So much for a quiet January; this month has proven to be an eventful one across the tech industry; in this week alone, Google made waves with its $2.91 B sale of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, Microsoft looks on the verge of a major shakeup, and Snowden released documents that indicate that free public Wi-Fi may be used to spy on travelers. Phew. Over on Gigaom Research, our analysts are also taking a close look at security – especially as it effects mobile devices and data networks. Also popular this week: Stowe Boyd’s latest essay on the future of work and a wrap-up for the IT buyers market.
Note: Gigaom Research is a subscription-based research service offering in-depth, timely analysis of developing trends and technologies. Visit research.gigaom.com to learn more about it.
Buyer’s Lens: Buyer’s Lens fourth-quarter 2013: analysis and outlook
Laura Stuart
In her first quarterly assessment of the market, Laura Stuart looks back at the past 90 days in enterprise IT buyers. She highlights three major trends that have emerged for both IT buyers as well as non-IT decision-makers, analyzes how these trends will impact the comic year, and cites case studies from across the retail, financial, and healthcare sectors. She also provides a near-term outlook for 2014 and identifies takeaways that IT buyers can bring back to their boards and executives.
Mobile: Managing mobile risk: threat management and security
Larry Walsh
Analyst Larry Walsh dispels the myth that mobile devices and their operating systems are less vulnerable to hackers and security breaches, noting that “Malware targeting mobile devices is growing exponentially, increasing as much as 614 percent in 2013.” Existing mobile security systems are a patchwork at best, and data and connected networks are particularly at risk. As more employees expect a BYOD policy, enterprises must adopt smart, proactive mobile security measures. In his latest report, Walsh analyzes current mobile security threats, options for mobile risk management, and provides an overview for applying these security solution sets.
Social: Startups know what giants don’t: work tech is core to high performance, now
Stowe Boyd
In his latest analyst blog post, Stowe Boyd shares his observations comparing the technologies employed by two very different companies: Microsoft and Intercom (a social CRM startup). Boyd is especially interested in the concept of “high performance, predicated on working socially in fluid, nimble, and self-organized networks…sparked and sustained by social tools that allow high degrees of cooperation.” While the differences between the two companies are legion, Boyd focuses on a few key differences and how they affect the current workplace and potential future of each company.
