2014 marked an incredible year. We watched technology
cross the threshold from futuristic concept to mainstream use with biometric
devices like Apple’s Touch ID featured on the iPhone and iPad, and 3-D printers
like the MakerBot’s Thing-O-Maticinstalled in local schools and libraries for
the kids to use. The release of Gigabit-per-second
broadband service Google Fiber pushed broadband to new limits and free Wi-Fi
became a mainstay in public places like Tim Horton’s, McDonald’s, and Starbucks.
Whilesome companies soared—Internet serviceAirbnbkick-started the sharing
economy, WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for a whopping $16 billion, and
Alibaba celebrated the largest tech IPO ever, raking in $21.8 billion, others
fell by the wayside.Amidst all the market upheavals, change was the only
constant.
"When you're finished changing, you're finished."
– Benjamin Franklin
What’s in store for 2015? As
the Digital-First World takes hold, the disruptors will be disrupted and technology will continue to
change our lives in big ways. Here are the top technology trends that I see
impacting the way we work and play in 2015.
1. Cloud becomes the new normal
The cloud will be embraced en masse in 2015 because the benefits
are huge. By digitizing information-intensive processes, costs can be cut by up
to 90% and turnaround times improved by several
orders of magnitude.
What I expect to see by year-end is a world of hybrid deployments
in which some information and applications reside in the cloud and the
remainder resides on premise. Data security is a toppriority, and a hybrid
model allows organizations to balance their workload, meeting all their
data sovereignty requirements while leveraging the power of the cloud.
2. Digitization begins the next massive
displacement and migration of labour
The
employment landscape will be in flux throughout 2015, the early stages of what
I expect to be the nextsignificant labourdisplacement in history.
Digital
technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable technologies, and mobile
and smart devices will force organizations to change the way they engage customers,
and develop and deliver new products and services. Analytics will become
ubiquitous, bringing intelligence to every process. Robotics, smart machines,
and artificial intelligence (AI) will infiltrate new parts of the organization
and automate positions that are repetitive and transactional in nature. In
time, we could see20 to 30 million jobs migrate or disappear.
It’s
not all doom and gloom, but simply a shiftfrom transactionaljobs totacit jobs. Tacit jobs require data analysis,
judgement, and problem solving skills, as well as the ability to think
creatively, communicate effectively, and collaborate in teams. Tacit jobs are
predicted to grow two-and-a-half times faster than the transactional segment
andCEOs will soon recognize the skills gap around tacit jobs for
technology.
3. New startups will mesh digital and
physical
The year 2015 will be the year that we see
an increasing amount of nimble startups outpacing established enterprises to
bring new products to market faster. Technological advances like 5G networks,
more processing power, advances in storage, and cloud and mobile computing are
blurring the boundaries between the physical and the virtual—between people and
their technology. Startups will follow in the footsteps ofTado and Dash to leverage this “zero-distance
connectivity” and offer compelling new products and services.
Startups are purists in their approach,
organizing their operations around a focused sense of purpose and the promise
of tremendous growth. Agility trumps size, which makes startup culture dynamic,
unstable, easy to scale, and eager to embrace (even define) new business
models. Thestartup philosophy entails a rapid product development cycle. Over
the next few years, we’ll see development cycles evolve from sprints to
hyper-connected dashes. Innovation will become faster, more compressed, and
approach the spontaneous. To keep pace in a Digital-First World, CIOs and
business leaders will have to think like entrepreneurs and adopt startup strategies.
Borrowing from the startup ethos will empower them to build adaptive
enterprises that can proactively create opportunities for growth.
4. The world realizes the “Internet of things” is just the
Internet
Everyone
is buzzing about the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is the extension of the Internet,
connecting us to millions of machines, sensors, and objects around us. The IoT
will transform the world, as we know it, creating a giant, global network of
devices and machines that are connected, communicating, and exchanging data. This
market will see 50 billion devices connected by 2020 and a value of $14.4 trillion.
Its potential impact is huge.
And
while the IoT is viewed by many as a nebulous, futuristic concept, in reality,it
already exists: we wear pedometers, smart watches, and cameras; our pets are microchipped;
and we drive cars with built-in sensors. Thanks to the IoT, many of our everyday
appliances will soon have the ability to self-monitor and communicate with a
network—think Marge’s fully automated “Ultrahouse 3000” in the Simpsons. Organizations in both the public and private
sector are already using sensor-based technologies to improve inventory control
andmanage energy through smart grids. As we progress through 2015, more and
more people will come to realize the IoT is simply the next evolution of the Internet.
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