Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for
2018
2018
SINGAPORE, October
5, 2017 — Gartner,
Inc. today highlighted the top strategic technology trends that will impact
most organizations in 2018. Analysts presented their findings during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo,
which is taking place till Thursday.
5, 2017 — Gartner,
Inc. today highlighted the top strategic technology trends that will impact
most organizations in 2018. Analysts presented their findings during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo,
which is taking place till Thursday.
Gartner
defines a strategic technology trend as one with substantial disruptive
potential that is beginning to break out of an emerging state into broader
impact and use, or which are rapidly growing trends with a high degree of
volatility reaching tipping points over the next five years.
defines a strategic technology trend as one with substantial disruptive
potential that is beginning to break out of an emerging state into broader
impact and use, or which are rapidly growing trends with a high degree of
volatility reaching tipping points over the next five years.
“Gartner’s top 10 strategic technology
trends for 2018 tie into the Intelligent Digital Mesh. The
intelligent digital mesh is a foundation for future digital business and
ecosystems,” said David Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow. “IT leaders must factor
these technology trends into their innovation strategies or risk losing ground
to those that do.”
trends for 2018 tie into the Intelligent Digital Mesh. The
intelligent digital mesh is a foundation for future digital business and
ecosystems,” said David Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow. “IT leaders must factor
these technology trends into their innovation strategies or risk losing ground
to those that do.”
The first three strategic technology trends explore how artificial intelligence (AI)
and machine learning are
seeping into virtually everything and represent a major battleground for
technology providers over the next five years. The next four trends focus on
blending the digital and physical worlds to create an immersive, digitally
enhanced environment. The last three refer to exploiting connections between an
expanding set of people and businesses, as well as devices, content and
services to deliver digital business outcomes.
and machine learning are
seeping into virtually everything and represent a major battleground for
technology providers over the next five years. The next four trends focus on
blending the digital and physical worlds to create an immersive, digitally
enhanced environment. The last three refer to exploiting connections between an
expanding set of people and businesses, as well as devices, content and
services to deliver digital business outcomes.
The top 10 strategic technology trends for 2018 are:
AI Foundation
Creating systems that learn, adapt and potentially act
autonomously will be a major battleground for technology vendors through at
least 2020. The ability to use AI to enhance
decision making, reinvent business models and ecosystems, and remake the
customer experience will drive the payoff for digital initiatives through 2025.
autonomously will be a major battleground for technology vendors through at
least 2020. The ability to use AI to enhance
decision making, reinvent business models and ecosystems, and remake the
customer experience will drive the payoff for digital initiatives through 2025.
“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 Mr. Cearley.
“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.”
need to invest significantly in skills, processes and tools to successfully
exploit these techniques and build AI-enhanced systems,” said Mr. Cearley.
“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.”
Intelligent Apps and Analytics
Over the next few years, virtually every app, application and
service will incorporate some level of AI. Some of these
apps will be obvious intelligent apps that could not exist without AI and
machine learning. Others will be unobtrusive users of AI that provide intelligence
behind the scenes. Intelligent apps create a new intelligent intermediary layer
between people and systems and have the potential to transform the nature of
work and the structure of the workplace.
service will incorporate some level of AI. Some of these
apps will be obvious intelligent apps that could not exist without AI and
machine learning. Others will be unobtrusive users of AI that provide intelligence
behind the scenes. Intelligent apps create a new intelligent intermediary layer
between people and systems and have the potential to transform the nature of
work and the structure of the workplace.
“Explore intelligent apps as a way of augmenting human
activity and not simply as a way of replacing people,” said Mr. Cearley.
“Augmented analytics is a particularly strategic growing area which uses
machine learning to automate data preparation, insight discovery and insight
sharing for a broad range of business users, operational workers and citizen
data scientists.”
activity and not simply as a way of replacing people,” said Mr. Cearley.
“Augmented analytics is a particularly strategic growing area which uses
machine learning to automate data preparation, insight discovery and insight
sharing for a broad range of business users, operational workers and citizen
data scientists.”
