confines of the stage to interact directly with the audience.
The technology realm has many disrupters that serve in the same way, and the technologies surrounding communications and connectivity are poised to have a game-changing impact on the entire computing realm. Specifically, the “third computing platform,” as described by research firm IDC (News - Alert), encompasses social technologies, mobility, cloud computing and big data. The third platform is already disrupting economics and operations across all vertical markets and is poised to shake up the entire global economy.
In a recent article for CIO magazine, Bernard Golden, senior director of the cloud computing enterprise solutions group at Dell (News - Alert), discussed IDC’s “Predictions 2014: Battles for Dominance — and Survival — on the 3rd Platform” report. In a nutshell, the report proclaims that the third platform is set to disrupt the IT world in a major way. Not only that, but IT is increasingly shifting away from the first two platforms (the mainframe and client/server/IT) toward the third platform of social and mobile technologies.
IDC believes that all IT growth will eventually come from the third platform. To back up that assertion, the firm observed just 0.7 percent of growth this year coming from stagnant legacy infrastructure while 15 percent is coming from third-platform infrastructure. And IDC predicts that 29 percent of overall IT spending and 89 percent of all IT growth spending for the year will be in the third platform. Half of that 89 percent growth will be derived from the cannibalization of traditional computing markets. All of this heralds major disruption for legacy equipment and the vendors who sell them.
“I've spoken recently about how legacy systems are the biggest issue enterprise IT faces, since they're such a budget sinkhole,” wrote Golden. “If 80 percent of your IT budget is spoken for before the year starts, how can you aggressively pursue third platform initiatives?” Ultimately, IT departments are scrambling to choose and deploy new platforms as well as attain the skills to manage them efficiently. All of which signals major spending and growth for the third platform.
IDC also believes developers will largely drive the game, battling for traction in the mobile apps and cloud computing arenas. The rising power of the developer signals a shift away from a central IT organization to multiple application groups and business units, all of which will be led by development efforts.
According to Golden, “It's critical to recognize, too, that this shift is occurring not because IT executives have suddenly come to realize the intelligence of their developers or their contributions. The shift is occurring because developers are the vehicle by which new applications are created, and IT is — finally — coming to the fore in most companies.”
Ultimately, IDC claims the third platform is set to disrupt every industry within our global economy. The company forecasts that each industry will experience one third of its top 20 companies disrupted by new or reconfigured challengers that have embraced the third platform. The firm points to Amazon’s impact on the retail sector, Airbnb’s disruption of the hotel market and Uber’s alternative to local taxi companies as the very beginning of this process.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson