Digital Lifescapes

When the world was disrupted by a global pandemic during 2020, many CEOs and their board of directors were consumed by reacting to immediate problems. Meanwhile, a few forwarding-thinking enterprise leaders also paused to invest in accelerating their prescient digital transformation agenda. What enables executives to envision an opportunity while others see only challenges? Strategic foresight, and a willingness to embrace the apparent changes that are transforming the legacy status quo. During this period of uncertainty, hyper-automation investment has gained new momentum. Hyperautomation is the application of advanced technologies that augment humans by helping to streamline processes in new ways that are significantly more impactful than the legacy approach. Hyperautomation Market Development The global market for technology that enables hyperautomation will reach $596.6 billion in 2022, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. This is up from $481.6 billion in...

The global COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation across many industries. As an example, consider the healthcare sector. Some routine medical situations can be diagnosed and resolved online. While the trend was already in motion long before the pandemic arrived, the adoption of telehealth increased rapidly in 2020. Around the world, many governments responded to the disruption and inaccessibility of healthcare facilities by loosening previous regulations and restrictions on the practice of telemedicine apps, and teleconsultations. This decision resulted in the mass adoption of these medical services among patients and providers. According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, telemedicine will save the healthcare industry $21 billion in costs by 2025 -- that's rising from an estimated $11 billion in 2021. This increased app usage represents an anticipated growth rate of over 80 percent in the next four years. Telehealth Services Market Development The co...

The technology sector is a key driver of the U.S. economy. Therefore, components like semiconductors play an important role in America's future. The 'CHIPS for America Act' is a new law that calls for incentives on domestic semiconductor manufacturing and investments in research and development. But these renewed efforts will require years of ongoing commitment. Meanwhile, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the semiconductor market performed well in 2020. However, new demand by industry was uneven throughout last year due to global lockdowns, remote working adoption, and shifts in consumer and commercial buying behavior. Worldwide semiconductor revenue grew to $464 billion in 2020 -- that's an increase of 10.8 percent compared to 2019, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Semiconductor Technology Market Development IDC now forecasts that the semiconductor market will reach $522 billion in 2021, that's a 12.5 percent...

Public cloud computing platforms serve as the foundation for enterprise digital business. Increasingly, telecom service providers seek to partner with hyperscale cloud providers to use their scalable compute capacity and flexible object storage. Affordable compute capacity is the primary reason a growing number of network equipment vendors and telecom service providers are now exploring global public clouds as a complement to telco 5G core and cloud-edge infrastructure. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, the public cloud is set to spur new growth for the telco cloud market, which is forecasted to grow to $29.3 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 27 percent. Telco Cloud Infrastructure Market Development The perceived low cost of ownership, little or no implementation risk, plus increased business agility and innovation are some of the key drivers that are propelling the advance of cloud computing capacity in the telecom sector. "...

Corporate risk management leaders must face the trade-off between delivering timely guidance and conducting detailed risk audit assessments. Meanwhile, the ability to protect assets, reputation and sustainability is becoming more challenging amid rapid shifts in the global economic environment. Enterprise information technology (IT) security control failures were listed as the top emerging risk in the first quarter of 2021 during a poll of senior executives, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. Despite a myriad of potential risks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic -- such as alternative work locations and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) concerns -- cybersecurity risk was consistent across all global regions and most industries, cited by 67 percent of survey respondents. Comprehensive IT Security Market Development The next highest cited risk, "the new working model" was cited by 43 percent of respondents. "Many organizations were forced...

Across the globe, digital commerce transaction growth has pushed past the prior boundaries. As an example, the COVID-19 pandemic has fueled a widespread increase in contactless payment limits around the world. There are several important examples of this phenomenon in action. In April 2020, the UK increased its contactless payment limit from £30 ($41.73) to £45 ($62.60). The UK government then announced plans to increase the limit again, to £100 ($139.11), which took effect in March 2021, but will require a transition period throughout the year. In March 2020, Germany agreed to increase its contactless payments limit from €25 ($30.14) to €50 ($60.29), which was a major move for a country that had previously been slow to adopt contactless payment services. Furthermore, in December 2020, the Reserve Bank of India announced plans to increase the contactless payment limit in the country from ₹2,000 ($26.65) to ₹5,000 ($66.63). Global Digital Commerce Market Development According to the lat...

Across the globe, CIOs and CTOs will assess the potential benefits of distributed ledger technology applications that are empowered by purpose-built peer-to-peer networks. To date, the adoption and development of blockchain solutions have been somewhat problematic, due to a variety of complex challenges. Regardless, organizations are forecast to spend nearly $6.6 billion on blockchain solutions this year -- that's an increase of more than 50 percent compared to 2020. Blockchain investments will see growth throughout the 2020-2024 forecast period with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48 percent, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). "This is an important time in the blockchain market as enterprises across markets and industries continue to increase their investment in the technology. The pandemic highlighted the need for more resilient, more transparent supply chains, healthcare delivery, financial services, and...

In today's economy, broadband internet access is an essential enabler for users of online government services and active participants of commercial eCommerce applications. While people in most urban settings may have access to affordable offerings, that's typically not true for many rural residents. There's a significant need in most remote locations for high-speed internet connectivity. Demand for internet access via broadband services over both fixed and mobile networks has increased dramatically. Yet, despite telecom network expansions and upgrades, it's estimated that only half of the households worldwide currently have access to fixed broadband services. With the rollout of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations, satellite broadband services could improve broadband penetration. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, the satellite broadband market will reach 3.5 million subscribers in 2021 -- growing at a CAGR of 8 percent to reach 5.2 million users in ...

Enterprise CIOs crave practical insights and guidance to help them drive digital business transformation projects. They've been tasked to develop comprehensive IT investment strategies across hardware, software, professional services, and telecom networks. That, in turn, drives IT vendor revenue growth. Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.1 trillion in 2021 -- that's an increase of 8.4 percent from 2020, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. The source of funds for new digital business initiatives will more frequently come from groups outside the traditional IT organization and charged as a cost of revenue, or cost of goods sold. Business Technology Market Development Gartner’s IT spending forecast methodology relies heavily on the analysis of vendors across the entire range of IT products and services. They use primary research, complemented by secondary research sources, to build a database of market size data on which to base their forecast. ...