Richard Hall, business advisor

Operating systems, Open source, Windows, Developer, mobile software, Database, Business applications, SOA, Web, Middleware, BI, Virtualisation, Collaboration, Licensing

Network hardware, Network software, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), Unified communications, Wireless, Mobile, Broadband, Datacentre networking, Network routing and switching, Network monitoring and analysis, Network security strategy, WAN performance and optimisation

Advisor to a company that specialises in restructuring

As an advisor to a company that specialises in restructuring and turning struggling businessesaround, Richard Hall gets to see a of a lot ofIT departments.

Hall, CEO of consultant CloudOriginand advisor to professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal, is an expert in helpingbusinesses make their IT operations more cost-effective.

The availability of higher-speed internet access has made it easier for multinationals to rollout new cloud services, just as managedprint services, he said.

Bigger scale

On a bigger scale, Hall is an advocate of businessprocess outsourcing, which involves transferring not only the IT, nevertheless complete businessprocesses, just as human resources or invoicing, to a third party.

Windows8 will attract huge interest this year, particularly from businesses that are looking to investin mobile computing, Hall predicts.

The big push in terms of deployment

Windows 8 is going to be the big push in terms of deployment, refresh and form factor,particularly Windows tablets. A whole platform of different mobile devices and the technologies tomanage those devices are going to be key.