AI has become the next major battleground in a wide range of
software and service markets, including aspects of enterprise resource planning
(ERP). Packaged software and service providers should outline how they’ll be
using AI to add business value in new versions in the form of advanced
analytics, intelligent processes and advanced user experiences.
software and service markets, including aspects of enterprise resource planning
(ERP). Packaged software and service providers should outline how they’ll be
using AI to add business value in new versions in the form of advanced
analytics, intelligent processes and advanced user experiences.
Intelligent Things
Intelligent things are physical things that go beyond the
execution of rigid programming models to exploit AI to deliver advanced
behaviors and interact more naturally with their surroundings and with people.
AI is driving advances for new intelligent things (such as autonomous vehicles,
robots and drones) and delivering enhanced capability to many existing things
(such as Internet of Things [IoT] connected consumer and industrial systems).
execution of rigid programming models to exploit AI to deliver advanced
behaviors and interact more naturally with their surroundings and with people.
AI is driving advances for new intelligent things (such as autonomous vehicles,
robots and drones) and delivering enhanced capability to many existing things
(such as Internet of Things [IoT] connected consumer and industrial systems).
“Currently, the use of autonomous vehicles in
controlled settings (for example, in farming and mining) is a rapidly growing
area of intelligent things. We are likely to see examples of autonomous
vehicles on limited, well-defined and controlled roadways by 2022, but general
use of autonomous cars will likely require a person in the driver’s seat in
case the technology should unexpectedly fail,” said Mr. Cearley. “For
at least the next five years, we expect that semiautonomous scenarios requiring
a driver will dominate. During this time, manufacturers will test the
technology more rigorously, and the nontechnology issues such as regulations,
legal issues and cultural acceptance will be addressed.”
controlled settings (for example, in farming and mining) is a rapidly growing
area of intelligent things. We are likely to see examples of autonomous
vehicles on limited, well-defined and controlled roadways by 2022, but general
use of autonomous cars will likely require a person in the driver’s seat in
case the technology should unexpectedly fail,” said Mr. Cearley. “For
at least the next five years, we expect that semiautonomous scenarios requiring
a driver will dominate. During this time, manufacturers will test the
technology more rigorously, and the nontechnology issues such as regulations,
legal issues and cultural acceptance will be addressed.”
Digital Twin
A digital
twin refers to
the digital representation of a real-world entity or system. Digital
twins in the context of IoT projects is particularly promising over the next
three to five years and is leading the interest in digital twins today.
Well-designed digital twins of assets have the potential to significantly
improve enterprise decision making. These digital twins are linked to their
real-world counterparts and are used to understand the state of the thing or
system, respond to changes, improve operations and add value. Organizations
will implement digital twins simply at first, then evolve them over time,
improving their ability to collect and visualize the right data, apply the
right analytics and rules, and respond effectively to business objectives.
twin refers to
the digital representation of a real-world entity or system. Digital
twins in the context of IoT projects is particularly promising over the next
three to five years and is leading the interest in digital twins today.
Well-designed digital twins of assets have the potential to significantly
improve enterprise decision making. These digital twins are linked to their
real-world counterparts and are used to understand the state of the thing or
system, respond to changes, improve operations and add value. Organizations
will implement digital twins simply at first, then evolve them over time,
improving their ability to collect and visualize the right data, apply the
right analytics and rules, and respond effectively to business objectives.
“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 Mr. Cearley.
“City planners, digital marketers, healthcare professionals and industrial
planners will all benefit from this long-term shift to the integrated digital
twin world.”
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 Mr. Cearley.
“City planners, digital marketers, healthcare professionals and industrial
planners will all benefit from this long-term shift to the integrated digital
twin world.”
Cloud to the Edge
Edge computing describes a computing topology in which
information processing, and content collection and delivery, are placed closer
to the sources of this information. Connectivity and latency challenges,
bandwidth constraints and greater functionality embedded at the edge favors
distributed models. Enterprises should begin using edge design patterns in
their infrastructure architectures — particularly for those with significant
IoT elements.
