Accenture released its Technology Vision Report for 2012 with the call for a new base for IT that shows how the race to the middle continues to evolve.

Not surprisingly, Accenture plays the middle throughout the report. I am not convinced their approach is the best one. But, undoubtedly it is realistic.

The report is organized into six categories: context-based services; converging data architecture; industrialized data services; social driven IT; PaaS enabled agility and orchestrated analytical security.

Throughout the report,  a theme emerges that surfaces a common paradox. Accenture pushes for innovation but maintains the status quo with the CIO community. It’s what we call the race to the middle. IT is trying to find that right balance. They want to be innovative but legacy systems are more familiar and enjoy a certain trust factor.

Let’s break it down:

Context-based Services: CIOs need to find ways to provide insights and use the data from insights to create new services.
Race to the Middle moment: Declaring that context is not all about the cloud, describing it as simply a “logical data aggregation,” point. This helps the CIO feel good about innovating but also comfortable that existing, on-premise systems still have relevance.

Converging Data Architecture: Accenture dives into the big data discussion and seeks to strike a balance between Hadoop and relational database management systems (RDMS).
Race to the Middle moment: “Relational databases are no longer the only tool in the tool kit.” True enough but the overriding need is to better manage unstructured data.  Still, the CIO needs to seek a balance as most people who work with RDMS have no understanding of NoSQL environments and other mechanisms for understanding big data.

Industrialized Data Services: Accenture points to the importance of decoupling data. This means pooling the information for sharing across the entire organization. This is best illustrated by companies such as Amazon that build services that give users simple access to data.
Race to the Middle moment: “CIOs will still be squarely charged with laying the groundwork for data design, governance, and implementation. IT will be accountable for creating a centralized mechanism for how data is managed throughout systems and IT processes.” Data is everywhere and it needs to be presented with the right context but the long-standing vendors are still important. Rip and replace is not an option.

Social Driven IT: Twitter, Facebook and other social networks are the way people interact. Accenture cites plenty of examples such as how social media is increasingly used by call centers to solve customer issues.
Race to the Middle moment: “IT leaders will need to help disrupt the mindset that says “social” equates with “marketing,” forging links with other groups that touch customers and reaching out to business units, such as HR, that manage interactions with other communities.” In other words, IT can have social and enjoy a level of control over how interactions are maintained.  Again, Accenture balances the new Web oriented architectures with IT and the need for a certain level of control that they need to have. This is the front lines where the real disruption will emerge. It my be the best chance for innovators to establish a level of trust that gives them deeper penetration into the enterprise.

PaaS-enabled Agility: Accenture states that platforms provide ways to support the rapid evolution of key business processes that constantly change.
Race to the Middle Moment: Accenture says platforms provide a great opportunity to develop new services but a hybrid approach may be the best option. Again, Accenture is recommending a new type of service with IT still retaining control. Innovate with the new suppliers but retain the infrastructure that comes with maintaining your own data centers.

Orchestrated Analytical Security: This is interesting. Accenture is essentially saying that breaches do happen. And the best line of defense is a data platform that can detect anomalies more than anything.
Race to the Middle Moment: “Conventional perimeter defense is the first line of defense, but once threats have breached the perimeter, current approaches are not sufficient by themselves. Nor will these complex and constantly changing challenges be met by discreet systems that secure specific data assets or specific technologies such as e-mail scanning. We predict that to better understand their risks and to detect attacks security organizations will increasingly turn to data platform technologies—technologies that provide access to and aggregation of data via services.” Again, Accenture maintains suport for legacy systems but aggressively pushes for new methods that help track the flow of data.

The Accenture rep is worth reading. It gives a good picture of the roles that new services play in the enterprise and how IT must balance innovative technologies with systems that have historically proven reliable.