While highly publicized consumer technologies are top of mind for most CIOs, there are several other critical trends — many of them directly related to mobile and consumer technologies, but not as glitzy — that they must grapple with concurrently.

Chief among these nitty-gritty IT concerns is the nearly out-of-control proliferation of data. This is the result of the huge amounts of information created in cyberspace. As writer Bob Violino tells us in his feature article this month, data centers have always dealt with big amounts of data but now, it’s not uncommon for organizations of all types — not just scientific, number-crunching businesses such as Geostellar — to handle massive petabytes of digital data created on tiny smartphones and tablet computers.

“Clearly,” he notes, “this data blast is on the minds of IT executives.” Dick Csaplar, Senior Research Analyst at Aberdeen Group, says that “managing the explosion of data is usually cited as the No. 1 pressure” among his clients.

Geostellar has two separate infrastructures — an internal infrastructure with powerful, dedicated servers, and a public cloud-based environment — for managing its computational information. But it’s much tougher for smaller, less-sophisticated enterprises to keep pace.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol in Jefferson   City, Mo., for instance, has seen data volume triple in the past decade, from less than one terabyte to nearly 30 terabytes today. Much of this has come from electronic media such as digital video, audio and photos, according to CIO Clifford Gronauer. And with municipal dollars in short supply, it’s not easy to justify the spending.

This trickle-down may be what Andi Mann, VP of Strategic Solutions at CA Technologies, meant when he told Smart Enterprise Exchange recently that enterprises are not prepared for the fallout from consumer technologies and the “fundamental change” that they are causing. Infrastructure issues — from standardization, to security, to desktops — need new management strategies and governance, he says.

While there are tremendous opportunities for bold leadership and innovation, adoption of consumer IT in the enterprise will be “a hard transition,” Mann says. Many old ways just won’t work any more, and new spending may be required as well.

Data center staffing also reflects the uncertainty that’s afoot. In his blog about IT employment trends, John Longwell, VP at Computer Economics, says that although data center functions largely seem to have survived the worst of the global recession, “it may be too early to see the full impact of current data center technology shifts on IT employment.” Cloud and SaaS models may mean fewer data centers but more jobs for managers and support personnel, according to his current research. What new positions is your IT department seeking and which are on hold?

Look for more coverage about consumer-driven IT in August as well as commentary on big data trends. You can also read Andi Mann’s blog on consumerization here. As always, share your experiences with your peers on the Exchange.

Paula Klein

Editor and Community Manager

Smart Enterprise Exchange