• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, December 4, 2013

Spending on "3rd Platform" technologies -- consisting of mobile, cloud services, Big Data and analytics -- will rise 15%, compared with the prior year, accounting for 89% of IT investments.

IDC has released a list of 2014 predictions, noting that marketers will find their company's IT departments moving toward business services -- including those required for advertising campaigns -- and away from managing technology. Such tactics will help support the one in five Internet users who will only use mobile within the next few years.

The need for mobile devices will continue in 2014 with sales of tablets growing by 18% and smartphones by 12%. The Android community, led by Samsung, will maintain a lead over Apple.

IDC analysts suggest companies must have a plan to interact with mobile consumers next year. It will require building a secure IT infrastructure to protect data, and assess the current IT architecture to determine the financial impact of the project to upgrade. This doesn't mean building a mobile app or Web site in hopes that consumers will come.

It takes more than an app or Web site to build a mobile strategy. IDC suggests that within the first year, companies must begin to create a portfolio of mobile services. Within 18 months, they should have a mobile strategy in place for people, devices and processes. Within 24 months, executives should begin to map a plan for company employees and customers.

The mobile application development requires a cloud computing infrastructure that can support millions of devices interacting with content processing massive amounts of data. Cloud spending -- including cloud services and the technology to enable services -- will rise 25% in 2014, reaching more than $100 billion.

The analyst firm wants to set the record straight: Cloud computing is not less expensive. It is offset by the need for additional security and infrastructure. A company can plan to use 10% of its budget for cloud services on security, per IDC.

Social technologies will become more closely tied to the company's enterprise applications within the next 18 months, and data from social applications will feed the product and service development process -- not only customer engagement and marketing strategies.