The article originally appeared in the Jan./Feb. edition of INTERNET TELEPHONY.

Maybe it’s just post-holiday malaise from an overdose of turkey-induced tryptophan, or maybe it’s just that I wanted to avoid being repetitive, but in this – INTERNET TELEPHONY’s January issue – you will notice a decided lack of year-ahead-type articles.

Let’s be frank. Anybody reading this magazine is already extremely familiar with the fact that big data, BYOD, the cloud, ever-bigger bandwidth, mobile, network optimization, SIP, SIP trunking, social media, video and (at least the idea of) unified communication are all the rage.

And if you’ve really been paying attention, you may also know that gamification, HTML5, M2M and WebRTC seem to be gaining steam as well.

The bottom line is that while there may be ebbs and flows in business, consumer and service provider buying habits, and ups and downs in tech companies’ finances and personnel numbers, communications technology has become a linchpin in the world economy and is now a central consideration for virtually every business and many consumers.

Gartner (News - Alert) recently noted that 12 years ago technology spending outside of IT was 20 percent of total technology spending. It will become almost 90 percent by the end of the decade, the research firm says. To respond to this reality – and to the fact that the cloud, social, mobile and information are changing the way people work and live, Gartner predicts, 25 percent of organizations will by 2015 add the position of chief digital officer to their C-level lineups.

 “The Chief Digital Officer will prove to be the most exciting strategic role in the decade ahead, and IT leaders have the opportunity to be the leaders who will define it,” said David Willis (News - Alert), vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “The Chief Digital Officer plays in the place where the enterprise meets the customer, where the revenue is generated and the mission accomplished. They’re in charge of the digital business strategy. That’s a long way from running back office IT, and it’s full of opportunity.”

No longer does information technology define the rules, added Willis.

“Instead it is a key ingredient in achieving personal and enterprise productivity and innovation –where technology is so natural and pervasive that we don’t even need to hold it in our hands,” he said. “It’s just a part of our lives.”