Never has the business world resonated with so much buzz as that surrounding the three technologies of cloud computing, mobility and social media. While many consider these three technologies nothing short of a panacea, many others believe that these have fallen victim to the hype surrounding them.

This fact is supported by a Gartner 2012 Report called 'Hype Cycle of Emerging Technologies'. This report, which monitors the rise, maturity and decline of certain terms and concepts in technology has pointed out that, “As of now private cloud computing, social analytics and the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) or mobility phenomenon are coasting at the Peak of Inflated Expectations."

This explains why most business heads refer to these technologies frequently, but few really understand what they stand for, and their individual and combined implications for their business. Not many are even aware that these technologies are not new, and have been around for the past five years or more.

As the three technologies have recently been commercialised and made accessible to one and all, which has subjected them to incessant debate and discussion. The resultant hype created around these three technologies in India and abroad has forced many business leaders to try harnessing these technologies, not because they are convinced of their merits, but because they fear losing customers and revenues to their peers, by not jumping on this technology bandwagon. 

While big businesses across sectors and industries have already taken to these technologies, assimilating them into their overall business infrastructure, upcoming small and mid-sized businesses have been relatively slow in adapting and adopting these three strategic technologies. However, they are catching up fast, as shown by the finding of Spiceworks, an IT management and marketing company's latest 'State of SMB IT Survey 1H 2012'. 

This is also the reason why Inc. India has chosen to focus this quarter's report on these three strategic technologies, their convergence and their ever increasing role in transforming the IT landscape in the country. This report is an attempt to separate the chaff from the grain to offer business heads an impartial, simple and comprehensive understanding of what each of these three technologies could do for their businesses. It builds on opinions and quotes of leading CIOs and CEOs and case studies of companies that have successfully applied or developed these strategic technologies from scratch, with astoundingly positive results. The report also draws themes and ideas expressed in articles and write-ups from leading magazines, newspapers, websites and numerous internationally acclaimed and publically available IT reports and surveys. 

You can read the full report here.