Artificial intelligence (AI) is a megatrend that the industry will continue to talk about for the next 20 years.
So said Brian Burke, chief of research at Gartner, who presented the top 10 strategic technology trends for 2019 on day three of the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Cape Town this morning.
Burke said technology is continuing to advance. It is these advancements that underpin Gartner's "Continuous Next" operating philosophy. "AI is going to underlie pretty much everything that we do in technology."
Every year, Gartner puts together a list of what it considers to be the most impactful technology trends for organisations. The trends outlook is categorised into three main areas: intelligent, digital and mesh.
The intelligent category talks to how technology is becoming more insightful and increasingly aware of the context. On the digital scale, the focus is on how technology is spanning the physical and digital world where it is becoming more immersive. Mesh consists of underlying technologies that enable intelligent and digital areas.
According to Burke, the strategic trends report lists the emerging technologies that have the potential to be the most disruptive over the next five years, which organisations cannot ignore.
1. Autonomous things
Gartner believes that by the year 2021, 10% of new vehicles will have autonomous driving capabilities, up from 1% in 2017. Major automobile manufacturers are all predicting they will reach level four autonomous driving by 2021, said Burke. "Level four autonomy basically means the car is driving itself."
2. Augmented analytics
The prediction is that through 2020, the number of citizen data scientists will grow five times faster than the number of expert data scientists, he noted. "We are moving towards augmented analytics where AI will assist a variety of things."
3. AI-driven development
Gartner expects that by 2022, at least 40% of new application development projects will have artificial intelligence co-developers on their teams.
4. Digital twin
The research firm describes the digital twin as a digital representation of a physical object. By 2021, stated Burke, half of large industrial companies will use digital twins, giving 10% improvement and effectiveness. "Digital twins are going to be a big deal."
5. Empowered edge
Storage, computing and advanced AI and analytics capabilities will expand capabilities of edge devices through 2028, reveals Gartner.
6. Immersive experience
Number six on Gartner's strategic technology trends list is the immersive experience. Burke stated that 70% of enterprises will be experimenting with immersive technologies for consumer and enterprise use by 2022. However, only 25% will have been deployed to production.
7. Blockchain
According to Gartner, blockchain will create $3.1 trillion in business value by 2030.
8. Privacy and ethics
By 2021, organisations that bought compliance risk and are caught lacking in privacy protection will pay 100% more in compliance costs than best-practice-adhering competitors.
9. Smart spaces
Gartner defines smart spaces as physical or digital environments populated by humans and enabled by technology, which are increasingly connected, intelligent and autonomous.
10. Quantum computing
Burke told the audience that by 2023, Gartner predicts 20% of organisations will be budgeting for quantum computing projects compared to less than 1% today.
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