CIO opinion
CIO OPINION
that you can easily share with healthcare
providers for better care.
Immersive intelligence will also follow us to
work. Our PCs and devices we use every day
will continue to learn from our habits and
proactively boot up with the right apps and
services at the right time.
Advances in natural language processing
and voice technologies will create a more
productive dialogue with machines, while
automation and robotics will create faster,
more fluid collaboration with technology to
get more done. And, with augmented and
virtual reality applications creating on and
off-site immersive experiences, people will
have access to the data they need to do
work whenever, wherever they are.
Move over Millennials, Gen Z will
clock into the workplace
Millennials are going to have to make room
for the next generation with Gen Z (born
after 1995) coming into the workplace
over the next year, creating an increasingly
diverse workforce spanning five generations!
This will create a rich range of experiences in
life and technology.
A total of 98% of Gen Z will have used
technology as part of their formal education;
many already understand the basics of
software coding and expect only the best
technology to be a part of their work
experience.
Gen Z will spark a new evolution in
technology innovation for the workplace and
create more opportunities for technology
literacy and on-site learning for new skills
with older generations of workers. AR and
VR will become increasingly commonplace
and close the skills gap across an ageing
workforce, while giving Gen Z the speed and
productivity they demand.
Data gold mine will spark next ‘Gold
Rush’ in tech investments
Organisations have been stockpiling big
data for years. In fact, it’s predicted that by
2020, the data volume will reach 44 trillion
gigabytes, or 44 zettabytes. That’s a lot of
data. Soon they’ll finally put it to work as
Digital Transformation takes shape.
As they derive more value from that data
– with insights driving new innovations
and more efficient business processes –
more investments will be born out of the
technology sector. New start-ups will emerge
to tackle the bigger challenges that make AI
a reality: data management and federated
analytics where insights can be driven from
virtually everywhere, and data compliance
solutions for a safer, smarter way to deliver
amazing outcomes.
Data forecast will call for more clouds
Last year we predicted the arrival of the
Mega Cloud – a variety of clouds that make
up a powerhouse operating model as IT
strategies require both public and private
clouds. So far that’s holding true. The public
versus private cloud debate will continue to
wane as organisations realise that they need
to effectively manage all the different types
of data they’ll be processing.
A recent IDC survey pointed to more than
80% of respondents repatriating data back
to on-premise private clouds and we can
expect that trend to continue, even with
projections for public cloud growth.
Multi-cloud environments will drive
automation, AI and ML processing into
high gear because they give organisations
the ability to manage, move and process
data where and when they need to. In
fact, we’ll see more clouds pop up as data
becomes increasingly distributed – at the
edge in autonomous car environments or
in smart factories, in cloud-native apps, in
protected on-prem centres to meet a host
of new compliance and privacy standards
and, of course, the public cloud for a
variety of apps and services that we use
every day.
5G will have us living on the edge
The first 5G devices are slated to hit the
market sometime next year with the much-
anticipated next-generation network that
promises to completely change the data
game in terms of speed and accessibility.
Low-latency, high-bandwidth networks mean
more connected things, cars and systems –
and a boat load of AI, Machine Learning and
compute happening at the edge, because
that’s where all the data will be generated.
It won’t be long before we begin to
see micro-hubs lining our streets – mini
datacentres if you will – that will also give
rise to new ‘smart’ opportunities for real-
time insights happening on the corner of
your street. Cities and towns will become
more connected than ever, paving the way
for Smart Cities and digital infrastructure
that we predict will be thriving in 2030.
And it’ll be a game changer for industries
like healthcare or manufacturing, where data
and information being generated out in the
field can be quickly processed and analysed
in real time – versus having to travel back
and forth to a cloud – and then readily
shared with those who need it. n
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INTELLIGENTCIO
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