As the big data explosion continues and cloud, mobile and social change both customer and employee expectations many businesses struggle to determine how to navigate this new landscape. The role developers are playing in even non-software companies is also accelerating. To capitalize on these trends, consulting firm Deloitte is launching a new division called Deloitte Postdigital Enterprise which will help businesses redesign processes around social data and other cutting edge technological developments.

What exactly does the Deloitte mean by “postdigital?” The firm’s announcement mentions five technological trends in particular: social, mobile, cloud, analytics and cyber intelligence. I don’t know what makes these post-digital, but I guess it’s as “brandable” a term as anything else.

According to Deloitte’s announcement, the new division will help customers with:

·Restructuring marketing resources to directly engage consumers while reducing spend in traditional channels;
·Managing the on premises/off premises customer experience;
·Empowering managers to use social data to make quicker and better informed decisions;
·Identifying the value of software developer communities for extending consumer reach;
·Consolidating and reimagining the physical workplace while making workforces more virtual.

It’s significant that Deloitte has identified software developer communities as a high priority. Developer outreach is becoming a hotter topic, as evidenced by Venkatesh Rao’s long, meandering piece The Rise of Developeronomics. The gist: developers are the best investment any company or individual can make right now.

Open source will likely play a larger role not just in a company’s IT but in its marketing. A marketing boost could be the best outcome for HP’s decision to open source webOS, for instance. Microsoft knows it has to embrace open source, and do it for real. But “engaging” with developers isn’t as easy as throwing a bunch of code into a repository. It’s all about community, and that’s not a simple subject. Firms like Deloitte, and of course RedMonk long before them, are recognizing the value here and the need large companies have for guidance. We’ll see how Deloitte does. The real secret is that developers are just people. Hopefully that’s what Deloitte really means by “post-digital.” Otherwise, it’s just going to be the blind leading the blind.