Digital Lifescapes

Applications for the Internet of Things (IoT) are helping to transform the global cargo sector. According to the latest market study by Berg Insight, the number of active tracking devices deployed for cargo loading units -- including trailers, intermodal containers, rail freight wagons, air cargo containers, cargo boxes and pallets -- reached 6.1 million worldwide in 2018. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.3 percent, the number of devices is expected to reach 20.4 million by 2023. Cargo Tracking Market Development Trailer telematics is today the most developed market, followed by tracking devices for general cargo applications and intermodal containers. The markets for rail freight wagon and air freight cargo tracking are considerably smaller but will grow substantially during the coming five years. The total market value for trailer and cargo container tracking solutions reached at the same time an estimated € 857 million in 2018. The market for remote trac...

The North America retail market is an example of incumbent disruption and slow-moving, executive responses to technology-fueled change. The world's largest consumer-driven economy is likely a precursor to market shifts that will impact retailers across the globe. Clearly, prior success with traditional retailer business models is no indication of the potential for future performance. The emergence of eCommerce giants such as Amazon and eBay from the mid-1990s has created a long-term challenge for most old-school retailers. Many legacy in-store retailers have met this challenge by attempting to offer a compelling omnichannel experience, where the physical retail and online channels merge through the use of solutions such as 'click and collect'. While this has improved the customer experience, it has not prevented the disruption of traditional retailers, with multiple large-scale insolvencies -- including Toys R Us and Sears. Therefore, the surviving retail CxOs must fu...

The global agricultural sector is currently evolving, as applications for the Internet of Things (IoT) technology disrupts more traditional methods of farming. With use cases that target several different segments of the market already available, new solutions are being created to evolve more segments. The fact that there is no single, specific problem experienced by all farmers and ranchers has led to the development of a variety of different solutions, notably including water usage concerns from the government and projected population growth over the next three decades. Agriculture IoT Market Development By 2024, over 2 million farms and 36 million cattle will be connected, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. There's a significant upside opportunity for IoT apps within the agricultural market -- specifically connected agriculture in field crops, tree crops, and livestock. For field and tree crops, the primary driver for the introduction of conn...

Globalization has removed several barriers for companies to conduct business abroad. However, exposure to foreign exchanges remains a challenge. The fees involved in international money transactions can make the process onerous, particularly to small organizations that lack financial expertise. Meanwhile, incumbent banks have typically been resistant to re-invest in new technologies within the business-to-business (B2B) payment sector. However, they now face new competition from non-bank start-ups that offer less-expensive services by using automated processes, reducing the need for intermediaries. Digital Payments Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research , B2B transactions processed by pureplay digital payment operators will reach $14 trillion by 2023 -- that's up from $6.7 trillion in 2018. Juniper analysts found that traditional banks can struggle to quantify a return-on-investment from the implementation of digital technologi...

Actionable insights from data help to fuel the Global Networked Economy, which drives demand for new technologies. Revenues for big data and business analytics (BDA) solutions are forecast to reach $189.1 billion in 2019 -- that's an increase of 12 percent over 2018. According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), BDA revenues will maintain this pace of growth throughout the 2018-2022 forecast period, with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.2 percent. By 2022, IDC expects worldwide BDA revenue will be $274.3 billion. Big Data Analytics Market Development "Digital transformation is a key driver of BDA spending with executive-level initiatives resulting in deep assessments of current business practices and demands for better, faster, and more comprehensive access to data and related analytics and insights," said Dan Vesset, group vice president at IDC . IT services will be the largest category of the BDA ma...

Leading hyperscale cloud service providers continue to disrupt the traditional IT infrastructure vendor landscape, as more enterprise CIOs and CTOs expand their adoption of multi-cloud strategies that marginalize the remaining applications for on-premises data centers. Legacy IT vendors that were reluctant to evolve their business model will now seek niche cloud market segments where they can differentiate their offerings. There's no viable growth path that's based upon hardware or software market status-quo assumptions. However, distinctive professional services are still a source of new opportunities. Cloud Computing Market Development The worldwide public cloud services market is projected to grow 17.5 percent in 2019 to total $214.3 billion -- that's up from $182.4 billion in 2018, according to the latest global market study by Gartner. The fastest-growing market segment will be cloud system infrastructure services, or infrastructure as a service (IaaS), which i...

Wearable technology adoption has reached a turning point in developed markets across the globe. Berg Insight released its latest findings of the connected wearables market. Shipments of connected wearables reached 116.8 million worldwide in 2018. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4 percent, total shipments of smartwatches, smart glasses, fitness & activity trackers, smart clothing, mobile telecare and medical devices as well as other wearable devices are forecasted to reach 238.5 million units in 2023. Wearable Device Market Development Bluetooth will remain the primary connectivity option in the coming years. A total of 67.7 million of the wearables sold in 2023 are forecast to incorporate embedded cellular connectivity, mainly in the smartwatch and telecare or medical device categories. The connected fitness & activity tracker segment is led by Chinese Xiaomi, which has been successful with its Mi Band fitness tracker. Fitbit is still among the lar...

The emergence of online shopping created a significant disruption for traditional retailers. Some have met this challenge by attempting to offer a compelling omnichannel experience, where the physical retail and online channels merge through the use of solutions that benefit busy shoppers. While this approach has improved the overall customer experience, more retailers must embrace a digital transformation agenda. They can further adapt their business models in the face of forward-thinking competition. And, that's now driving the momentum to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI). Retail AI Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, global spending by retailers on AI services will reach $12 billion by 2023 -- that's up from an estimated $3.6 billion in 2019. Juniper expects over 325,000 retailers to adopt AI technology over the forecast period. According to the study findings, AI use by retailers will unlock efficiencies across...

According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), vendor revenue from sales of IT infrastructure products for cloud computing environments -- including public and private cloud -- grew 28 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2018 (4Q18), reaching $16.8 billion. For 2018, annual spending on public and private cloud IT infrastructure totaled $66.1 billion, slightly higher (1.3 percent) than forecast in Q3 2018. IDC also raised its forecast for total spending on cloud IT infrastructure in 2019 to $70.1 billion – that's up 4.5 percent from last quarter's forecast – with year-over-year growth of 6 percent. Cloud IT Infrastructure Market Development That said, quarterly spending on public cloud IT infrastructure was down 6.9 percent in Q418 compared to the previous quarter but it still almost doubled in the past two years reaching $11.9 billion in 4Q18 and growing 33 percent year-over-year, while spending on private cloud infrast...