iConsumers

By M.G. | SAN FRANCISCO

THE technology industry loves buzz phrases and one of those in vogue at the moment is "the consumerisation of IT". This refers to the fact that consumers are now toting ever more powerful electronic gizmos, from smartphones to tablet computers, and are using them to access an ever broader range of digital services at home, in the office and anywhere else that they are connected to the internet. Several recent studies have caught this Babbage's eye which examine various aspects of this significant trend.

In a new report on what she calls "a post-PC world", Sarah Rotman Epps of Forrester, a research firm, notes that there has been a proliferation of electronic devices beyond the traditional personal computer (PC). Although laptop and desktop PCs are unlikely to disappear—indeed, Forrester predicts that their sales will grow significantly over the next five years, even in relatively mature markets such as America—people will increasingly use other devices for computing, too. According to Ms Rotman Epps almost 80m American consumers owned three or more connected devices in 2010 and 4.5m owned nine or more.

Some companies such as Apple are helping to drive this change. Whenever he unveils a new pod, phone or pad, Steve Jobs, Apple's boss, makes a point of crowing about the post-PC era, much to the annoyance of firms like Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard (HP). Among the biggest beneficiaries of a PC world, they and other companies are now scrambling to adapt to changing times. HP, for instance, is rolling out new e-printers that can print from any connected device, not just a tethered desktop or laptop. And Microsoft is trying to build on the success of systems such as its XBox gaming console and its Kinect motion-sensing device to create a broader range of gadgets and services that will appeal to users.

One of the consequences of consumerisation has been an explosion of video consumption over the internet. Much of this involves folk watching content downloaded from services such as Netflix, which stream video over the web. Sandvine, a company that produces equipment and software for broadband networks, reckons that real-time entertainment services now account for just over 49% of peak aggregate internet traffic among North American web users, up from 29.5% in 2009, with Netflix the single biggest source of web traffic there. Video traffic has also been spurred up by internet phone- and video-calling services such as Skype, which was snapped up by Microsoft last week for $8.5 billion.

Another upshot has been a massive outpouring of data from all of these new devices and services. These bits and bytes are being added to the mountains of data already being generated by businesses and governments. In another new study the McKinsey Global Institute reckons that by analysing such large troves of data swiftly and efficiently, companies and governments could reap huge gains. In American healthcare alone, these could be as big as $300 billion a year. The snag, say McKinsey's boffins, is that there is a huge shortage of people with the know-how needed to crunch the data. America, for instance, needs an estimated 1.5m more managers and analysts with enough statistical and computing savvy to be able to sift through them and uncover the hidden gems within. Your correspondent predicts that it will not be long before a new report appears on how to persuade more folk to read statistics at university.