IT Week asked industry experts from BT, the Chartered Management Institute, the Technology Strategy Board and analysts Gartner and AMR Research how they saw technology and the role of the IT director changing in the future.

The IT Week editors assessed the trends mentioned with a so-called "hype score", as to indicate how likely the trend will actually occur. For example, the prediction that IT directors will become far less geeky has been assessed with a 10.6: "Even though business acumen and soft skills are becoming increasingly important in corporate IT, there will always be a need for specialists with enough technical knowledge to be able to drive innovation and recognise technology-based opportunities." IT Week states.

The editors think it far more likely that datacentres will be used to heat swimming pools, as they think that "the issue of minimising waste is becoming increasingly important. And yes, a datacentre can be used to heat a swimming pool: IBM is already doing it in a town in Switzerland".

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