The top 10 trends for information technology types to plan for in 2010 are cloud computing, advanced analytics, client computing, going green, rejigging the data centre, social computing, security, the rise of flash memory, virtualisation and mobile applications.

Some of these trends on the radar - as described in a Gartner report this month - are known more or less by businesses. The interest here is not only in what to watch out for, but also in Gartner's description of the trends. Here is Gartner's explanation with some riffs by myself on what a two of these trends may mean to a business in 2010: cloud computing and social computing.

Cloud computing

The term 'cloud computing' has been much bandied about. But what is it? The concept is best described as what Google is attempting to do by creating online software that becomes a suite of applications that people can use on the internet.

For example, instead of having single copies of Microsoft Office on each desktop in an office, there would be simply computers with operating systems connected to the internet. All of the software would reside in the 'cloud' of the internet or on a connected secure data server run by a service provider. Google Docs is one such application. Microsoft is creating an online version of its next update of its Office suite. Cloud computing is seen as a means of lowering IT costs by outsourcing the maintenance and updating of software to an outside service provider. From the user perspective, it might spark more collaborative work, acting as a kind of virtual external network. People will be able to collaborate and work on the same document no matter where they are located.

Social computing

Social computing is a difficult trend to define in a business context. We have all heard of social networking and probably have it up to the eyeballs. Gartner believes workers do not want two distinct environments to support their work - one for their own work products and another for accessing "external" information. I do not know if this general statement is true, but have encountered quite a few "workers" who have not embraced social networking as much as some would like to think. In fact, there are quite a few resisters in my workplace (those who vow never to go on social networks and take pride in the fact). I am also sometimes seeing old friends finally appear on Facebook or LinkedIn, apologetically stating that they have given up and are now joining in the networks.

Still, let us take Gartner's claim for a trend. The resisters are caving in to the relentless march of social networking. Should businesses then throw in the towel and mirror their business operations to take account of the trend?

Here is Gartner's advice: "Enterprises must focus both on use of social software and social media in the enterprise and participation and integration with externally facing enterprise-sponsored and public communities. Do not ignore the role of the social profile to bring communities together."

The Gartner outline of the trend leaves the question as to how to go about doing this unanswered, at least on the public section of the company's website. One easy way I can see a company incorporating social networking into its business practices is by making its intranet 'bulletin board' more community oriented. For example, one could separate the company announcement section from a section in which employees contribute the content.

A social announcement section would let employees add events of interest. A 'work in progress' section could let employees let others know about job accomplishments or successes, with some analysis on what made the project successfully. An 'inspiration' section could let employees add pointers to useful tools available internally or on the internet which they can use in their job.

Of course, these are not my ideas. Some companies, including the one I work for, are taking the cue from social networking to create useful exchanges that work. Ours is a kind of controlled blog, which unfortunately does not allow employees to add comments to what has been contributed. It could be better, but as it is it works fine.

Gartner is describing a concept or business practice that is a much larger step up from what I have just described. Social computing would be directed at the client side of operations. Get clients to become participatory in the business by keeping them involved to make them brand loyalists. Think of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube as alternate marketing venues.

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I watched the live streaming on YouTube of a full U2 concert Sunday night. It was magnificent and sets what I hope will be a trend for the so-far conservative music industry. About 2.5 million people watched all or some of the concert, according to reports. You can still view the 2 hour 21 minute concert at www.youtube.com/user/U2official Enjoy the music while it is still up there.

Send any comments to Ahmed at elamin.ahmed@gmail.com