Gartner top 10 Technology Trends 2018

The basis of Gartner’s trends depends on whether or not they have the potential to disrupt the industry, and break out into something more impactful.

gartner-10-tech-trends-2018

 

The top 10 strategic technology trends, according to Gartner, are:

Intelligent

  1. AI foundation: Last year, the organization included artificial intelligence and machine learning as its own trend on the list, but with AI and machine learning becoming more advance, Gartner is looking at how the technology will be integrated over the next five years. “AI techniques are evolving rapidly and organizations will need to invest significantly in skills, processes and tools to successfully exploit these techniques and build AI-enhanced systems,” said David Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow. “Investment areas can include data preparation, integration, algorithm and training methodology selection, and model creation. Multiple constituencies including data scientists, developers and business process owners will need to work together.”
  2. Intelligent apps and analytics: Continuing with its AI and machine learning theme, Gartner predicts new intelligent solutions that change the way people interact with systems, and transform the way they work.
  3. Intelligent things: Last in the AI technology trend area is intelligent things. According to Gartner, these go beyond rigid programming models and exploit AI to provide more advanced behaviors and interactions between people and their environment. Such solutions include: autonomous vehicles, robots and drones as well as the extension of existing Internet of Things solutions.

Digital

  1. Digital twin: A digital twin is a digital representation of real-world entities or systems, Gartner explains. “Over time, digital representations of virtually every aspect of our world will be connected dynamically with their real-world counterpart and with one another and infused with AI-based capabilities to enable advanced simulation, operation and analysis,” said Cearley. “City planners, digital marketers, healthcare professionals and industrial planners will all benefit from this long-term shift to the integrated digital twin world.”
  2. Cloud to the edge: Internet in the Internet of Things has brought up the notion of edge computing. According to Gartner, Edge computing is a form of computing topology that processes, collects and delivers information closer to its source. “When used as complementary concepts, cloud can be the style of computing used to create a service-oriented model and a centralized control and coordination structure with edge being used as a delivery style allowing for disconnected or distributed process execution of aspects of the cloud service,” said Cearley.
  3. Conversational platforms: Conversational platforms such as chatbots are transforming how humans interact with the emerging digital world. This new platform will be in the form of question and command experiences where a user asks a question and the platform is there able to respond.
  4. Immersive experience: In addition to conversational platforms, experiences such as virtual, augmented and mixed reality will also change how humans interact and perceive the world. Outside of video games and videos, businesses can use immersive experience to create real-life scenarios and apply it to design, training and visualization processes, according to Gartner.

Mesh

  1. Blockchain: Once again, blockchains makes the list for its evolution into a digital transformation platform. In addition to the financial services industry, Gartner sees blockchains being used in a number of different apps such as government, healthcare, manufacturing, media distribution, identity verification, title registry, and supply chain.
  2. Event driven: New to this year’s list is the idea that the business is always looking for new digital business opportunities. “A key distinction of a digital business is that it’s event-centric, which means it’s always sensing, always ready and always learning,” saidYefim Natis, vice president, distinguished analyst and Gartner Fellow. “That’s why application leaders guiding a digital transformation initiative must make ‘event thinking’ the technical, organizational and cultural foundation of their strategy.”
  3. Continuous adaptive risk and trust: Lastly, the organization sees digital business initiatives adopting a continuous adaptive risk and trust assessment (CARTA) model as security becomes more important in a digital world. CARTA enables businesses to provide real-time, risk and trust-based decision making, according to Gartner.

Security Framework

A wanted to define an overarching security framework to encapsulate all the core elements that needed to be considered as part of ‘Security’.   This forms a starting point to delve into specific areas which I’ve bulleted to delve deeper.

security

Identity & Access Management

  • Authentication
  • Authorisation
  • User groups, role, and permission management
  • Directory Services
  • Single Sign On (SSO) and Federation

Network & Infrastructure

  • DMZ, firewalls, and reverse Proxies
  • Intrusion and virus detection
  • Server hardening
  • Physical security

Compliance

  • Security policies (PCI, PII, privacy, cookie laws,)
  • ISO27001
  • Security Review and Risk Assessment
  • Penetration Testing
  • Audit & Logging
  • Monitoring & reporting

Data & Information 

  • Encryption & hashing
  • Transmission
  • Storage
  • Protocols
  • Archiving

Transformative Business Models

We usually associate an industry’s transformation with the adoption of a new technology.  But although new technologies are often major factors, they have never transformed an industry on their own.  What does achieve such a transformation is a business model that can link technology to an emerging market need.

– Kavadias, Ladas, Loch.  Harvard Business Review.

The Idea: No new technology can transform an industry unless a business model can link it to an emerging market need.

The Findings: Transformative business models tend to include three or more of these features:

  1. A more personalised product or service.  Offering products or services better tailored than the dominant models to customers’ individual and immediate needs.  Leveraging technology to achieve this at competitive prices.
  2. A closed-loop process. Replace a linear consumption process (where products are made, used, and then disposed) with a closed loop where used products are recycled – reducing overall resource costs.
  3. Asset sharing. Enable the sharing of costly assets (eg. Airbnb with homes, and Uber with cars), sometimes across a supply chain. Sharing typically happens by means of two-sided online marketplaces that unlock value for both sides.  Sharing also reduces entry barriers to many industries, because an entrant need not own the assets in question; it can merely act as an intermediary.
  4. Usage-based pricing. Charging users when they use the product or service, rather than requiring them to buy something outright.  The customers benefit because they incur costs only as offerings generate value; the company benefits because the number of customers is likely to grow.
  5. A more collaborative ecosystem.  New technology improves collaboration with supply chain partners and helps allocate business risks more appropriately, making cost reductions possible.
  6. An agile and adaptive organisation.  Use of technology to move away from traditional hierarchical models of decision making in order to make decisions that better reflect market needs and allow real-time adaptation to changes in those needs.  The result is greater value for the customer at less cost to the company.