As we finalize planning for 2015, it’s hard not to stop and reflect on the year almost complete. In 2014, businesses across the world saw an increase in consumer expectations. We’ve all experienced this, both from a business and personal perspective. We expect businesses to cater to our every needs, across any channel and device. And for those businesses unable or unwilling to meet our demands, we go elsewhere.

This change in expectation has led to a power shift within the business realm and a new consumer-centric outlook. Couple this with a rise in new disruptive companies and business competition has never been so fierce.

In 2014, companies began to accept that new technology and applications must be at the heart of their business innovation plans. We’re all in a hurry to adapt, often through new applications that differentiate business services, enable faster and more convenient customer engagements, and streamline user workflows.

And with this recognition came the need for new applications, leaving IT with an alarming list of projects, all of which are high priority. This App Delivery Chasm, the struggle between business demand and IT’s ability to deliver, continues to grow. Today, 71% IT of teams are behind, unable to meet business demand.

A host of new solutions have popped up to help IT speed app delivery. And while many enterprises have started to leverage these modern tools, we expect many of these solutions to become mainstream in 2015.

In an effort to better understand priorities for 2015, we gathered perspectives from a variety of app delivery experts. What we found followed three core themes:

1. You need to evolve from service provider to business enabler

2. You need to rethink your people and process strategy

3. You need to embrace the next-generation of cloud computing

Technology is at the heart of innovation, but many organizations struggle to innovate within their current models. IT has an opportunity to revamp its department and become a central hub for all innovation efforts. But this role isn’t possible without some change. And 2015 will be the year for it.

Remember that IT teams must be an enabler of business success. Michael Krigsman, CIO Consultant and Co-Founder of CxOTalk, predicts that, “In 2015, developers must gain a sophisticated understanding of the business processes for which they write software.” He elaborates further in our new eBook.

But to enable business success, you need to rethink your teams and processes in order to focus your efforts in the right places and drive the right outcomes. Rod Willmott, Fast Track Innovation Director at LV=Insurance shared that, “IT departments will have to manage many smaller portfolios of work as opposed to a few large projects and the development needs to move closer to the business.”

And finally, our own CTO, Johan den Haan reminds us all to look out for high priority projects, and find ways to deliver them faster than ever before. “In 2015, we’ll see this next layer in cloud innovation move into the mainstream and fundamentally transform enterprise app delivery.”

But don’t just rely on our perspectives. There are a number of publications currently sharing their predictions and predictions from those in the industry. And we’ve also seen reports that show IT budgets are on the rise. Make sure you’re ready with your list of new must-have items and back them up with ties into business initiatives.

Good luck (and Happy New Year)!