How can communications developers and IT keep in front of trends?

If you're "in front" of trends then you are a trend-setter. I know, nit-picking on my part! To stay abreast of trends there are a lot of options. As Sean mentioned - a great way is to talk to your customers. Their problem statements will give you good insight into where the current solutions are falling short in solving those problems, and give you some insight on what trends to follow.

As far as "day to day" activities here's a few suggestions:

Organize your research and the process you use to follow other industry analysts and experts. Tools like Rockmelt, Sobees and Summify can help you consolidate RSS feeds and information sources and filter the blizzard of information that will quickly overwhelm you if you haphazardly wander through it.

Blog. Yes, write a blog (lots of people will say yuck to this one). You don't have to write daily posts, but the process of deciding what you want to talk about and then doing the associated research will force you be more disciplined at analyzing what's going on in your industry.

Write at least two white papers (or industry perspectives) per year. And then publish them via a service like issuu.com which gives you exposure to a broad community. Again this will force you into "research mode" which will broaden you horizon and make you explore new information sources. Don't be shy about asking your peers and associates for feedback - this will give you insight as to whether your research is paying off.

Join communities like Focus.com! And then ACTIVELY participate. I don't mean simply reading what everybody else contributes. I mean jumping in feet first and offering your expertise and opinion. Be a "creator" in the social technographics ladder (re:Groundswell - Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff). Watching other people may be fun, but it doesn't get you out of your comfort zone and make you explore new horizons.

Attend conferences - at least 1 or 2 a year. This may be a little tougher if you don't live in a large metropolitan area, but for those of you who do, many of your industry-related analysts groups and media companies offer "day passes" to conferences they sponsor. These usually get you into the vendor showcases, which to me is more valuable than attending keynote sessions. Spend the whole day visiting every booth - asking the vendor about their value proposition and what problems they are solving for their customers.

Volunteer for a project outside your area of expertise. If you're an engineer, offer to write a marketing requirements document. Or if you're a marketing professional spend a few days with the inside sales team talking to customers. Or maybe offer to write your company's social networking policy. Any activity that gets you out of your normal day-to-day role and comfort zone will put you into "learning mode", which again forces you to research and understand new trends and techniques.

Teach. Pick a topic and then teach others. Regardless of the topic this will force you to stay on top of the industry trends surrounding your topic. Students ask the hard "what if?" and "why?"questions! Use resources like skillshare.com to create the environment in which you can share your expertise and help others be aware of their industry trends!

And lastly - just be curious about stuff!