Three significant business technology trends will enable business leaders to thrive over the next five to 10 years. Artificial intelligence (AI), transparently immersive experiences and new digital platforms will provide the foundation that enables organizations to connect with new business ecosystems.
“Enterprise architects who are focused on technology innovation must evaluate these high-level trends and the featured technologies, as well as the potential impact on their businesses,” said Mike J. Walker, research director at Gartner.
In addition to the commercial impact, these trends provide an upside opportunity for enterprise architecture experts to help their senior business leaders respond to digital transformation opportunities by creating actionable plans that guide IT investment decisions.
Digital transformation market development
Artificial intelligence technologies will be the most disruptive trend over the next decade, due to radical computational power, access to vast amounts of data, and advances in deep neural networks. That will enable organizations with AI to harness data, adapt to new situations and solve problems.
Savvy CIOs and CTOs should consider the following technologies: deep learning, deep reinforcement learning, artificial general intelligence, autonomous vehicles, cognitive computing, commercial UAVs (drones), conversational user interfaces, enterprise taxonomy and ontology management, machine learning, smart dust, smart robots and smart workspace.
According to the Gartner assessment, technology will continue to become more human-centric and introduce transparency between people, businesses and things. This relationship will become much more adaptive, contextual and fluid within the workplace.
Digital technologies to be considered include: 4D printing, augmented reality (AR), computer-brain interface, connected home, human augmentation, nanotube electronics, virtual reality (VR) and volumetric displays.
Emerging technologies require revolutionizing the enabling foundations that provide the volume of data needed, advanced compute power, and ubiquity-enabling ecosystems. The shift from IT infrastructure to ecosystem-enabling platforms creates the foundations for entirely new digital business models.
Key platform-enabling technologies to track include: 5G, digital twin, edge computing, blockchain, IoT platform, neuromorphic hardware, quantum computing, serverless PaaS, and software-defined security.
Outlook for digital transformation growth
In summary, these digital technologies make new IT realities possible by providing the underlining platforms that will fuel the future. Gartner believes that technologies such as quantum computing and blockchain are poised to create the most transformative and dramatic impacts in the next five to 10 years.
“These mega-trends illustrate that the more organizations are able to make technology an integral part of employee, partner and customer experiences, the more they will be able to connect their ecosystems to platforms in new and dynamic ways,” said Walker.