“We’re only at the very, very beginning of this next generation of computing and I think that every industry leader will be the ones that transforms first. I don’t care what industry you’re talking about” -Kim Stevenson, CIO, Intel, Feb 2016
Gartner Research rolled out their “Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2017” report a few weeks ago. My goal for this blogpost is to introduce these trends to the reader and to examine the potential impact of their recommendations from an enterprise standpoint.
# 1: AI & Advanced Machine Learning
Gartner rightly forecasts that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Advanced Machine Learning will continue their march into daily applications run by the Fortune 1000. CIOs are coming to realize that most business problems are primarily data challenges. The rapid maturation of scalable processing techniques allows us to extract richer insights from data. What we commonly refer to as Machine Learning – a combination of econometrics, machine learning, statistics, visualization, and computer science – helps extracts valuable business insights hiding in data and builds operational systems to deliver that value.
Deep Machine Learning involves the art of discovering data insights in a human-like pattern. We are, thus, clearly witnessing the advent of modern data applications. These applications will leverage a range of advanced techniques such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (ML) encompassing techniques such as neural networks, natural language processing and deep learning.
Implications for industry CIOs – Modern data applications understand their environment (e.g customer preferences and other detailed data insights) to be able to predict business trends in real time & to take action based on them to drive revenues and decrease business risk. These techniques will enable applications and devices to operate in an even more smarter manner while saving companies enormous amounts of money on manual costs.
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# 2: Intelligent Apps
Personal assistants, e.g Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortona in the category of virtual personal assistants (VPAs), have begun transforming everyday business processes easier for their users. VPAs represent the intersection of AI, conversational interfaces and integration into business processes. In 2017, these will begin improving customer experiences for the largest Fortune 100 enterprises. On the more personal front, Home VPAs will rapidly evolve & become even more smarter as their algorithms get more capable and understanding of their own environments. We will see increased application of smart agents in diverse fields like financial services,healthcare, telecom and media.
Implications for industry CIOs – Get ready to invest in intelligent applications in the corporate intranet to start with.
# 3: Intelligent Things
The rise of the IoT has only been well documented but couple AI with massive data processing capabilities – that makes up Intelligent Things which can interact with humans in new ways. You can add a whole category of things around transportation (self driving cars, connected cars) and Robots that perform key processes in industrial manufacturing, drones etc.
Implications for industry CIOs – These intelligent devices will increasingly begin communicating with their environments in a manner that will encourage collaboration in a range of business scenarios. 2017 should begin the trend of these devices communicating with each other to form the eponymous ‘Digital Mesh’.
# 4: Virtual & Augmented Reality
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are technologies that are beginning to completely change the way humans interact with one another and with intelligent systems that make up the Digital Mesh. Pokemon GO & Oculus Rift were the first hugely successful consumer facing AR applications – debuting in 2016. Uses of these technologies will include gamification (to improve customer engagement with products and services), other customer & employee facing applications etc. While both these technologies enable us to view the world in different ways – AR is remarkable in its ability to add to our current reality. BMW’s subsidiary Mini has actually developed a driving goggle with AR technology[1].
Implications for industry CIOs – This one is still on the drawing board for most verticals but it does make sense to invest in areas like gamification and in engaging with remote employees using AR.
# 5: Digital Twin
A Digital twin is a software personification of an Intelligent Thing or system. In the manufacturing industry, digital twins can be setup to function as proxies of things like sensors and gauges, Coordinate Measuring Machines, lasers, vision systems, and white light scanning [2]. The wealth of data being gathered on the shop floor will ensure that Digital twins will be used to reduce costs and increase innovation. Data science will soon make it’s way into the shop floor to enable the collection of insights from these software proxies.
Implications for industry CIOs – Invest in Digital capabilities that serve as proxies for physical things.
# 6: Blockchain
The term Blockchain is derived from a design pattern that describes a chain of data blocks that map to individual transactions. Each transaction that is conducted in the real world (e.g a Bitcoin wire transfer) results in the creation of new blocks in the chain. The new blocks so created are done so by calculating a cryptographic hash function of its previous block thus constructing a chain of blocks – hence the name.