While many view cloud and edge as competing approaches, cloud is
a style of computing where elastically scalable technology capabilities are
delivered as a service and does not inherently mandate a centralized model.
“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 Mr. Cearley.
Conversational
Platforms
Conversational platforms will drive the next big paradigm shift
in how humans interact with the digital world. The burden of translating intent
shifts from user to computer. The
platform takes a question or command from the user and then responds by
executing some function, presenting some content or asking for additional
input. Over the next few years, conversational interfaces will become a primary
design goal for user interaction and be delivered in dedicated hardware, core
OS features, platforms and applications.
“Conversational platforms have reached a tipping point in
terms of understanding language and basic user intent, but they still fall
short,” said Mr. Cearley. “The challenge that conversational
platforms face is that users must communicate in a very structured way, and
this is often a frustrating experience. A primary differentiator among
conversational platforms will be the robustness of their conversational models
and the application programming interface (API) and event models used to
access, invoke and orchestrate third-party services to deliver complex
outcomes.”
Immersive Experience
While conversational interfaces are changing how people control
the digital world, virtual, augmented and mixed reality are changing the way that people perceive and interact with
the digital world. The virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) market
is currently adolescent and fragmented. Interest is high, resulting in many
novelty VR applications that deliver little real business value outside of
advanced entertainment, such as video games and 360-degree spherical videos. To
drive real tangible business benefit, enterprises must examine specific
real-life scenarios where VR and AR can be applied to make employees more
productive and enhance the design, training and visualization processes.
Mixed reality, a type of immersion that merges and extends the
technical functionality of both AR and VR, is emerging as the immersive experience of choice providing a
compelling technology that optimizes its interface to better match how people
view and interact with their world. Mixed reality exists along a spectrum and
includes head-mounted displays (HMDs) for augmented or virtual reality as well
as smartphone and tablet-based AR and use of environmental sensors. Mixed
reality represents the span of how people perceive and interact with the
digital world.
technical functionality of both AR and VR, is emerging as the immersive experience of choice providing a
compelling technology that optimizes its interface to better match how people
view and interact with their world. Mixed reality exists along a spectrum and
includes head-mounted displays (HMDs) for augmented or virtual reality as well
as smartphone and tablet-based AR and use of environmental sensors. Mixed
reality represents the span of how people perceive and interact with the
digital world.
Blockchain
Blockchain
is evolving from a digital currency infrastructure into a platform for digital
transformation. Blockchain technologies offer
a radical departure from the current centralized transaction and record-keeping
mechanisms and can serve as a foundation of disruptive digital business for
both established enterprises and startups. Although the hype surrounding
blockchains originally focused on the financial services industry, blockchains
have many potential applications, including government, healthcare,
manufacturing, media distribution, identity verification, title registry and
supply chain. Although it holds long-term promise and will undoubtedly create
disruption, blockchain promise outstrips blockchain reality, and many of the
associated technologies are immature for the next two to three years.
is evolving from a digital currency infrastructure into a platform for digital
transformation. Blockchain technologies offer
a radical departure from the current centralized transaction and record-keeping
mechanisms and can serve as a foundation of disruptive digital business for
both established enterprises and startups. Although the hype surrounding
blockchains originally focused on the financial services industry, blockchains
have many potential applications, including government, healthcare,
manufacturing, media distribution, identity verification, title registry and
supply chain. Although it holds long-term promise and will undoubtedly create
disruption, blockchain promise outstrips blockchain reality, and many of the
associated technologies are immature for the next two to three years.
Event Driven
Central to digital business is the idea that the business is
always sensing and ready to exploit new digital business moments. Business events could be anything that is noted
digitally, reflecting the discovery of notable states or state changes, for
example, completion of a purchase order, or an aircraft landing. With
the use of event brokers, IoT, cloud computing, blockchain, in-memory data
management and AI, business events can be detected faster and analyzed in
greater detail. But technology alone without cultural and leadership change
does not deliver the full value of the event-driven model.
