Gartner says within six years, context will be as influential in mobile consumer services and relationships as search engines are to the web...
Enterprises can use “context-aware computing” to better target prospects, increase customer intimacy and improve employee productivity and collaboration, says Gartner.
The technology research and advisory firm is forecasting that by 2012 large businesses will have relationships with between two and 10 context providers, and that by 2015 context will be as influential in mobile consumer services and relationships as search engines are to the web.
Gartner defines context-aware computing as the concept of using information about people to improve the quality of an organisation’s interaction with them. Emerging context-enriched services will use location, presence, social attributes and other environmental information to anticipate an end user’s immediate needs, offering more-sophisticated, situation-aware and usable functions.
“Although the rudiments of context-aware computing have been around for some time now, it is a disruptive technology that has the potential to be a real ‘game changer’ in terms of competitive advantage,” says Anne Lapkin, research vice president at Gartner.
“Initial implementations of context-enriched services are already in play, and early adopters will find it easier to implement more sophisticated services in the future.”
Gartner believes advances in networks, mobile hardware capabilities, social computing, service-oriented architecture and unified communication will make it easier to build and use context-enriched services. It says this will present a significant business opportunity for service providers, mobile device manufacturers and suppliers of communication infrastructure.
