With the rise of social media, the ubiquity of consumer technology, and the emergence of Big Data tools and cloud computing, 2012 will go down in history as the transition to a new way of computing for organizations.

With the rise of social media, the ubiquity of consumer technology, and the emergence of Big Data tools and cloud computing, 2012 will go down in history as the transition to a new way of computing for organizations.

With the rise of social media, the ubiquity of consumer technology, and the emergence of Big Data tools and cloud computing, 2012 will go down in history as the transition to a new way of computing for organizations.

Social media has -- in just a few short years -- become a major driver of operational and strategic decisions that cross-cut corporate awareness, brands, customer service, product development, reputation management, and, ultimately, business purpose. Social media impacts the top and bottom lines of all companies that sell and service anything.

Social media has -- in just a few short years -- become a major driver of operational and strategic decisions that cross-cut corporate awareness, brands, customer service, product development, reputation management, and, ultimately, business purpose. Social media impacts the top and bottom lines of all companies that sell and service anything.

Social media has -- in just a few short years -- become a major driver of operational and strategic decisions that cross-cut corporate awareness, brands, customer service, product development, reputation management, and, ultimately, business purpose. Social media impacts the top and bottom lines of all companies that sell and service anything.

There is big data about Big Data. Every genre of publication (trade press, mainstream business media, newspapers, journals of science for scientists, and journals of science for nonscientists) has run or is running cover articles on Big Data.1 Each article opines about the game-changing and transformative impacts associated with Big Data.

There is big data about Big Data. Every genre of publication (trade press, mainstream business media, newspapers, journals of science for scientists, and journals of science for nonscientists) has run or is running cover articles on Big Data.1 Each article opines about the game-changing and transformative impacts associated with Big Data.

There is big data about Big Data. Every genre of publication (trade press, mainstream business media, newspapers, journals of science for scientists, and journals of science for nonscientists) has run or is running cover articles on Big Data.1 Each article opines about the game-changing and transformative impacts associated with Big Data.

When it comes to making long-term predictions, most so-called experts fare no better than "dart-throwing monkeys." Or so Nobel prize-winning author Daniel Kahneman claimed in a recent interview1 about his best-selling book Thinking Fast and Slow.

When it comes to making long-term predictions, most so-called experts fare no better than "dart-throwing monkeys." Or so Nobel prize-winning author Daniel Kahneman claimed in a recent interview1 about his best-selling book Thinking Fast and Slow.

When it comes to making long-term predictions, most so-called experts fare no better than "dart-throwing monkeys." Or so Nobel prize-winning author Daniel Kahneman claimed in a recent interview1 about his best-selling book Thinking Fast and Slow.

Stating that the "cloud" will be a trend in 2012 is sort of like saying it's going to snow in Alaska. By the looks of the relentless marketing hype from everything that breathes and eats in IT vendor-land, one could argue we are enduring a cloud blizzard. Trend spotting this is not.

Stating that the "cloud" will be a trend in 2012 is sort of like saying it's going to snow in Alaska. By the looks of the relentless marketing hype from everything that breathes and eats in IT vendor-land, one could argue we are enduring a cloud blizzard. Trend spotting this is not.

Stating that the "cloud" will be a trend in 2012 is sort of like saying it's going to snow in Alaska. By the looks of the relentless marketing hype from everything that breathes and eats in IT vendor-land, one could argue we are enduring a cloud blizzard. Trend spotting this is not.

Those of you have been following my Trends and Enterprise Architecture Advisors will recognize that I have become increasingly concerned about software reliability and security and the role that design and complexity play in these areas.

Business and IT professionals are rapidly embracing business architecture (BA) as a mainstream concept to recognize their needs, goals, and vision for business transformation. However, establishing a comprehensive, pragmatic BA practice is still in its primitive stage.

Business architecture (BA) is rapidly becoming a mainstream concept for many business and IT professionals. Consequently, it is essential for professionals to establish a BA practice that can provide value in the strategic planning and operational efficiency of an enterprise. In the accompanying Executive Report, we present a comprehensive real-world case study of a US healthcare organization and explore the four stages involved in establishing the BA practice.

Agile development has revolutionized the way systems are developed from a waterfall or phased-based approach to an iterative-based approach that continuously reexamines development progress, current priorities, and sufficiency of solution.

In this Executive Report, I describe a process for migrating from whatever current project management model environment your organization embraces to a robust portfolio of models.

Complex project management (CPM) dominates the project management environment that has emerged over the past 20 years. The days of traditional projects, where the goal and its solution were completely and clearly defined at the outset, are history. They have been replaced by projects whose goal may be clearly specified but whose attainment (the solution) is not known.

Mobility is one of the top priorities for organizations in 2012. When it comes to utilizing mobile devices in the enterprise, organizations basically have two options for supporting employees with smartphones and tablets.

Last September's Cutter IT Journal contains many insightful contributions about 21st-century IT professionals to help you gear up for the new world in which products like smartphones and tablets are playing a growing role (see "21st-Century IT Personnel: Tooling Up or Tooling Down?" Vol. 24, No. 9). The articles touch on the essentials for the 21st-century IT professional, including usability, user interfaces, smart devices, and so on.

Every year I am asked, "What's next for collaboration?" I came up with 10 predictions for 2011, with about an 80% accuracy, according to my own calculations. I began to work on this year's predictions in mid-December, hoping to finish them by the New Year.

We have all heard of IQ (intelligence quotient) and even EI (emotional intelligence), but very few people seem to deal with collaborative intelligence (CI).