Digital business drives the need for IT leaders, planners and architects to
embrace event thinking.
always sensing and ready to exploit new digital business moments. Business events could be anything that is noted
digitally, reflecting the discovery of notable states or state changes, for
example, completion of a purchase order, or an aircraft landing. With
the use of event brokers, IoT, cloud computing, blockchain, in-memory data
management and AI, business events can be detected faster and analyzed in
greater detail. But technology alone without cultural and leadership change
does not deliver the full value of the event-driven model.
Digital business drives the need for IT leaders, planners and architects to
embrace event thinking.
Continuous Adaptive Risk and Trust
To securely enable digital business initiatives in a world of
advanced, targeted attacks, security and risk management leaders must adopt a continuous
adaptive risk and trust assessment (CARTA) approach to allow real-time, risk and trust-based
decision making with adaptive responses. Security infrastructure must be
adaptive everywhere, to embrace the opportunity — and manage the risks — that
comes delivering security that moves at the speed of digital business.
advanced, targeted attacks, security and risk management leaders must adopt a continuous
adaptive risk and trust assessment (CARTA) approach to allow real-time, risk and trust-based
decision making with adaptive responses. Security infrastructure must be
adaptive everywhere, to embrace the opportunity — and manage the risks — that
comes delivering security that moves at the speed of digital business.
As part of a CARTA approach, organizations must overcome the
barriers between security teams and application teams, much as DevOps tools and
processes overcome the divide between development and operations. Information
security architects must integrate security testing at multiple points into
DevOps workflows in a collaborative way that is largely transparent to
developers, and preserves the teamwork, agility and speed of DevOps and agile
development environments, delivering “DevSecOps.” CARTA can also be
applied at runtime with approaches such as deception technologies. Advances in technologies
such as virtualization and software-defined networking has made it easier to
deploy, manage and monitor “adaptive honeypots” — the basic component
of network-based deception.
barriers between security teams and application teams, much as DevOps tools and
processes overcome the divide between development and operations. Information
security architects must integrate security testing at multiple points into
DevOps workflows in a collaborative way that is largely transparent to
developers, and preserves the teamwork, agility and speed of DevOps and agile
development environments, delivering “DevSecOps.” CARTA can also be
applied at runtime with approaches such as deception technologies. Advances in technologies
such as virtualization and software-defined networking has made it easier to
deploy, manage and monitor “adaptive honeypots” — the basic component
of network-based deception.
Gartner clients can learn more in the
Gartner Special Report “Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2018.” Additional detailed analysis
on each tech trend can be found in the Smarter With Gartner article “Gartner Top 10 Strategic
Technology Trends for 2018.”
Gartner Special Report “Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2018.” Additional detailed analysis
on each tech trend can be found in the Smarter With Gartner article “Gartner Top 10 Strategic
Technology Trends for 2018.”
About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo
Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the world’s most
important gathering of CIOs and senior IT leaders, uniting a global community
of CIOs with the tools and strategies to help them lead the next generation of
IT and achieve business outcomes. More than 23,000 CIOs, senior business and IT
leaders worldwide will gather for the insights they need to ensure that their
IT initiatives are key contributors to, and drivers of, their enterprise’s
success.
important gathering of CIOs and senior IT leaders, uniting a global community
of CIOs with the tools and strategies to help them lead the next generation of
IT and achieve business outcomes. More than 23,000 CIOs, senior business and IT
leaders worldwide will gather for the insights they need to ensure that their
IT initiatives are key contributors to, and drivers of, their enterprise’s
success.
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in every industry and enterprise size with the objective insights they need to
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strategic advice and proven best practices to help clients succeed in their
mission-critical priorities. Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut,
USA, and has more than 13,000 associates serving clients in 11,000 enterprises
in 100 countries. For more information, visit gartner.com.
advisory company. The company helps business leaders across all major functions
in every industry and enterprise size with the objective insights they need to
make the right decisions. Gartner’s comprehensive suite of services delivers
strategic advice and proven best practices to help clients succeed in their
mission-critical priorities. Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut,
USA, and has more than 13,000 associates serving clients in 11,000 enterprises
in 100 countries. For more information, visit gartner.com.
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