The control that IT departments once had over technology and technology-related decisions within businesses is shifting, according to Gartner Predicts 2012, a special report recently released by the information technology and advisory company.

The forces of cloud computing, social media and social networking, mobility and information management are rapidly changing production for many enterprises, and in some cases key stakeholders recognize the value well before IT can make important decisions about implementation. And it does not stand to get any better for those in IT.

The presence of the cloud, for example, may result in on-premise IT being just one part of the total delivery of IT capabilities to a company. As social computing continues to foster collaboration, workrelated behavior patterns are shifting too. Mobility, of course, is complicating the entire issue by providing users with access to new channels, applications and data — not to mention device choices. These key trends are leading businesses towards a scenario where the IT department, which once lorded its power over the non-techies, to flat out lose control.

Whether this is good or bad depends greatly on the organization, but as businesses and their workers continue to wrestle control from IT on their tech-related decisions, the control of IT budgets will very likely shift as well — security and compliance be damned. Below find a few of Gartner’s most interesting predictions for 2012 as they relate to the reduction of control IT may have in the future.