Technology Reseller v26

01732 759725 30 PREDICTIONS ...continued Digital Transformation Step change in digitalisation Dave Polton , VP solutions Digital Transformation, Nominet In 2019 we’ve seen a number of digital transformation projects not fully meeting expectations. In 2020 I expect to see a number of small but significant step changes in the way businesses approach digitalisation projects, particularly with regards to security. The channel will be pivotal in this transition because of its ability to bring together solutions that individually represent marginal gains for the business but collectively have a significant impact on both the bottom line and risk mitigation. Partners will be leading this shift from big, arguably unachievable, projects to smaller, results-driven projects to deliver digital transformation. organisation will be left behind by more agile competitors. Worse still, adopt a failed innovation too soon and a business that lacks a technology leaders’ experience, agility and ability to learn from and correct mistakes could cripple itself. 4 High costs will stop widespread Blockchain adoption Evangelists make great claims for blockchain, but it is still a challenge to find viable deployment scenarios. This will not change in 2020. Relatively high infrastructure cost means Blockchain can only deliver value efficiently when there are a high number of both dispersed, participating entities and distributed ledgers. Even if this is overcome, there is still the major challenge of secure integration with existing ERP and logistics management systems. Organisations without the resources and expertise to overcome both of these will have to wait for costs, complexity or both to fall. For those organisations with the necessary resources and skills, there will be opportunities to put the blockchain to use. For instance, retailers can create a full, audited history of specific products’ origins and supply chain to satisfy the curiosity of increasingly ethically and environmentally sensitive consumers. Similarly, manufacturers can trace components to ensure there are no flaws in a batch and, if any are detected, identify the weak link in the supply chain and either repair or replace it. 5 Technology will support compliance – but also demand data governance Technology already has a valuable role in supporting compliance. AI, IoT and blockchain can help retailers prove there is no human slavery in their supply chains; help manufacturers ensure workers in their sites are obeying health and safety best practice; and alert financial institutions if employees act unethically. However it is used, the data technology generates will be of primary importance to enterprises in 2020, for the insight it offers but also because of the need to store, use, share and delete it in accordance with regulations such as GDPR. The growing use of technology will begin to create more data than many organisations can cope with. This will promote company-wide data governance strategies among businesses that are serious about taking advantage of and using the insights available from the data they gather. Since this will be a new area for many organisations, we will see a boom in demand for data governance consultancy services, opening up new opportunities for experts. Technology Top five technology trends Felix Gerdes , Director of Digital Innovation Services, Insight UK 1 AI Will Augment Humans, not Replace Them Despite fears that it will replace human workers, AI and machine learning will increasingly be used to aid and augment them. For instance, customer service workers need to be certain they are giving customers the right advice. AI can analyse complex customer queries with high numbers of variables, then present solutions to the employee – speeding up the process and increasing employee confidence. Over the next three years this trend will keep accelerating, as businesses from banks to manufacturers use AI to support their employees’ decisions and outperform the competition. 2 The Internet of Things will meet the hype To date, IoT pilot projects have failed to impress – a 2019 McKinsey study shows that 70% of IoT projects never make it past the proof-of-concept phase. However, more organisations have been making the changes necessary to unlock the full potential of their IoT experiments and in 2020 they will begin to see a real return on their investment. We are already seeing more involvement from senior-level executives; clearer, business-oriented goals for projects; and a willingness to adapt organisational structures and procedures better to support IoT and other transformational technologies. With innovation labs that were previously acting independently now more closely integrated with broader IT teams, and other stakeholders across the business engaged with the process, IoT projects will deliver concrete results for the enterprise. Adoption will keep growing over the next three years as more organisations make use of scalable, easy-to-deploy, cloud-based IoT solutions such as Microsoft and BMW’s Open Manufacturing Platform. 3 Keeping up with accelerating technology innovation will increase risk for unprepared businesses There is a clear line between technology leaders – those who experiment with, sometimes fail, and ultimately learn from new technology – and their competitors. With technology adoption often creating a major differentiator for businesses, more and more enterprises will adopt a fast-follower strategy as they attempt to keep pace with these leaders. This strategy comes with significant risks. Fail to adopt a successful innovation in time, and the Felix Gerdes Dave Polton CSR The year capitalism starts to crumble Richard Tang , Founder and Chairman of Zen Internet 2020 will be the last year of the fat cat bonuses that have dominated headlines in recent years. These outrageous bonuses will be on their last legs due to a mass boycott from the younger generation of brands that hand these payments out. Most are no longer willing to stand by and watch the rich get richer at the expense of the poor. With this rise in social causes from young people from across the globe, some of the negative aspects of capitalism such as the focus on short-term profits over long-term happiness of staff and customers, will begin to be scrutinised. Next year, we’ll start to see the first signs of the crumble of capitalism – the negative parts, at least, starting with those bonuses.