Trends Identified

Artificial intelligence
AI is about machines with human attributes - speaking, reading, seeing and even recognising emotion - completing tasks while also "learning" from repeated interactions. Using algorithms that adapt to location, speech or user-history machines can perform tasks that are dangerous or tedious, more accurately or much faster than humans. Within a few years, analysts predict that all software will use AI at some level, according to US research and advisory firm Gartner. Importantly AI offers the opportunity to continuously tailor products and services providing a competitive advantage over rivals that is not easily copied. The question to ask is 'how can AI help my organisation?
2019
Five tech trends for 2019
University of Technology Sydney
Augmented reality
Systems that combine real-time 3D vision, sound, haptics (the sense of touch), location data and even other senses such as smell enable people to immerse themselves somewhere else, react to what's around them and alter their virtual environment in real time. Organisations are increasingly applying this technology across a wide spectrum of human activity from art and entertainment to commerce, education and the military. It's used to train doctors, nurses, teachers and police officers and will soon be available on your smart device. Could you use AR to lift efficiency for your internal stakeholders or help you communicate with your customer base?
2019
Five tech trends for 2019
University of Technology Sydney
Blockchain
The fortunes of digital currency Bitcoin have drawn public attention to Blockchain technology, but this secure system for recording and verifying transactions and storing trusted records has the potential to disrupt enterprises of many kinds. Companies are using Blockchain technology to transform time-consuming, centralised, less reliable and less secure systems. Digital democracy platform MyVote, for example, uses Blockchain to store users' personal data and voting history to give citizens a more direct voice in the political process. Could you use Blockchain to keep your data secure?
2019
Five tech trends for 2019
University of Technology Sydney
Automation
Robots in manufacturing go back to the 1960s. Now it's the scale and breadth of the transformation that automated systems make possible, as a result of other advances in machine learning and connectivity, for example, that puts automation firmly at the forefront of technology trends. From convenient devices at home to industrial applications on a massive scale, automation will be a key focus of technological change, with potentially far-reaching economic and social consequences. Currently, professional services such as the legal and finance industry are being disrupted by automation with feedback from these sectors being that core technical skills together with management and people skills being more important than ever. How will automation disrupt your industry?
2019
Five tech trends for 2019
University of Technology Sydney
Internet of Things
Gartner calls the combination of technologies and the connection of people, devices, content and services the "intelligent digital mesh." This is the foundation for new business models, platforms and possibilities that will transform how we live and work with implications that go far beyond the technology itself and involve disciplines such as law, economics, business and politics. It is early days for the application of IoT strategy but it is clear that opportunities will exist for those with the technical knowledge to connect platforms as well as those with the data analytics skills to utilise the rich stream of information generated by IoT applications. What could you learn from connecting and analysing the data from your products or elements of your core operations?
2019
Five tech trends for 2019
University of Technology Sydney
Growth and risk management in emerging markets
Emerging markets, with populations that are young and growing, will increasingly become not only the focus of rising consumption and production but also major providers of capital, talent, and innovation. This will make it imperative for most companies to succeed in emerging markets. However, no more than 40 percent of executives at companies headquartered in developed economies expect a quarter or more of revenues over the next five years to come from emerging markets—and 10 percent expect none.
2010
Five forces reshaping the global economy: McKinsey Global Survey results
McKinsey
Labor productivity and talent management
Low birth rates and graying workforces in most developed economies will make it hard for them to achieve steady growth unless they continue to make sizable gains in labor productivity. A majority of all respondents, 62 percent, do expect moderate gains in the next five to ten years in developed economies, and another 13 percent expect the gains to be significant.
2010
Five forces reshaping the global economy: McKinsey Global Survey results
McKinsey
Global flows of goods, information, and capital
Executives are generally optimistic that the relatively free flow of goods and capital—two core drivers of globalization—will survive the financial crisis and the economic downturn. However, few see much further progress occurring in the next five years, a finding that is consistent with the modest hopes for multilateral cooperation also seen in this survey.
2010
Five forces reshaping the global economy: McKinsey Global Survey results
McKinsey
Natural-resource management
Executives' concerns about the impact that increasing constraints on the supply or usage of natural resources will have on their companies' profits appear to be subsiding despite the prominence of these issues in the public debate today. Twenty-five percent of respondents now expect this trend to have a negative effect on their company's profits, down from 28 percent in last year's survey and 33 percent two years ago.
2010
Five forces reshaping the global economy: McKinsey Global Survey results
McKinsey
The increasing role of governments
Executives in Europe and North America are haunted by the perception of crippling public-debt levels: 54 and 61 percent, respectively, think that public-debt levels will have a "significant" or "severely negative" impact on GDP growth in their home markets. In contrast, 45 percent of respondents in China and 24 percent in India expect that the level of public debt will have a "positive" impact or "no impact" in their home markets.
2010
Five forces reshaping the global economy: McKinsey Global Survey results
McKinsey