In its roundup of top predictions for IT organizations and users, Gartner, Inc. has forecasted new and innovative uses of technology from healthcare payers, integrated delivery systems, government and consumers.

As budgets, technologies and costs become more fluid and distributed, Gartner analysts said, there would be big changes in control for IT organizations. The firm's report, "Top Industry Predicts 2012: Industries Face intensified Consumerization and Technology Disruption," spotlights developments that CIOs, senior business executives and IT leaders – in healthcare and other industries – should factor into their enterprise planning and strategy-setting initiatives.

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"Many industry business models will be challenged through 2015 as customers continue to adopt an always-connected digital lifestyle and market competitors exploit emerging technologies to achieve business growth and success," said Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

She noted that "cloud computing and social media will continue to provide industries with new avenues for effective customer communication and engagement, facilitating increased revenue and sustainable interaction with key customers," and that "new technologies such as media tablets and advances in mobile will have a disruptive impact on many industries, requiring changes to existing processes and propelling business transformation."

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Among Gartner's predictions affecting the healthcare industry in the coming years:

• By 2014, 30 percent of U.S. private healthcare payers will acquire providers, forcing integration of application suites as delivery and finance merge.
• By 2015, 20 percent of integrated delivery systems will be investing in new healthcare-targeted customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
• By 2013, iPad penetration among pharma sales reps will reach 85 percent, then shift to applications that improve delivery and interaction tracking.
• By 2015, 30 percent of smart grid projects will leverage cloud services to address big data from converging technologies.
• By year-end 2014, at least one social network provider will become an insurance sales channel.
• By 2016, more than 5 percent of searches will be integrated using mobile devices' video/audio sensors instead of typed or spoken phrases.
• By 2013, government financial sustainability will join cost containment as the top driver and constraint for government IT spending.
• Until 2015, ineffective IT/OT management will risk serious failures in more than 50 percent of enterprises, and critical failures in asset-dependent ones.
• By 2014, the five largest product life cycle management software providers will make social networking an integral part of their solution.

"In 2011, many industries globally had to cope with a stubbornly sluggish economy that challenged enterprises to balance the sometimes conflicting imperatives of maintaining costs control while enabling innovation," said Harris-Ferrante. "The market, economic, demographic and technological environments that industries will face in 2012 will require them to be nimble in their operations and enterprise practices. Being agile and adopting new business practices will be imperative for survival in 2012."