In this report, The Global Futures & Foresight Ltd explores the current technology trends, a look back at past forecasts and how they will impact business models.
The value of digital and intelligent technology lies in its ability to connect people, objects and data, and by so doing, create new ways of working, new service propositions and business models. We now sit at the tail-end of this digital era, yet much of its impact is yet to be felt as industries belatedly adjust.
The emerging era, marked by pervasive and ambient connectivity together with artificial intelligence will rewrite the foundation of many of our assumptions about business. It has been said that ‘…everything invented in the past 150 years will be reinvented using artificial intelligence within the next 15 years .’ New competitors, collaboration partners, and platforms will help drive this change. If anything can be certain, it is that technological change will compel incumbents to redefine themselves as consumer-centric businesses. Industries, from banking and insurance to retail and even healthcare are finding that this often necessitates not just new talent and skills, but whole new organisation models.
In the post-digital age, technology is no longer an addendum to strategy; it must be aligned, or bound, with organisational and market change. Tech strategies are increasingly aligned with corporate strategy, whether with the internal use of A.I or in rewiring the IT function. However, ‘...we’re no longer in a place where we can pick even the top three or top five technologies...you’ve got to look at everything simultaneously.’ This represents a different way of thinking from even a few years ago and will severely test the strategies and competencies as we enter an age of exponential change.