In the latest Q1, 2012 CIO Confidence Poll Longhaus found that there is a median of 7.5 DBAs working away inside Australian enterprises doing such a good job that no latent demand exists for any level of improvement. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” and “leave well enough alone” are two colloquialisms readily applicable to database administrators (DBA) working inside large organisations today. However Longhaus believes that it will be the CIOs that are looking towards emerging service models in the DBA market including selectively sourcing the DBA function, seeking enhanced follow-the-sun-support or complimenting internal teams with –as-a-service options will be those most likely to meet the increasing business demands for big data support...

Longhaus believes that an expanding API economy represents one of the significant trends of 2012. Enterprises with established and mature processes will be compelled to make business applications available through APIs to drive business growth and expose new opportunities. Also, businesses seeking new capabilities will purchase access to APIs instead of investing in the building of capabilities in-house. APIs will move from playing a strong role to a fundamental role in the way that businesses interact with other businesses, end-users, customers and in reaching new markets.

By the end of the third quarter of 2011 the Longhaus Australian Tech Index had seen a dip of 2.2% (or 3.6 points) to finish at 155.9. This is the first drop in the index since the same quarter period in 2010 and marks the first significant decline since the global financial crisis back in Q2 2009. However, the latest CIO Confidence Poll revealed that in Q4 2011, Australia’s ICT decision makers are still holding a positive outlook over the coming quarter...   The Longhaus Australian Tech Index is a quarterly index based on a propriety model developed to measure the health of the Australian ICT industry. The model measures the Australian ICT industry from the following four (4) dimensions: a) demand forces including ICT spending and ICT importing, b) supply factors including influx volume of venture capital (VC) funding, c) strength of vendors indicated by market value, and employment capacity, and d) consumer factors including internet subscription rates. Collectively, these four (4) dimensions and their accompanying factors indicate the health of the Australian ICT industry. Finally by providing calculated weightings to these indicators and including heuristic views from Australian CIOs, the index provides important insights into lag, lead and predictive indicators of the Australian technology economy.