Not all the technologies in the basket we refer to as ‘Digital Transformation’ are new; the basic building blocks have been in the works for a few decades now. But the acceleration of innovation and the confluence of independent technologies has resulted in remarkable progress that is changing the world of business in front of our very eyes. It is transforming your work, your company and the world.
In fact, technologies such as IoT, analytics, artificial intelligence, cloud and machine learning – clustered as ‘’Digital’ – are removing obstacles and constraints and generating thrilling new possibilities that impact enterprises and consumers in profound ways. However, some of these technologies may be taking off, while others may be settling down. As we close out 2019, let’s examine trends. Which digital transformation technologies are ‘accelerating,’ and which are ‘maturing? Understanding trends will enable you to allocate resources wisely and obtain the biggest bang for your IT buck.
I just concluded a year as the technology leader at a large pharmaceutical, prior to which I had the opportunity to lead IT and Digital teams at two large Fortune 500 companies. Additionally, I consulted with large organizations (annual revenue $500 million to $45 billion). Working in varied industries (pharma, metals, mining, aviation and banking) has afforded me an opportunity to observe commonalities that cut across industries and technologies.
In my observation, over the last year, the following technologies have hit the ‘accelerating’ phase:
1.Machine Learning: NLP/ RPA/ Chatbot
2.Augmented Reality: AR/VR
4.BlockChain/ Distributed Ledger
On the other hand, the following areas of Digital have entered a phase which can be categorized as ‘maturing’:
1.Internet of Things (IoT)
2.Big Data/ Advanced Analytics
These trends are more or less in line with an influential survey published by Bain & Company in August 2019. Let’s spend a moment understanding the reasons behind these trends, and then discuss the implications.
First the accelerators.
Momentum was building quietly in Machine Learning over the last three years or so. Organizations that invested sparingly in Chatbots – and this technology isn’t expensive, let’s admit it – began to observe payback almost immediately. In the RPA market, the top three players are now more or less established. (I’m not naming them, in order to stay vendor-agnostic in this article.) Now, over the last year, the finance industry has made a determined push in this area, in order to ramp up the use of technologies in areas that demonstrated a clear return on investment. As we said earlier in this piece, the technologies are relatively inexpensive and can be deployed quickly.
Next come AR and VR.
Manufacturing industries are now convinced of the value of these technologies in use cases involving worker safety and training and began to ramp up the deployment in 2019 in a major way. I won’t waste time in elaborating on the accelerating development of autonomous vehicles, given how every major auto manufacturer is aggressively competing in the space, and how they all view this as an area that’s essential for their survival.
Finally, BlockChain
Forbes ran a story in August 2019 that talked about how the tipping point had been reached in the mass adoption of distributed ledgers, which was mentioned as having the ‘same transformative power as the internet had in the early 1990s.’ I agree with that assessment, with the caveats that there is a lack of uniformity of regulations, and that deployment speed and ease of use of platforms and interfaces by developers are still a concern.
Next, let’s spend a moment talking about the ‘maturing’ technologies. First of all, I don’t view that as a bad place to be in. You can only be mature if you’ve been doing something for some length of time, and have gotten good at it. Analytics and cloud computing are now established technologies. I haven’t observed too many business executives questioning the value in these areas, just as they don’t question investments in ERP and CRM products. IoT is a little trickier. Frankly speaking, this is one technology area that is not as mature as the other two in this bucket, although it’s getting there. That’s because security continues to be a big concern, given we now have the potential to expose OT (operational technology) equipment to the same level of vulnerability that we’ve routinely subjected IT (information technology) systems too.
What does all this mean for you? How can you benefit from current trends, and achieve the greatest results? Here are my recommendations:
A. Take advantage of accelerating technologies by being aware that these are the areas where you can leverage your budgets the most. You don’t need to invest very much. However, the time to invest is now. Mature technologies cost a lot more.
B. Consider how you’ll acquire the resources in order to design and deploy these technologies. In the ‘mature’ areas, you may want to outsource the deployment, while in the ‘accelerating’ areas, you may want to invest in in-house expertise, since the skills may not be widely available in the market.
C. Select and prioritize technology projects according to the business value they will deliver — do not force-fit projects for the sake of doing “BlockChain” or “AI.” This isn’t new for 2020 – this is the common-sense approach that will continue to yield results for you in the coming years.
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This post was authored by Amitabh Mishra. If you want to get featured on our website please reach us at advertising@alltechevent.com
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Amitabh Mishra
Consulting CIO
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