Digital Lifescapes

Especially in times of crisis, technology can be the catalyst for much-needed change. The vendors that enable the Global Networked Economy have become essential to all forward-looking leaders that seek innovation as a tool to uncover new solutions to significant challenges. Medical-related industries have discovered their New Normal. The Coronavirus outbreak has proven that healthcare institutions can no longer ignore the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their daily workflow. And, cognitive systems are essential components of their solutions to the current crisis. AI systems infrastructure spending in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries is expected to increase from $463 million in 2019 to more than $2 billion over the next 5 years, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. Medical AI Apps Market Development "Artificial Intelligence is playing a key role in responding to the pandemic," said Lian Jye Su, principal analyst at ABI Res...

Given the current global economic environment, the retail market has shifted to customer convenience, forcing all surviving retailers to offer more online shopping, coupled with omnichannel payment options. Moving deeper into the digital era, retailers are now fighting for customer retention and reduced costs through new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrencies, distributed ledger technology, internet of things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M), among others. Despite these advances, the existing inhibitors to progress -- such as payment regulations, fraud and security -- must be addressed and resolved. The adequate balance between innovating and reducing pain points will help payment providers stay profitable and navigate ongoing retail transformation. While credit and debit cards continue to be the focus of online payments, innovation continues to encourage platform-integrated spending. The payment ecosystem, driven by fintech pioneers and mobile app...

Informed CEOs know that harnessing their organization's customer data with analytics can expose valuable new insights that enable business model optimization and product or service innovation. That said, the early adopter organizations have already gained a competitive advantage over their peer group. Companies that have experienced significant revenue growth collect more customer experience (CX) data than non-growth companies, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. The market study found that nearly 80 percent of growth organizations use customer surveys to collect CX data, compared with just 58 percent of non-growth organizations. Customer Data Analytics Market Development "There is a clear trend among growing companies to actively collect CX data using a wide variety of tools such as surveys, usability testing, focus groups and real-time analytics," said Jessica Ekholm, vice president at Gartner . This is what Gartner's analysts call t...

According to the latest worldwide market study by IDC, spending on augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) is forecast to be $3.7 billion in 2019 -- that's an increase of 34 percent from the previous year. Asia-Pacific spending on AR/VR products and services will continue this strong growth throughout the forecast period (2018-23), with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 62 percent. This growth is primarily driven by commercial industries which are going to be more than $11 billion larger than the consumer segment by the end of the forecast (2018-23). Despite this, the consumer segment (which is currently at $1.7 billion in 2019) continues to be larger than any other industry segment over the forecasted period. AR and VR Use Case Market Development The high growth in the commercial segment is primarily due to the AR/VR capability to solve complex business problems and streamline operations. The two industries that are seeing the most activities or implementati...

Many progressive CIOs and CTOs would agree, fifth-generation (5G) wireless communications have the potential to support new use cases that were not possible with earlier mobile infrastructure deployments. Moreover, 5G and edge computing technologies can transform legacy business models within several key industries, including manufacturing and associated Industry 4.0 verticals. The emerging market for 5G cellular connections in manufacturing is expected to reach $10.8 billion by 2030, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 187 percent, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. 5G Core and Edge Networks Market Development "But, to capture the value at stake, ecosystem stakeholders will first need to evaluate how to measure the impact of 5G and edge deployments," said Don Alusha, senior analyst at ABI Research . "The current Industry 4.0 digitalization discourse centers around conventional financial metrics -- e.g. return on investment, ne...

Chatbots have become increasingly influential in day-to-day online life. These software applications are developed to automate a range of tasks, from simple banking transactions to answering customer care requests, and have been adopted across industries. The potential use cases for chatbots will increase with advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. It's likely that as AI capabilities evolve, chatbots will complete more complex tasks on behalf of a user without requiring assistance from human customer service agents. Retail Chatbot Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research , consumer retail spending over chatbots will reach $142 billion by 2024 -- that's rising from $2.8 billion in 2019. This represents average annual growth of 400 percent over the next four years. The Juniper analyst findings identified the retail sector as a primary beneficiary of advances in Natural Language Understanding (NLU) technologies. Th...

The forward-thinking CIOs and CTOs have already acknowledged that Line of Business (LoB) leaders will continue to be the primary decision-makers of new or emerging business technology selection and adoption. That said, those who refuse to let go of the obsolete notion that 'Shadow IT' is a threat to their organization are likely to fail. There is no place for myopic thinking in a progressive enterprise's digital transformation agenda. Digital Talent Leadership Market Development For the past four years, the strongest demand for digital talent with artificial intelligence (AI) skills has not come from the traditional information technology (IT) department, but rather, from other business units in the organization, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. Gartner data shows that although the IT department’s need for AI talent has tripled between 2015 and 2019, the number of AI jobs posted by IT is still less than half of that stemming from other busi...

Applications for the Internet of Things (IoT) in the aviation industry have evolved, as new use cases are identified. According to the latest worldwide market study by Berg Insight, the global installed base of active airport asset tracking systems was over 0.2 million units in 2019. This includes all airport asset tracking systems deployed for various motorized ground support equipment (GSE), non-motorized equipment (NME) as well as other applicable mobile airport assets such as on-road vehicles used in airport environments. Airport Asset Tracking Market Development Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4 percent, the active installed base of airport asset tracking systems is estimated to reach close to 0.5 million units worldwide in 2024. That said, the current crisis in the aviation industry that's due to the COVID-19 pandemic will likely also slow down the airport asset tracking market in the short-term. Berg Insight nevertheless anticipates increasing...