Blockchain is a distributed ledger (DLT) which allows global participants to conduct secure transactions that could be of any type – banking, music purchases, legal contracts, supply chain transactions etc. Blockchain will transform multiple industries in the years to come. Bitcoin is the first application of Blockchain.
How the Blockchain will lead disruption across industry..(5/5)
Implications for industry CIOs – Begin expanding internal knowledge on Blockchain and as to how it can potentially augment or disrupt your vertical industry.
# 7: Conversational Systems
Mobile applications first begun forcing the need for enterprises to begin supporting multiple channels of interaction with their consumers. For example Banking now requires an ability to engage consumers in a seamless experience across an average of four to five channels – Mobile, eBanking, Call Center, Kiosk etc. Conversational Systems take these interactions to the next level and enable humans to communicate with a wide range of Intelligent Things using a range of channels – speech, touch, vision etc.
Implications for industry CIOs – Every touch point matters, and those leading the smart agent transformation should constantly be asking how organizations are removing friction and enhancing the experience for every customer regardless of where they are in the journey.
# 8: Mesh App and Service Architecture
This one is still from last year. The Digital Mesh leads to an interconnected information deluge which encompasses classical IoT endpoints along with audio, video & social data streams. The creation of these smart services will further depend on the vertical industries that these products serve as well as requirements for the platforms that host them. E.g industrial automation, remote healthcare, public transportation, connected cars, home automation etc.The micro services architecture approach which combines the notion of autonomous, cooperative yet loosely coupled applications built as a conglomeration of business focused services is a natural fit for the Digital Mesh. The most important additive and consideration to micro services based architectures in the age of the Digital Mesh is what I’d like to term – Analytics Everywhere.
Implications for industry CIOs -The mesh app will require a microservices based architecture which supports multichannel & multi device solutions.
# 9: Digital Technology Platforms
The onset of Digital Architectures in enterprise businesses implies the ability to drive continuous micro level interactions with global consumers/customers/clients/stockholders or patients depending on the vertical you operate in. More information on the core building blocks of Digital Technology Platforms at the below blogpost.
Implications for industry CIOs –
# 10: Adaptive Security Architecture
The evolution of the intelligent digital mesh and digital technology platforms and application architectures means that security has to become fluid and adaptive.Traditional solutions cannot handle this challenge which is exacerbated by the expectation that in an IoT & DM world, data flows will be multidirectional across a grid of application endpoints.
Implications for industry CIOs -Expect to find applications in 2016 and beyond incorporating Deep Learning and Real Time Analytics into their core security design with a view to analyzing large scale data at a very low latency. Security in the IoT environment is particularly challenging. Security teams need to work with application, solution and enterprise architects to build security into the overall DevOps process to create a DevSecOps model.
Conclusion..
In this year’s edition, Gartner are clearly forecasting the future ten years out from a mass market standpoint. As we cross this chasm slowly over the next ten years, we will see that IoT begin to emerge and take center stage in every industry vertical. Digital transformation will happen on apps created for and brought together for Smart Agents on the Device Mesh.
These apps will gradually become autonomous, data intensive,server-less, hopefully secure and location independent (data center or cloud). The app can be a sensor or a connected car or a digital twin for a manufacturing technician. So, it’s not just about a single app sitting in a data center or the cloud or on the machine itself. These smart agent apps will data driven, components of a larger mesh, interconnected connected using open interfaces, and resident at the places where it’s optimal for realtime analytics. This may seem like science fiction for the Fortune 1000 enterprise but it is manifest reality at the web scale innovators. The industry will have no choice but to follow.
References..
[1] Cramer – “A lesson in Augmented Realities” – http://cramer.com/story/the-difference-between-ar-and-vr/
[2] Dr.Michael Grieves – “Digital Twin: Manufacturing Excellence through Virtual Factory Replication” – http://innovate.fit.edu/plm/documents/doc_mgr/912/1411.0_Digital_Twin_White_Paper_Dr_Grieves.pdf