Digital Lifescapes

The overall business technology market experienced significant growth last year.  However, 2020 was a challenging year for edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) vendors. Both market demand and deployment have slowed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to the cloud AI chipset market that experienced 68 percent year-on-year growth in 2020, the edge AI chipset market only grew by 1 percent during the same period. Regardless, the market is expected to bounce back. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, the edge AI chipset market will reach $28 billion in 2026, with a CAGR of 28.4 percent between 2021 and 2026. Edge Artificial Intelligence Market Development "The demand for edge AI is not going away anytime soon. Edge AI devices can process raw data locally, reducing the reliance on constant cloud connectivity. Consumers appreciate the enhanced user experience brought by low latency and data privacy," said Lian Jye Su, principal analyst at ABI Resear

As the Global Networked Economy continues to evolve at an accelerated pace due to the ongoing pandemic, organizations that resist the inevitable transition to a distributed workforce will become the Neo-Luddites of the 21st century. According to the latest global market study by Gartner, 51 percent of all knowledge workers worldwide are expected to be working remotely by the end of 2021 -- that's up from 27 percent of knowledge workers in 2019 that had adopted a flexible working model. Moreover, Gartner analysts now estimate that remote workers could represent 32 percent of all employees worldwide by the end of 2021. That's a significant increase from the 17 percent of all employees in 2019. Remote Worker IT Market Development Gartner defines knowledge workers as those involved in knowledge-intensive occupations -- such as writers, accountants, or engineers. Gartner also defines a remote worker as an employee working away from their company, government, or customer office site

Given the current trends across the globe, organizations that depend upon the continued growth of personal vehicle ownership will need to consider a plan-B scenario. While some companies will be able to adapt, others may find that their traditional business model has been totally disrupted. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) will displace over 2.2 billion private car journeys by 2025 -- that's rising from 471 million in 2021. Juniper believes that for MaaS to enjoy widespread adoption, subscription or on-the-go packages need to offer a strong combination of transport modes along with feasible infrastructure changes, high potential for data collection and low barriers to MaaS deployments. Mobility-as-a-Service Market Development The concept of MaaS involves the provision of multi-modal end-to-end travel services through a single platform by which users can determine the best route and price according to real-time traffic

When, where, and how knowledge workers perform their role continues to evolve, as the COVID-19 pandemic disruption impacts the Global Networked Economy. Now, the Future of Work (FoW) model enables improved employee experiences in an environment unbounded by time or physical space. According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), FoW spending will be nearly $656 billion in 2021 -- that's an increase of 17.4 percent over 2020. "Traditional work models do not provide the agility, scalability, and resilience required by the future enterprise. This was, of course, highlighted by the ongoing health crisis. To drive growth and competitive differentiation, organizations will invest in technologies and services," said Holly Muscolino, vice president at IDC . Future of Work Market Development To facilitate the transition to a fully distributed workforce, organizations are investing in a wide range of solutions. The largest area of investment i

Real-time locating systems (RTLS) are used to automatically identify and track the location of things in real-time within a building or other confined areas. While numerous existing RTLS technologies, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and UWB have been available, they haven't captured the market potential. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, 87 percent of enterprises said they have not yet deployed RTLS technology within their business, primarily because of the significant barriers to adoption. Most of the challenges of RTLS deployment mentioned in the ABI study point to the fragmentation of existing solutions, which impact the total cost of ownership, the complexity to implement, operate and maintain them. There are also uncertainties around reliability and maturity. RTLS Technology Market Development "All the barriers identified by the survey are currently constraining the RTLS ecosystem from developing and flourishing. Current solutions addressing this

Business technology leadership continues to evolve as more progressive organizations apply innovative digital transformation strategies. The focus is on business outcome attainment and a culture of meritocracy that reward bold leaders. By 2024, 80 percent of technology products and services will be built by mainstream business people who are not technology professionals, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. This trend is driven by a new category of buyers outside of the traditional IT organization, occupying a larger share of the overall IT market. Today, total business-led IT spend averages up to 36 percent of the total formal IT budget, and it will continue to grow. Business-Driven App Market Development "Digital business is treated as a team sport by CEOs and no longer the sole domain of the IT department," said Rajesh Kandaswamy, vice president at Gartner . "Growth in digital data, low-code development tools and artificial intelligence (AI)-assi

As more enterprise organizations embrace the ongoing transition to digital business transformation, CIOs and CTOs are adopting new technologies that enable the secure identification of individuals within their key stakeholder communities. A "digital identity" is a unique representation of a person. It enables individuals to prove their physical identity during transactions. Moreover, a digital identity is a set of validated digital attributes and credentials for online interactions -- similar to a person's identity within the physical world. Individuals can use a 'digital ID' to be verified through an authorized digital channel. Usually issued or regulated by a national ID scheme, a digital identity serves to identify a unique person online or offline. Digital Identity Systems Market Development Complementary to more traditional forms of identification, digital identity verification systems can enhance the authenticity, security, confidentiality, and efficiency of

As more organizations adapt to a hybrid working model for their distributed workforce, enterprise CIOs and CTOs are tasked with delivering new productivity-enabling applications, while also seeking ways to effectively reduce IT cost, complexity, and risk. Traditional IT hardware infrastructure is evolving to more software-based solutions. The worldwide software-defined infrastructure (SDI) combined software market reached $12.17 billion during 2020 -- that's an increase of 5 percent over 2019, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The market grew faster than other core IT technologies. The three technology pillars within the SDI market are: software-defined compute (53 percent of market value), software-defined storage controller (36 percent), and software-defined networking (11 percent). "Software-defined infrastructure solutions have long been popular for companies looking to eliminate cost, complexity, and risk within their data cente

Despite a challenging backdrop from the ongoing effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the negative impact on fifth-generation (5G) wireless supply chains has been minimal compared to the wider mobile smartphone market. This led to 5G mobile devices becoming more diverse, brought to market quickly at a variety of price points, thereby accelerating affordability and adoption. The mobile market is transitioning to 5G and many leading vendors are now exploring the low-priced 5G smartphone segment. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, 681 million 5G handsets will be shipped in 2022. Therefore, the race is on for OEMs to find that all-important level of differentiation in their flagship portfolios to help boost margins and improve market share. 5G Wireless Market Development Vendors continue to drive the adoption of new product designs, screen technology, chipsets, and camera setups -- notably within the flagship smartphone segment. Meanwhile, the leaders seek a