After a few tough years during the recession, futurism is once again in vogue – something that no futurist we know actually predicted. We are clearly seeing renewed client interest in issues such as technology horizon scanning, future scenarios and the revitalization of the CTO function. Why?

The basic answer is that many of us have a growing sense that our underlying technological architecture is once again being reset. Just as we have lived through previous generations of technology – mainframes, minis, PCs, Internet, etc. – the combination of mobility, social media and the cloud is now forcing a significant Post-PC IT industry shift. We know that previous eras of IT change brought with them new sets of capabilities, challenges, suppliers and fortunes, along with venture capital and stock market bubbles that eventually had to burst. Just 10 years after the great dot.com mania, IT exuberance has returned, but (at least not yet) to nowhere near such irrational levels. History suggests that once again the long-term technological progress will prove more important than any short-term financial excess.

Additionally, many of our clients are also feeling renewed pressure for innovation. They know that delivering further efficiencies will become increasingly difficult without new ways of working, and that a steady stream of innovation is really the only way to stay ahead of China and other global competitors. Thus, the need for both lower costs and improved differentiation is leading forward-thinking firms to be more open to new IT approaches. It appears that today's technology opportunities and market pressures are well aligned.

We have been sensing these changes for some time, which is why we launched our Digital Game-Changer project late last year. By 'digital game-changer' we mean a digital technology or trend that forces a major change in existing practices while also being a platform for future changes over many years. For example, if, as an employee, you increasingly Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) to work, it would not only radically change the provisioning and financing of IT devices, but would also significantly reshape the mission and culture of the IT function, as well as the contractual relationship between the employee and the firm. While we have a long and growing list of some 60 such potential change agents, here are 20 that we think are particularly potent:

We think this list alone provides significant evidence that the pace of technological change is indeed accelerating. In our research, we will be looking at two main issues:

• What sorts of changes each of these developments might bring to large organizations.
• How our clients are responding to these new opportunities and challenges, particularly in terms of their internal technology assessment processes and their CTO or equivalent function.

Clients who would like to participate in this research should contact me or their LEF client representative. Our work will continue through the summer, with the final report being issued in September.