Management consultants are the clairvoyants of the IT industry MANY PEOPLE CLAIM to be psychic at one time or another, based on the occasional dream or insight, but few are willing to put pen to paper.

But predicting the future is exactly what management consulting firms do. We look ahead, smooth the way forward for customers and provide them with a view of their technology-enabled future. So what do we predict for 2006?

CONVERGENCE INTO TOP GEAR

Network convergence will move into top gear as service providers` capabilities and offerings gain maturity. Telkom will lose out as more companies opt to buy from a VAN.

STILL FLEECED

Until the SNO (second network operator) finds its feet we don`t anticipate any real savings for the consumer. Experience has taught us that two providers do not necessarily lead to price reductions.

VOTING WITH YOUR NUMBER

Mobile number portability will be the biggest contributor to churn in operators and service providers.

CONTINUED REVIVAL

The local IT revival will continue, mainly driven by hardware refreshment and post-Y2k consolidation. Software licensing and implementation will also keep growing steadily, as will consulting services.

E-SERVICE WITH A SMILE

Government entities will continue to implement IT solutions to optimise processes, and as inefficiencies are laid bare.

ENTERPRISE MOVEMENT

Oracle`s acquisition of Siebel will continue to cause anxiety for Siebel customers, as they feel its acquisition of PeopleSoft was not good for PeopleSoft customers.

But unlike the PeopleSoft deal, Oracle has in Siebel acquired capabilities it does not really have. As a result, it could in fact lead to favourable licence structures. Unfortunately, there should be a fair amount of anxiety for Siebel customers on SAP ERP.

SAP ERP`s move into the SME market will form part of the vendor`s main activity this year.

It should also be noted that global spending on enterprise applications is expected to keep increasing.

COMPLY OR DIE

While compliance and governance issues are encountered across a number of enterprise technologies, data collection, data quality and reporting technologies are the main areas of concern.

It is in the areas of enterprise architecture implementation and business process optimisation where they are found wanting. Enterprises will therefore continue to streamline business and IT processes. Master data management will gain in importance.

ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE COMES OF AGE

Expect a revival of EA. Buy-in from top management still needs to be addressed, as implementations have not been done with conviction.

BI INTEGRATION A MUST

Business intelligence is changing from a standalone application to part of a bigger set of performance management processes and tools. CPM-embedded BI will increasingly become a feature of new enterprise intelligence applications.

Business Objects, SAS Institute, Cognos and Hyperion will continue to dominate. However, some companies may want to consider Microsoft`s BI stack. Oracle`s BI, though mature with a solid foundation of Oracle DBMS, does not look set to make strides. SAP`s Business Information Warehouse or SAP BW, integrated with R/3 ERP, is not expected to receive much attention.

SLOW ON THE OSS UPTAKE

The OSS development community in SA is gaining more international recognition, but the country`s businesses are slow in adopting OSS applications. Maturity remains an issue, and this isn`t likely to change in the near future. The irony of OSS is that the likeliest applications to gain attention are on Windows.

About the author: Hubert Wentzel is the technology director and captain of the Make IT Work Team at EOH Technology Consulting.