We're getting to the pointy end of the year and that means analyst firms, experts and Sybill Trelawney are turning their gaze to the future - 2018 to be precise. But, as well as looking at what the prognosticators at Gartner expect next year, let's see how they fared with their 2017 predictions.

Wearable tech is still finding its feet in the market. While there are some clear use-cases such as in health and exercise for smartwatches, and in security in the case of cameras, there's still quite a bit of scepticism when it comes to many of the devices on the market. Despite that lack of clear use-cases, Gartner forecasts the number of wearable tech devices in the market to almost double by 2021.

A few weeks I ago, I presented a technology session to the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees. In that, I decided to focus on five megatrends I though they should keep an eye on rather than being subject to the short-term bumps we see when a new device or service is released. After all, as exciting as the release of a smartphone might be, it's unlikely to change your IT strategy.

As Gartner moves towards their annual Symposium/Expo events, they have identified three key megatrends through analysis of the Hype Cycle. Let's see if they agree with me.

Australian companies are spending 3.7% more on tech this year than last year but that money doesn't seem to be going to traditional vendors, based on data coming from Gartner.

Samsung and Apple have enjoyed dominance of the smartphone market for some time. But that is changing according to data from Gartner. Both companies saw their quarterly shipments fall compared to the same period last year with their rivals Huawei, Oppo and Vivo all showing solid growth over the same period.

Global IT spending is expected to dip this year, dropping 0.3% year-on-year, as the UK market deals with the economic uncertainty caused by the Brexit, according to analyst firm Gartner. But IT spending is set to pick up a bit in 2017, growing 2.9% to $4.56 trillion. Gartner also looked at whether the upcoming US presidential election will have an impact on IT spending.

Public cloud services spending in Australia is set to reach $5.55 billion (US$4.18 billion) by the end of the year, while the global market is expected to hit $276.73 billion (US$208.6 billion). But surprisingly, a large number of organisations still have no plans to use cloud services, according to analyst firm Gartner. Read on to find out more.

Global smartphone sales to end-users hit 344 million units in the second quarter of 2016, a year-on-year increase of 4.3 per cent, according to analyst firm Gartner. While five of the top 10 mobile phone vendors saw growth, overall unit sales contracted by 0.5 per cent. This could be attributed to consumers holding off on buying premium smartphones until the later half of the year when new devices come out. Here's a rundown of how the big phone vendors performed.

Industry experts are always banging on about how IT professionals should learn to understand their business as a whole, and not just the technology side of things. Easier said than done. IT leaders should change the way they communicate to their teams in order to help members develop business acumen.

In an era where cloud computing is the new normal, (storm-driven outages aside), it's no surprise that sales of traditional server hardware are declining. But it's still slightly shocking to see how tough it is to turn a dollar in the server market these days.

One of the cardinal sins of software development is bloating an app with too many features. It's tempting to add a whole bunch of customer-facing features in to address the needs of everybody. But we humans are easily overwhelmed by too many choices, which is why it's important to keep apps lean. If you've built an app that is bursting from the seams with features, IT analyst firm Gartner has a few tips on how to put it on a diet.

Australian organisations love cloud computing for a host of reasons, one of which is because they assume it will save their business money. But IT analyst firm Gartner warns that it's unrealistic to think that cloud will bring guaranteed savings. Here's why.

You shouldn't just consider optimising IT costs in your business on a rainy day. Looking at how to make the most of your IT dollars should be something that organisations consider as an ongoing exercise. We have some advice on how to do this and it's not all about cutting costs.

Data breaches and leakages remains a key concern for organisations. Gartner predicts that by 2018, 25 per cent of organisations will be reviewing who gets access to its corporate data and IT assets internally to reduce data leakage incidents by 33 per cent. The analyst firm has laid out some best-practice approaches to help companies become part of that 25 per cent.

Gartner recently conducted its annual CIO Agenda Survey and asked what CIOs enjoyed most and least about their role. The results are in and some of them may surprise you.

Is your organisation aware of the challenges surrounding data collection and usage? With Gartner predicting that nearly all mobile apps will be collecting user data by 2015, now's the time to start thinking about how you approach key information trust issues.

Analyst firm Gartner has predicted that IT spending in Australia will reach $80 billion in 2016, which is a modest 2.8 per cent increase from 2015. So what will businesses spend their IT dollars on? We find out.

Increasing acceptance of artificial intelligence in both the business and consumer sectors coupled with the growing popularity of wearables has shaped analyst firm Gartner's predictions for the IT space. We take a look into their magic eight ball.

When it comes to IT security, it's usually a case of "out of sight, out of mind" until something screws up. Suffering a cyber attack could be a costly affair for businesses which can lead to loss of income and reputational damage, which is why security is something organisations shouldn't skimp on. But IT budget constraints are just a part of life for many companies and they need to be smart with what security technologies they spend on.