Digital Lifescapes

Executive leaders of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) are seeking guidance on how to apply new business technology in their manufacturing operations. CIOs and CTOs are tasked with gaining insight into the best solutions for digital transformation. ABI Research evaluated the impact politics, regulation, the economy, supply chain, ESG, and technology are having on FMCG, pharma, producers of steel, chemicals, pulp and paper -- as well as the mining and oil & gas sectors. Digital Transformation Market Development "Our assessment found that the FMCG sector is under pressure from all sides," says Michael Larner, industrial & manufacturing research director at ABI Research . Securing raw materials is challenging considering lockdowns in China and limited grain supplies from Ukraine. Supply shocks are raising input costs, and operating costs are rising with higher energy costs coupled with the pressure to pay higher wages and work sustainably. "We all hoped that with th...

Supply chain issues are top-of-mind within many C-suites and for good reason. We now know that a 'status quo' mindset was fraught with inherent supply chain risks which were exposed by recent events that disrupted the Global Networked Economy. Sixty-one percent of supply chain leaders believe that the acceleration of remote work due to the global COVID-19 pandemic will create a permanent hybrid work model, even at the frontline, according to the latest market study by Gartner. The annual Gartner 'Future of Supply Chain' survey of 983 supply chain leaders identified the changes to the prior status quo that will likely shape global supply chains in the months and years to come. Supply Chain Transformation Market Development "In an environment of talent and labor shortage, supply chain leaders anticipate employee expectations to become more demanding and feel that they must prepare to meet those expectations – or lose to competitors that do," said Suzie Petrusic,...

Many senior executives remain upbeat about the potential of a business technology investment to drive digital business growth. Worldwide information technology (IT) spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2022 -- that's an increase of 5.1 percent over 2021, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Despite the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and commercial disruption fueled by the Omicron variant, economic recovery with high expectations for digital market prosperity will continue to boost technology investments. Hybrid Enterprise IT Market Development "2022 is the year that the future returns for the CIO," said John-David Lovelock, vice president at Gartner . "They are now in a position to move beyond the critical, short-term projects over the past two years and focus on the long term." Simultaneously, staff skills gaps, wage inflation, and the demand for digital transformation talent will push CIOs to rely more on consultancies and ma...

Cloud computing gained additional momentum during 2021. More organizations modernized their IT applications and invested in new digital transformation projects. Multi-cloud strategies are now pervasive across global markets as CIOs and CTOs spread their apps across the cloud hyperscalers. The European public cloud market continues to grow at double digits, with European organizations investing in public cloud solutions to support their innovation strategies and digital business objectives, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). European Cloud Service Market Development "Over the past five years, the public cloud market has significantly changed the IT industry and grown like no other segment of the European IT market. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of cloud services in Europe as cloud computing is seen as a crucial enabler of business resilience, agility, innovation, and efficiency," said Filippo Vanara, research anal...

CEOs who have continued their quest for a "return to normal" environment during the COVID-19 pandemic created significant challenges for human resource (HR) leaders who had to develop new policies. Senior executives that resisted the need to change perpetuated a culture of ongoing denial. Now, organizations must focus on equipping people managers, who are the stewards of sustainable performance, with the right skillsets to ensure they and their teams succeed in their preferred "hybrid working" environment, according to the latest research by Gartner. To achieve these desired outcomes, Gartner recommends that organizations pursue new tactics to ensure managers are prepared to lead people in this new setting -- hoping that a hybrid work model is eventually manageable and successful. However, many troubling questions still remain. Why not simply accept the 'remote working' phenomenon, and learn how to evolve away from a 'command and control' mindset tha...

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented demand for emergency care. Many healthcare sector leaders would like to be at the forefront of tech-enabled medical caregiving. However, the fragmented way that hospitals acquire solutions can introduce cost, time, and resource inefficiencies that hinder care delivery. As a result, some healthcare providers have embraced the concept of the ‘Smart Hospital’ as a means of optimizing multiple aspects of their operational performance. The current model isn't perfect, and the implementation can present challenges -- such as cybersecurity, interoperability, and solution execution. Smart Hospital Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the smart hospitals market will be worth $59 billion by 2026 -- that's up from $29 billion in 2021, representing an average annual growth of 15 percent. The concept of the smart hospital includes healthcare providers leveraging advanced analytics, connected device...

