Gartner: Personal Cloud Will Replace The Personal Computer By 2014

The personal computer has long been the essential tool of corporate employees, keeping all the secrets – and spreadsheets – of a business across a network of machines.  But now, as the cloud technology trending recently, according to Gartner, Inc. the reign of the personal computer as the sole corporate access device is coming to a close, and by 2014, the personal cloud will replace the personal computer at the center of users’ digital lives.

Gartner analysts said the personal cloud will begin a new era that will provide users with a new level of flexibility with the devices they use for daily activities, while leveraging the strengths of each device, ultimately enabling new levels of user satisfaction and productivity. However, it will require enterprises to fundamentally rethink how they deliver applications and services to users.

“Major trends in client computing have shifted the market away from a focus on personal computers to a broader device perspective that includes smartphones, tablets and other consumer devices,” said Steve Kleynhans, research vice president at Gartner. “Emerging cloud services will become the glue that connects the web of devices that users choose to access during the different aspects of their daily life.”

“Many call this era the post-PC era, but it isn’t really about being ‘after’ the PC, but rather about a new style of personal computing that frees individuals to use computing in fundamentally new ways to improve multiple aspects of their work and personal lives,” Mr. Kleynhans said.

The Next Paradigm Shift: Personal Cloud Computing

Several driving forces are combining to create this new era. These mega trends have roots that extend back through the past decade but are aligning in a new way.

    Megatrend No. 1: Consumerization — You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

Gartner has discussed the consumerization of IT for the better part of a decade, and has seen the impact of it across various aspects of the corporate IT world. However, much of this has simply been a precursor to the major wave that is starting to take hold across all aspects of information technology as several key factors come together:

• Users are more technologically-savvy and have very different expectations of technology.
• The internet and social media have empowered and emboldened users.
• The rise of powerful, affordable mobile devices changes the equation for users.
• Users have become innovators.
• Through the democratization of technology, users of all types and status within organizations can now have similar technology available to them.

    Megatrend No. 2: Virtualization — Changing How the Game Is Played

Virtualization has improved flexibility and increased the options for how IT organizations can implement client environments….

    Megatrend No. 3: “App-ification” — From Applications to Apps

When the way that applications are designed, delivered and consumed by users changes, it has a dramatic impact on all other aspects of the market….

    Megatrend No. 4: The Ever-Available Self-Service Cloud

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