INTELLIGENT MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
PREDICTIONS 2018
S
enior executives from Dimension
Data including Joe Manuele, Group
Executive Customer Experience
and Workplace Productivity; Alex Bennet,
Group End-user Computing GTM
Director, Workspace Productivity; and
Dino Marasco, Senior Vice President GTM
and Business Development, Collaboration
and Customer Experience Business Unit;
share their thoughts on what will be the
top digital workplaces trends to watch in
the year ahead.
1. Artificial intelligence driving
voice-enabled virtual assistants
Virtual assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa,
Apple’s Siri, and Microsoft’s Cortana
have been around for some time in the
consumer world. These voice-activated
helpers assist us to find information,
and carry out a range of everyday tasks.
They can make shopping lists and order
fast-food deliveries to your door. You can
ask them to tell you what the weather will
be like today, or which team won the big
football game the night before.
These artificial intelligence-driven
virtual assistants are now starting to
make their way into the workplace and
are helping businesses reduce costs
by automating basic tasks previously
performed by people, or by completing
AI, video, BYOA, set
to transform future
workplace
Key trends including bring
your own application,
real-time video, smart
workplaces, virtual
assistants, are driving
transformation of the
digital workplace, explain
global executives from
Dimension Data.
everyday tasks much faster. According to
our recently published Digital Workplace
Report, 62% of organisations expect
virtual assistants to have a place in their
companies in the next two years.
Because these virtual assistants are
voice-enabled, they allow us to get things
done much faster. You do not have to log
onto your computer and then onto some
sort of system or application using a user
name and password in order to complete
a task.
2. Smart buildings are evolving
into smart workplaces
At their most basic level, smart buildings
provide services that make them more
energy efficient and more comfortable for
people to occupy. In 2018 we expect to see
significant advancements in this area, with
smart buildings evolving into what we call
smart workplaces.
For example, by leveraging the Internet
of Things, artificial intelligence, machine
learning, and wireless virtual beacon
technology, property owners can track
which parts of a building have the greatest
footfall and attach a higher rental price tag
to those areas.
They can identify which areas
experience the most pilfering and adjust
their insurance premiums accordingly.
They can even use data collected by
sensors to negotiate new contracts with
their office cleaning providers, based on
the amount of dirt that accumulates in
different areas!
Better space utilisation is another
benefit because an organisation can
understand where and when people are
within their offices. Businesses can use
analytics to determine how well their
meeting rooms are being used.
3. Support of major vendors is
driving adoption of Web real-
time communication
While Web RTC has been around for
some time, we expect to see an increase
in its adoption in 2018 because Apple and
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Issue 14
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS