Digital Lifescapes

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a growth driver for the transformation of remittance services, partly due to the closure of traditional money transfer agent locations as part of numerous national market lockdowns. Many of the major domestic and international remittance providers -- both those with physical branches and agent networks -- and digital-only players have posted significant growth in their online customer base during 2020. In contrast, consumer cash transactions fell sharply in 2020. Although there may be a return to cash-use post-pandemic, digital remittance use will likely become a permanent trend in customer behavior. Online Instant Payments Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, digital domestic money transfer transaction values will rise from $2 trillion in 2020 to $3.4 trillion in 2025 -- driven in part by the rapid growth of mobile money transfers. Mobile transactions will represent an 89 percent share of total global tra...

Modern business communication and collaboration solutions are an essential platform for a distributed workforce. The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought these platforms to the forefront of digital transformation. Together, they'll form a foundation for many 'digital workspace' deployments. These multifaceted offerings aren't deployed because they're the best technology. They're used to drive meaningful advances in employee productivity, agility, and flexibility that are proven to help achieve desired business outcomes. The Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C) market grew 29.2 percent year-over-year and 7.1 percent quarter-over-quarter to reach $13.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020 (4Q20), according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). IT vendor revenue growth was also up by an impressive 24.9 percent for the full year of 2020 to reach $47.2 billion. Regardless, not all the IT vendors benefited from...

Next-gen mobile technology is being deployed globally, and cloud-native apps on fifth-generation (5G) networks will drive advances within the IT security industry. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, 5G network security will be a $9 billion enterprise market opportunity in 2025. The deployment of cloud edge computing infrastructure and network-function virtualization (NFV), plus API-driven platforms, and the isolation capabilities of network slices provide significant growth opportunities for new offerings. Both security software and services will be in demand from large enterprises seeking to leverage Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), and Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) technologies. 5G Network Security Market Development "Initial spending on security will be by Communication Service Providers (CSPs) as they focus on securing their own mobile infrastructure and network. As CSPs advance, there is an opportunity for them to rec...

Business and technology leaders must address the key IT Security and Risk Management issues, as the COVID-19 pandemic impact accelerates demand for digital transformation, and creates new challenges for traditional cybersecurity practices. "The first challenge is a skills gap. 80 percent of organizations tell us they have a hard time finding and hiring security professionals, and 71 percent say it’s impacting their ability to deliver security projects within their organizations," said Peter Firstbrook, vice president at Gartner . Other key challenges facing IT security and risk leaders in 2021 include the complex geopolitical situation, increasing government regulations, the migration of workloads off traditional data networks, more endpoint device diversity, and a shifting cyber-attack environment. The following trends are expected to have a significant potential for disruption. Comprehensive IT Security Market Development A cybersecurity mesh is a modern security approach t...

More organizations are adopting new technologies that improve online commerce automation. Conversational commerce is the process by which end-users of smart devices are able to leverage them for commercial purposes, including applications within the retail and banking sectors. The ecosystem for conversational commerce has evolved with many telecom providers acting as the primary point of connection between the end-users of these devices and the brands, enterprises and financial institutions that provide them to their customers. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the total spending over conversational commerce channels will reach $290 billion by 2025 -- that's an increase from $41 billion in 2021. This forecast growth represents a rise of 590 percent over the next four years. Conversational Commerce Market Development Juniper analysts predict that communications platforms that provide the connection between brands and end-users will be crucial in inc...

The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) role has gained new importance, due to increased cyber threats. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on security-related IT investment in Europe, which will continue to grow rapidly in 2021. During the pandemic, organizations have been re-architecting their IT security perimeters to protect operations and critical data. The pandemic, and measures to curb it with remote working, have pushed the enterprise network outwards and heightened the risk for CISOs. According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), overall investment in IT security within Europe is projected to exceed $35.6 billion during 2021 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.8 percent between 2020 and 2024 -- now forecast to reach $46.4 billion in 2024. IT Security Market Development The banking sector traditionally has the highest spending on IT security due to the particularly sensitive customer data that i...

The global COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated changes in many industries. One of the most impacted was the pharmaceutical sector that had to reimagine business processes and rapidly adopt new technologies. It's yet another example where applying cloud computing had become a strategic imperative. Today, next-generation pharma concepts are fueling ongoing innovation. In particular, the industry’s unique characteristics are driving investments in Digital Transformation by forward-looking pharmaceutical manufacturers.  According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, digital factory revenue will top $4.5 billion in 2030 with spending by pharma manufacturers on data analytics forecast to grow by a 27 percent CAGR and reach $1.2 billion in 2030, as these companies evolve to boost productivity. Pharma Digital Transformation Market Development That said, the industry’s competitive dynamics require pharmaceutical firms to optimize their production lines to maximize yield for t...

Across the globe, savvy government leaders within developed nations are investing in much-needed infrastructure for the 21st Century. In many cases, that will include a variety of new technologies that will be required to effectively participate in the Global Networked Economy. As an example, according to " The American Jobs Plan " fact sheet: Generations ago, the federal government recognized that without affordable access to electricity, Americans couldn’t fully participate in modern society and the modern economy. "With the 1936 Rural Electrification Act, the federal government made a historic investment in bringing electricity to nearly every home and farm in America, and millions of families and our economy reaped the benefits." Broadband internet is the new electricity. It is necessary for Americans to do their jobs, to participate equally in school learning, health care, and to stay connected. Meanwhile, worldwide government Information Technology (IT) infras...

The emerging concept of regulatory technology (Regtech) has taken on new importance within the financial services ecosystem and beyond. During the COVID-19 pandemic, regulatory compliance has become more complicated. Today, Regtech is a highly dynamic and rapidly evolving market.  Regtech solutions will also become important within commercial areas other than financial services, as more regulated vertical industries seek to ease their government oversight compliance burdens. Meanwhile, digital onboarding and how to 'onboard remotely' in a safe, user-friendly way that respects Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations has become of critical importance during the global pandemic. Global Regtech Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, spending on Regtech systems that enable banks and other heavily regulated sectors to meet their ongoing compliance requirements will exceed $130 billion in 2025 -- that's up from $33 billion in 2020. Juni...