Across the globe, more organizations are investing in the modernization of information technology (IT) infrastructure and associated service offerings. For many senior executives, the motivation is obvious and compelling. While most of the IT spending within the commercial enterprise sector is targeted at fueling their digital business growth agenda, the public sector also has its own compelling goals and objectives. Worldwide government IT spending is now forecast to total $557.3 billion in 2022 -- that's an increase of 6.5 percent from 2021, according to the latest global market study by Gartner. Government IT Market Development "Governments will continue to accelerate investments in digital technologies to respond and recover from the continuing evolution of public health uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Irma Fabular, vice president at Gartner . According to the Gartner assessment, the disruptions caused by the pandemic have also reinforced a key digit...

In early 2020, as the world responded to the COVID-19 pandemic disruption, many organizations were forced to rapidly transform their communications networks and IT infrastructure to support an unprecedented shift to remote work. Before the pandemic, approximately 38 percent of employees were remote full-time or had a flexible work arrangement where they split time between home and office locations. During the pandemic, the percentage of remote workers that CIOs had to support reached almost 72 percent. Future Enterprise Technology Market Development Enterprise leaders have been forced to adapt to a new state, shifting from traditional office-based operations to distributed workforce environments that must still provide the same level of connectivity, security, and efficiency across the organization. According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), addressing connectivity across geographies and transforming networks to become more virtual and agile...

High-speed internet access from home is essential to participate in the Global Networked Economy. The worldwide residential broadband service market reached a subscriber base of over 1.1 billion users in 2020 -- that's a 4 percent increase from the previous year. Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated demand for broadband connectivity. The need for high-capacity residential broadband will remain, even post-pandemic. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) will be the fastest-growing residential broadband segment to increase at a CAGR of 71 percent, exceeding 58 million subscribers in 2026. Remote working, online learning, and virtual healthcare created new demand for high-speed broadband throughout 2020. The significant increase in the use of internet-based entertainment services also prompted broadband users to upgrade, while more households without broadband access subscribed for the first time. Residential Broadband Serv...

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of IT solutions in healthcare. In particular, more people have accepted teleconsultations with healthcare providers -- including medical diagnoses performed through mobile apps and/or videoconferences. For more than a year, people were unable to access healthcare resources onsite due to either their virus vulnerability or because lockdown restrictions meant that they were unable to leave their homes. Numerous governments responded to the closure of healthcare facilities by loosening previous regulatory restrictions on the practice of telemedicine and online teleconsultations. Telemedicine Services Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the number of teleconsultations performed globally will reach 765 million in 2025 -- that's rising from 422 million in 2021, representing 80 percent growth. The study found that, for teleconsultation services to become an integral element of healthcare prov...

Where CEOs choose to apply cost savings is important. According to the latest market study by Gartner, organizations that balanced workforce cost savings with targeted talent investments outpaced organizations that solely focused on cost reduction. These progressive companies’ revenue rebounded from 3Q20, and they have outpaced industry peers that solely focused on cost reduction. "Successful organizations did more than target reactive cost savings to improve performance metrics in the short term," said Seyda Berger-Böcker, director at Gartner. They also optimized costs and funded new investments. This balance between cost savings and bold talent investment opportunities is vital for protecting an organization’s continued digital growth capabilities. Digital Enterprise Talent Market Development As organizations continue to emerge from the turbulence of 2020, human resource (HR) leaders charged with managing cost and budget measures should focus on three key takeaways: Compani...

