Trends Identified

B2B Data Monetization Becomes Mainstream
This year will mark a watershed where new, non-traditional industries begin to establish and develop their data monetization strategies. Following in the footsteps of the credit, marketing and advertising industries where such practices are already widespread, car manufacturers, healthcare companies, IoT, and industrial aerospace IoT will push more aggressively towards data driven business models. Success for data monetization in these industries will be dictated by their ability to develop use cases, and innovative pricing and business models. Investments in data initiatives will spiral, even as comprehensive data strategies become a cornerstone of future business plans. In the meantime, significant reductions in data generation and storage costs will allow companies the opportunity to more creatively and productively leverage their data.
2019
Top 10 Trends For 2019
Forbes
Earth In Crisis
A flurry of reports in 2018 highlighted the devastating impact of pollution and climate change events. Issues like the destruction of wildlife and natural habitats, the rampant use of plastic, and climate change induced disasters like droughts, wildfires, floods and tsunamis, spurred a sense of urgency among governments, industries and citizens who committed to more sustainable environmental practices. In 2019, ripple effects will be felt in the real estate business where investments and land prices are likely to rise in regions less likely to be affected by climate change. Political will and public pressure will elicit shifts in policy and regulations, even as they disrupt industries which continue with unsustainable operations. Promisingly, leaders with strong green credentials will accelerate the development of their countries as innovation hubs for next generation environmental solutions.
2019
Top 10 Trends For 2019
Forbes
Marketplaces Everywhere
Get ready for marketplaces everywhere. The fourth generation of marketplace business models will be focused on the service sector. Three converging trends will drive their rapid expansion. Firstly, the over five billion connected devices and nearly 230 billion app downloads expected in 2019 will lead to an increase in mobile based marketplace models for services. China and India will lead the way here, primarily because of their growing app economy. Secondly, technologies like blockchain will transform online payment systems. Thirdly, a surging on-demand economy will fuel the expansion and diversification of digital service marketplaces. Watch out for a series of niche service marketplaces—adult and child healthcare, vehicle ride-hailing services or vehicle after sales spares & services, for example—as a result of the focus on personalization and customization.
2019
Top 10 Trends For 2019
Forbes
Bendable Devices Make Their Debut
"Hone up on your origami because 2019 will see the launch of foldable phones with flexible screens, replacing convertible or detachable devices. These devices are expected to be lightweight, unbreakable and compact. Several companies—Apple, Motorola, LG, Huawei and Samsung—are in a race to launch first generation foldable phones with flexible screens in 2019. In the meantime, LG has stolen a march over its competitors by unveiling its rollup, ultra high definition TV earlier this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Royole debuted its FlexiPal bendable tablet at the same venue."
2019
Top 10 Trends For 2019
Forbes
First Wave Of 5G Enabled Smart Phones/High Speed Devices
5G enabled smartphones are on track to take over the mobile industry in 2019. Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Motorola and Huawei are among the leading mobile phone developers that are vying to launch 5G enabled mobile sets this year.5G will enable more hybrid and cloud applications ranging from machine learning to cloud-based graphics rendering for VR, AR, and gaming. With gigabit speeds, 5G will also eliminate the need for wires as the last mile of connectivity, even within homes and enterprises.
2019
Top 10 Trends For 2019
Forbes
Autonomous Is Here, Now and Everywhere
I have been advocating for a while now that anything that moves will be autonomous in the future. This year will set the scene with the commercialization of 1st generation autonomous products. Automotive, industrial robotics, aerospace and consumer appliance industries will ramp up their pursuit of autonomous technology in 2019. In the automotive sector, semi-autonomous and autonomous ride-hailing services are a strong likelihood with BMW, GM, Uber and Waymo planning to launch their own ride-hailing programs this year. Robots are set to become more commonplace in industrial workplaces. Aerial taxi services are very much on track, with Germany-based Volocopter set to test autonomous air taxis in Singapore later this year. For those looking for some help around the house, Amazon Alexa and Google Home are old news. Smart Home 2.0 devices with enhanced capabilities are all set to shoulder some of your household chores even as Amazon redoubles efforts to introduce its home robot to consumers this year. Accompanying these developments will be the urgent need to formulate new regulations governing the safe testing and deployment of autonomous technologies.
2019
Top 10 Trends For 2019
Forbes
The Future Is Edge
The edge is where it’s at. Investments will increasingly migrate from the cloud to edge computing. Porsche, Softbank, and Berkshire have already bet big on edge computing start-ups. Watch out for significant application enablement as a result. There’s going to be further movement shifting storage and processing to the edge. In the meantime, a slew of industries—defense and healthcare, among them—will begin to leverage edge computing technologies. And no, I haven’t forgotten about our two missteps from last year. First, our prediction that some tech giants, Apple in particular, would hit the golden $1 trillion valuation mark didn’t quite happen as expected; they did hit the mark but failed to sustain the momentum. Another of our predictions that didn't turn out as anticipated was that a generation of young leaders would spearhead a new brand of politics. Disappointingly, the sheen of poster boys like Emmanuel Macron, Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, Kim Jong Un and Justin Trudeau dimmed considerably over the course of 2018.
2019
Top 10 Trends For 2019
Forbes
The IoT Will Push Us To The Edge — Literally (IoT, Analytics, Edge, 5G)
One thing I noticed in putting this list together is that the IoT kept popping up, repeatedly. This is why it has found its way to the top. Gartner estimates more than 8.4 billion "Things" are on the internet today, up more than 30% from just one year ago. However, IoT alone is just the start. It isn't so much about the things, but rather what we do with these things once they are connected and supplying us data. Three of the main trends I see — the analytics revolution, edge computing, and 5G cell processing—are all driven by the IoT at their core. In fact, IDC predicts that up to 40% of all compute will happen at the edge in just the next couple of years. This is why trends 1-4 all rest with IoT.
2016
Top 10 trends for digital transformation in 2018
Forbes
Analytics
If you’re maxing out on data and analytics in 2017, just wait. The mass amount of information being created by the IoT has the power to revolutionize everything from manufacturing and healthcare to the layout and functioning of entire cities — allowing them to work more efficiently and profitably than ever before. One company, for instance, found that it was able to reduce the cost of managing its fleet of 180,000 trucks from 15 cents per mile to just 3 cents. That same kind of efficiency can be exercised in almost every industry, from retail to city planning. Tech giants such as Microsoft, IBM, SAS and SAP are all heavily investing in Analytics, more specifically IoT Analytics as they are seeing the power of this combination in driving new business insights across a vast array of industries and applications.
2016
Top 10 trends for digital transformation in 2018
Forbes
Edge Computing
If you think you’ve already been pushed to the edge when it comes to digital transformation, look out: you haven’t seen anything yet. Just when many companies are finally beginning to move toward cloud computing, edge computing — driven by the sheer volume and speed of information produced by the IoT—is jumping to the forefront of the business scene. Industry leaders such as Cisco and HPE have made huge hardware, software and service bets on this movement, which I look at as strong validation of this trend. As smart drones, autonomous vehicles, and other AI-powered smart devices seek to connect and communicate instantly via the IoT, the matter of sending data “all the way” to the cloud will become highly impractical. Many of these devices will need real-time response and processing, making edge computing the only viable option. For those of you who have just jumped into the cloud generation: don’t fret. Though edge will continue to be the go-to choice for processing real-time data, it’s likely that the most important and relevant data will still head cloud-ward.
2016
Top 10 trends for digital transformation in 2018
Forbes