News & Insights
Distributed cloud, AI engineering, cybersecurity mesh and composable business are key the pillars to look out for as 2021 technology trends. The impacts of COVID-19 are a key driver in the digital transformation of business operations.
“The unprecedented socioeconomic challenges of 2020 demand the organisational plasticity to transform and compose the future,” said Brian Burke, Research Vice President, during virtual Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo™ 2020.
Kasey Panetta, Senior Content Marketing Manager at Gartner reports that;
“When employees at an industrial site returned to the workplace after it was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, they noticed a few differences. Sensors or RFID tags determine whether employees are washing their hands regularly. Computer vision determines if employees are complying with mask protocol. Speakers warn people of protocol violations. This data is collected and analysed by organisations to influence how people behave at work.
For instance, the collection and use of such data to drive behaviours is called the Internet of Behaviour (IoB). As organisations improve the amount of data they capture, the IoB will continue to affect how organisations interact with people.”
To clarify, in Gartner’s Technology Trends 2020 eBook, 2021 trend themes include:
Consequently, the pandemic has changed how people work and interact with organisations. Therefore to keep people at the centre of operations, businesses need digitalised processes to function in today’s environment.
Similarly, COVID-19 has shifted where employees, customers, suppliers and organisational ecosystems physically exist. Location independence requires a technology shift to support this new version of business.
Above all, volatility always exists in the world. However, organisations that are prepared to pivot and adapt will weather disruptions.
Watch the video below to find out more about the technology trends you can expect in 2021.
“As demonstrated by COVID-19 protocol monitoring. For example, the IoB is about using data to change behaviours.”
“Total experience combines multi experience, customer experience, employee experience and user experience to transform the business outcome.”
In summary, the goal is to improve all of these experiences.
“Privacy-enhancing computation features three technologies that protect data. The first provides a trusted environment where sensitive data is processed or analysed. The second performs processing and analytics in a decentralised manner. The third encrypts data and algorithms.
In other words, this trend enables organisations to collaborate on research securely across regions and with competitors without sacrificing confidentiality.”
“Distributed cloud services are being distributed to different physical locations. So the operation, governance and evolution remain the responsibility of the public cloud provider.”
So, In order to adapt to the work from home trend, businesses need to prioritise remote access to their operations.
“An anywhere operations model will be vital for businesses to emerge successfully from COVID-19.”
“Cybersecurity mesh is a distributed architectural approach to scalable, flexible and reliable cybersecurity control. However, many assets now exist outside of the traditional security perimeter. It enables a more modular, responsive security approach by centralising policy orchestration and distributing policy enforcement. As perimeter protection becomes less meaningful, the security approach of a “walled city” must evolve to current needs.”
“An intelligent composable business is one that can adapt and fundamentally rearrange itself based on a current situation. So, as organisations accelerate digital business strategy to drive faster digital transformation, they need to be agile and make quick business decisions informed by currently available data.”
However, scalability, interpretability and reliability are certainly key factors for consideration in AI models.
“AI projects often face issues with maintainability, scalability and governance, which makes them a challenge for most organisations.”
Read the full insight report written by Kasey Panetta here