The way shoppers pay for products has evolved due to the rise of eCommerce during the pandemic. Online retail transactions have grown rapidly, and in many parts of the world, in-person cash transactions are now a smaller percentage of retail payments. These changes have a significant implication for retail point-of-sale (POS) terminal vendors, as consumers choose to shop less at local in-store retailers and more online, or the vendor may lack the functional capabilities to process contactless payments. The evolution of payment interactions has driven an in-store retailer transformation. With COVID-19 pandemic-related government control measures and the ongoing public wariness in many nations, non-contact forms of payment are becoming even more popular. POS Terminal Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research , the total value of transactions processed by POS terminals will exceed $17.3 trillion in 2026 -- that's up from $14.8 trillion in 20...

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 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...

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...

The 'future of work' for call center or contact center employees will include more 'flexible working' location options. Seventy percent of customer service and support employees want to continue to work from home (WFH) at least once a week after the pandemic ends, according to the latest market study by Gartner. In September 2020, Gartner surveyed 5,000 employees, including 550 customer service professionals, and found that service employees who traditionally did not have many opportunities to WFH are now used to it and like it, and they wish to continue in some capacity once the pandemic is over. This is in line with most service leaders who believe WFH is here to stay post-pandemic. Eighty-one percent of service leaders believe between 30 percent to 80 percent of their workforce will primarily be working from home two years from now. Future Hybrid Workforce Market Development "As service leaders weigh the future of their work from home programs, they’ll have to b...

When you consider all the industries most impacted by the economic disruption in 2020, telecom service providers likely do not come to mind. However, global mobile communications revenue was significantly impacted last year. Moreover, within the United Kingdom, the situation for incumbent mobile service providers will become even more complex and challenging during 2021, and beyond. All because of Brexit. International Mobile Roaming Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the number of international mobile roaming subscribers dropped by 73 percent to 243 million globally in 2020 -- caused by travel restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Juniper analysts predict that an improvement in mobile roaming subscriber numbers will take until 2024 to exceed 2019 levels; reaching 918 million by 2024, as the international travel industry embarks on a prolonged recovery from the long-term impacts of the pandemic. The new market study finding...

Savvy CEOs are inspiring their executive leadership team to clearly articulate a 'Digital Workspace' strategy that will differentiate them from their peer group within the Global Networked Economy. Today, a compelling digital business growth agenda is a paramount goal for all forward-looking board of directors. As Chief Human Resource Officers (CHRO) continue to address the changes in disrupted business environments, as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Gartner has identified five key 'future of work' decisions that the enterprise human resources (HR) team must address in 2021 and beyond. Major shifts in macroeconomic factors -- such as customer behaviors and government regulations -- and in micro factors -- including organizational strategy and policy -- have substantially shortened HR leaders’ time horizons when planning for the inevitable future commercial environment. Digital Workspace Market Development "2021 will be a year of not just recovery, but re...

Across the globe, CEOs have learned that achieving digital growth requires an ongoing investment in their digital business transformation projects. Furthermore, legacy assumptions about the ways that enterprises should address business disruptions are no longer valid. Industry analysts believe superior 'change management' is about being resilient to market disruptions. International Data Corporation (IDC) has launched the Digital Resiliency Investment Index, which provides a view of the progress organizations are making in their investments towards digital resiliency. The initial Index results show that overall investments in resiliency have increased steadily throughout the year as businesses prioritize or accelerate the adoption of cloud computing, collaboration platforms, and other digital transformation projects. Digital Growth Resilience Market Development Modern IT infrastructure and network security have also been a major investment area, driven by the shift to more remo...

IT vendors seeking to convince CIOs and CTOs about their blockchain-related solutions have been challenged by an apparent shift in market perception. Distributed ledger technology hype reached a peak and as a result, the upside growth potential had fallen significantly. Global blockchain revenues fell by 35 percent between 2018 and 2020. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, the potential loss could have reached $2.8 billion. Moreover, the reported 'crypto winter' of 2018 removed 80 percent of the aggregate market cap, and more than 2,000 cryptocurrencies collapsed. However, that market correction was enlightening. Blockchain Market Development This dampened overall blockchain adoption significantly in other markets, with many startups folding and different verticals showing a distinct lack of market adoption. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on investment opportunities and appetite for new blockchain applications. That said,...