Top predictions for IT organisations and users

By 2015, a G20 nation's critical infrastructure will be disrupted and damaged by online sabotage.

Online attacks can target multiple systems for maximum impact, such as the the stock exchange, control systems of a chemical, nuclear or electric plant, or mobile communications.

By 2015, new revenue generated each year by IT will determine the annual compensation of most new Global 2000 CIOs.

The amount of new revenue generated from IT initiatives will become the primary factor determining the incentives of new Global 2000 CIOs' annual compensation.

By 2015, information-smart businesses will increase recognised IT spending per head by 60%.

Consolidation, optimisation and cost transparency programmes have made decentralised IT investments more visible, increasing "recognized" IT spending.

By 2015, tools and automation will eliminate 25% of labor hours associated with IT services.

As the IT services industry matures, it will increasingly mirror other industries, such as manufacturing, in transforming from a craftsmanship to a more industrialised model.

By 2015, 20% of non-IT Global 500 companies will be cloud service providers.

The move by non-IT organisations to provide non-IT capabilities via cloud computing will expand the role of IT decision making outside the IT organisation.

By 2014, 90% of organisations will support corporate applications on personal devices.

The trend toward supporting corporate applications on employee-owned notebooks and smartphones is already under way in many organisations and will become commonplace within four years.

By 2013, 80% of businesses will support a workforce using tablets.

The Apple iPad is the first of what promises to be a huge wave of media tablets focused largely on content consumption, and to some extent communications, rather than content creation.

By 2015, 10% of your online "friends " will be nonhuman.

By 2015, efforts to systematise and automate social engagement will result in the rise of social bots — automated software agents that can handle interaction with communities of users in a manner personalised to each individual.