I am participating and judging (Kay Family Foundation Appreneur Scholars) at the International Consumer Electronics Show, held on January 6-9 2015 which will spotlight disruptive trends that will profoundly impact enterprises. The CES is the largest international technology showcase with the future on interactive display in over 2 million square feet spread over three conference centers. Technology trends, many of them rooted in the consumer space enter the enterprise with past examples of email, internet, smart phones, mobile apps and tablets. The themes at these events underscore the technologies and keynotes at the international CES. With the impending digital quake where the majority of businesses and jobs will change, it is more vital now than ever to keep abreast of the latest trends.
In an earlier IT World interview with CES producer, CEA CEO Gary Shapiro, provides his views of what is shaping our futures in the $200B plus USD industry. For 2015, Gary see opportunities with Big Data, robots and drones, digital health, new business models and entertainment experiences with a focus on innovation, privacy, 3D printing and the Internet of Things (IoT). These trends are outlined further in their report Technology Trends to Watch 2015.
Predictions of top trends — will they be supported by the event?
Big Data that is real-time, sharable, transparent, discoverable and meaningful analytics via the cloud is a priority for the majority of enterprises. The over 4 zettabytes of data on the internet from 3 billion users, equivalent to 4 billion terabytes is doubling every 18 months with under 10% tagged. This necessitates the recent advances in exponential accelerating data patterns problem solving using data mining analytics driven by machine learning, deep learning, deep neural networks, recommender and prediction systems and readily accessible tools from all the major vendors. I’m particularly impressed with the recent announcements involving Microsoft Azure and IBM Watson for enterprises. The Skype universal translator illustrates the power on the AI (artificial intelligence) side with real-time audio translation and increasing warnings about AI and its unintended consequence on humanity. Underlying all of this is the fastest growing segment, the widespread IoT (internet of things) planetary nervous system with sensor usage rising and originally triggered by the now 7 billion mobile subscriptions and the exploding 1 billion wearables by 2018.
AI also work informs rapid advances in robotics and automated drones where people will be displaced.
These exploding developments force enterprises and thus CIOs to be very concerned about privacy, cybersecurity and security overall and innovating revenue channels by creating digital services. DevOps is a top priority and frameworks involving phases of innovation from concept, research and development to transfer, production and deployment and usage; and types of innovation involving products, services, processes, organizational models and business models. All of this requires new open standards enterprise architectural frameworks. I was impressed with the IDC FutureScape webinar Worldwide CIO Agenda 2015 predictions and encourage taking a look. There was good alignment at the October United Nations Global e-Government Forum Scientific Practical Conference where I chaired and keynoted the opening session and at the IFIP World CIO Forum in November where I was vice-chair and chaired and spoke at the opening plenary session dialogue with CIOs and CEOs.
In addition, Digital Health is burgeoning and you see all the announcements from the major vendors. With healthcare costs over 15 percent of GDP and the majority of people wanting web-driven services and tools, health related wearables and are in a boom phase. This drives mHealth and telemedicine with rapid diagnostics, continual monitoring, symptom recognition and just-in-time interventions.
Autonomous capabilities in cars and 3D printing will continue to make rapid inroads as well.
Questions for you as ICT executives
What will be the impact on your business?
How does this support your enterprise mobile one strategy, Big Data program, Analytics rollout, BYOD challenges, cloud adoption and the blurring lines between consumer wants and enterprise work?