“Strategic technology trends have the potential to drive significant disruption and deliver significant opportunity. Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders must evaluate these top trends to identify opportunities, counter threats and create competitive advantage.” – Gartner, Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019

Gartner’s recent report, Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019 found that:

• Artificial intelligence (AI) opens up a new frontier for digital business. This is because virtually every application, service and Internet of Things (IoT) object incorporates an intelligent aspect to automate or augment application processes or human activities.
• The way we perceive and interact with technology is undergoing a radical transformation. Conversational platforms augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality will provide more natural and immersive ambient experience within the digital world.
• Digital representations of things and organizational processes are increasingly used to monitor, analyze and control real-world environments. These digital twins combined with AI and immersive experiences set the stage for open, connected and coordinated smart spaces.
• Formal mechanisms to identify technology trends and prioritize those with the biggest potential impact on the business create a competitive advantage.

Download the complete Gartner Report now!

Top Ten Strategic Technology Assumptions and Trends for 2019

Trend No. 1: Autonomous Things

Assumption: By 2021, 10% of new vehicles will have autonomous driving capabilities, compared with less than 1% in 2018.

Trend No. 2: Augmented Analytics

Assumption: Through 2020, the number of citizen data scientists will grow five times faster than the number of expert data scientists.

Trend No. 3: AI-Driven Development

Assumption: By 2022, at least 40% of new application development projects will have artificial intelligence codevelopers on the team.

Trend No. 4: Digital Twins

Assumption: By 2021, half of large industrial companies will use digital twins, resulting in a 10% improvement in effectiveness for those organizations.

“A digital twin is a digital representation of a real-world entity or system. The implementation of a digital twin is an encapsulated software object or model that mirrors a unique physical object.” – Gartner, Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019

Trend No. 5: Empowered Edge

Assumption: Through 2028, storage, computing, and advanced AI and analytics technologies will expand the capabilities of edge devices.

Trend No. 6: Immersive Experience

Assumption: By 2022, 70% of enterprises will be experimenting with immersive technologies for consumer and enterprise use, and 25% will have deployed them to production  

 “The model will shift from one of the technology-literate people to one of people-literate technology. The burden of translating intent will move from the user to the computer. The ability to communicate with users across many human senses will provide a richer environment for delivering nuanced information.” – Gartner, Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019

Trend No. 7: Blockchain

Assumption: By 2030, blockchain will create $3.1 trillion in business value.

Trend No. 8: Smart Spaces

Assumption: By 2022, more than 50% of all people collaborating in Industry 4.0 ecosystems will use virtual assistants or intelligent agents to interact more naturally with their surroundings and with people.

Trend No. 9: Digital Ethics and Privacy

Assumption: By 2021, organizations that bypass privacy requirements and are caught lacking in privacy protection will pay 100% more in compliance cost than competitors that adhere to best practices.

“Digital ethics and privacy are growing concerns for individuals, organizations, and governments. Consumers are increasingly aware their personal information is valuable and are demanding control. Organizations recognize the increased risk of securing and managing personal data, and governments are implementing strict legislation to ensure they do.” – Gartner, Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019

Trend No. 10: Quantum Computing

Assumption: By 2023, 20% of organizations will be budgeting for quantum computing projects, compared to less than 1% in 2018.

What Innovation Leaders Need to Be Focusing on Most

Most technology innovation leaders want to know what’s coming next in our multifaceted digital landscape and find ways to digitally transform their enterprises. As such, Gartner recommends enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders driving business transformation through technology innovation must:

• Explore ways that essentially any physical device within the organization or the customer’s environment can be powered by AI-driven autonomous capabilities.
• Educate, engage and ideate with senior business leaders about their strategically relevant priorities and where AI can automate or augment human activities.
• Develop and deploy a mix of platforms that incorporate conversational interactions with virtual, augmented and mixed reality for targeted use cases to create an immersive user experience.
• Support IoT initiatives by developing and prioritizing targeted, high-value business cases to build digital twins of physical things and organizational processes.
• Learn about and monitor quantum computing while it is still in the emerging state. Identify real-world problems where it has potential and assess its possible impact on security.

Want to learn more and see additional insights on one or all of these trends? Download the complete Gartner Report now!

_{*Gartner, Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019, 15 October 2018, David Cearley, Brian Burke}