Some of the technologies that could soon dominate the IT landscape, according to Gartner’s annual Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends, include: A. Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Analytics, Quantum Computing and Block Chain.
A mix of disparate technologies, including artificial intelligence and automation, will have a significant impact on businesses and IT organizations, according to Gartner’s annual report on strategic tech trends next year.
The top 10 list, presented at Gartner’s Symposium / ITxpo, points to an overlap of trends such as IoT in combination with AI and augmented analytics with edge computing, which will provide leading services and applications in the future, according to David Cearley, Vice President of Gartner.
The IT research firm predicts that the following top 10 tech trends in 2019 will be of great importance:
Autonomous things:
These include robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles whose functions are automated using artificial intelligence previously performed by humans. “As autonomous things continue to multiply, we expect a shift from self-contained intelligent things to a swarm of collaborative intelligent things where multiple devices work together, with or without human input,” says Cearley. “For example, if a drone inspects a large field and finds that it is ripe for harvest, it could independently deploy an autonomous harvester.”
Augmented Analytics:
According to Cearley, this trend is focused on a specific area of augmented intelligence, using machine learning (ML) to change the way analytic content is developed, consumed and published. The opportunities offered by augmented analytics will quickly become standard applications because they play a key role in data preparation, data management, advanced analytics, business process management, process mining, and data science platforms. Automated augmented analytics insights will also be embedded in enterprise applications – such as human resources, finance, sales, marketing, customer service, purchasing, and asset management – to optimize future decisions and actions of all employees in their context, not just those Analysts and data scientists. Augmented Analytics automates the process of data preparation, intelligence generation, and visualization of intelligence, eliminating the need for professional data scientists in many situations.
AI-driven development:
Gartner believes the market will move rather quickly from the approach next year, where professional data scientists need to work with application developers to create AI-enhanced solutions. Instead, he moves on to a model where the professional developer can work solely with predefined models that are delivered as a service. This provides the developer with an ecosystem of AI algorithms and models, as well as development tools tailored to integrate AI features and models into the development of solutions. Another way for professional application development is to apply AI to the development process itself to automate various data science, application development and testing functions. By 2022, at least 40 percent of new application development projects are expected to have an AI co-developer on their team.
Digital Twins:
According to Gartner, a ‘digital twin’ refers to the digital representation of a real entity or a real system. By 2020, Gartner estimates there will be more than 20 billion networked sensors and endpoints, as well as digital twins for potentially several billions of things. Organizations will first implement Digital Twins in a simple way. Over time, they will evolve and enhance their ability to collect and visualize the right data, apply the right analysis and rules, and respond effectively to business goals.
Empowered Edge:
In the near future, Edge will be driven by IoT and the need to continue processing near each endpoint rather than on a centralized cloud server. Gartner expects to implement specialized AI chips with more processing power, storage capacity, and other advanced features into a larger number of edge devices over the next five years. The extreme heterogeneity of this embedded IoT world and the long lifecycles of assets, such as industrial systems, will pose significant challenges for management. In the longer term, when 5G is mature, the expanding edge computing environment will provide a more robust form of communication with centralized services. 5G offers lower latency, higher bandwidth and (very important for Edge) a significantly larger number of nodes per square kilometer.
Immersive Experience:
According to Gartner, conversation platforms are changing the way people interact with the digital world. Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality in turn change the way people perceive the digital world. This combined shift of perceptual and engagement models will ultimately lead to an immersive user experience. “Over time, we will move from discrete devices and fragmented user interface technologies to multi-channel and multi-modal experience. This multimodal experience connects people to the digital world through hundreds of endpoints that surround it, including traditional computers, wearables, automobiles, environmental sensors and consumer applications, “says Cearley.
Blockchain:
Blockchain, predicts Gartner, promises to redesign the industry by creating trust and transparency and reducing the friction between business ecosystems, reducing costs, reducing transaction execution times, and improving cash flow. Today, trust in banks, clearinghouses, governments and many other institutions is being ceded as central authorities, while the “unified version of the truth” is securely kept in their databases. The centralized trust model adds transactions delays and friction costs (commissions, fees and the time value of the money). Blockchain, on the other hand, provides an alternative trust mode and eliminates the need for centralized arbitration of transactions. “The current blockchain technologies and concepts are immature, not well understood, and unproven in mission-critical business processes. This is especially true of the complex elements that support more sophisticated scenarios, “says Cearley. “Despite all the challenges, the significant potential for disruption is that CIOs and IT leaders should start evaluating blockchain, even though they can not aggressively adopt the technology over the next few years.”
Smart Spaces:
Gartner defines an intelligent space as a physical or digital environment in which humans and technology-enabled systems interact in increasingly open, connected, coordinated, and intelligent ecosystems. Multiple elements – including people, processes, services, and things – come together in this smart space to create a more immersive, interactive, and automated experience for a specific audience of people and industry scenarios.
Digital Ethics and Privacy:
Digital ethics and privacy are a growing problem for individuals, organizations and governments. People are becoming increasingly concerned about how their personal information is used by companies in the public and private sectors, and the resistance will only increase against companies that do not proactively address these concerns. “Trust is the acceptance of the truth of a statement without proof or verification. Ultimately, a company’s positioning for privacy must be determined by its broader positioning on issues such as ethics and trust. As we shift from privacy to ethics, the conversation moves from “Are we compliant” to “Doing the right thing,” says Cearly.
Quantum Computing (QC):
Gartner argues that the parallel execution and exponential scalability of quantum computers leads them to solve problems that are too complex for a traditional approach, or that take too long to exploit conventional algorithms. Automotive, financial, insurance, pharmaceutical, military and research organizations are benefiting most from progress in QC. “CIOs and IT leaders should start planning in QC by improving the understanding and applicability to real business issues. Learn everything necessary while the technology is still in its infancy. Address real-world problems where QC has the potential to be a solution, and consider potential security implications, “Cearley advises. “But do not believe the hype that claims things will revolutionize over the next few years. Most companies are expected to get to know and monitor QC by 2022, and really take advantage of it by 2023 or 2025.
