Digital Transformation captures the mindshare of modern CIOs and for good reason. As consumers demand more out of their business experiences, organizations must catch up or face irrelevancy. However, while much of the consensus around Digital Transformation remains on the surface, the real pressures concern the oncoming IT trends for 2018.
Forrester is one of the research firms foreshadowing the future, describing 2018 as a “year of reckoning” for CIOs, especially those still licking their wounds from the last recession. With an estimated 75% of organizations expected to miss their objectives, led by external and internal forces, there should be palpable worry in the market.
Forrester highlights some of the relevant trends driving this worry:
- Artificial Intelligence is Coming Fast: Forrester believes that 2018 will be the end of the AI honeymoon and surveys show 70% adoption over that time. Much of the emphasis on AI will lie in decision-making technology. For organizations still indecisive about the future of AI, now may be the time to explore business use cases or risk playing painful catch up down the road.
- Blockchain’s Potential: 2017 has seen a mixed bag on blockchain and cryptocurrency, with equal parts disdain and hope from various thought leaders. In the meantime, Bitcoin continues to surge in value on the pressure of public interest, which will force organizations to take a side. Forrester expects the banking industry to derive $1 billion of business value from blockchain by 2020, though there is much left to be desired in the skills gap. Like AI, Blockchain is an area that organizations should plan to invest in going forward.
- IoT Takes Us to the Edge: Already known is the move to Edge Computing with the prominence of IoT. More pressing however is the question of how, which Forrester believes will be 95% of technologies by 2022. Furthermore, IoT investment will also center on security, which continues to worry CIOs. With many companies continuing to avoid commitment to IoT security, the industry is in for a rude and expensive awakening.
As 2018 approaches, we believe that these trends are only the tip of the iceberg and represent a greater industry-wide shift that will influence the market. Read the report here and let us know what you think in the comments section below.
