Digital Lifescapes

The traditional point-of-sale (POS) terminal has traveled a remarkable journey since IBM's first mainframe-connected models emerged in the 1970s. What began as clunky screen interfaces tethered to distant computers has evolved into a diverse ecosystem of payment solutions. Today, we stand at the precipice of the most significant transformation yet: the rise of soft POS technology that promises to democratize digital payments for businesses of all sizes. At its core, this evolution reflects a broader shift from hardware dependency to software flexibility. Global POS Market Development With their dedicated terminals, fixed installations, and substantial upfront costs, traditional POS systems have long served as gatekeepers to in-store or mobile payment acceptance. Small businesses, micro-enterprises, and mobile retailers often found themselves locked out of the digital economy, forced to rely on cash transactions or make significant capital investments in POS hardware. Soft POS techn...

Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly become the defining force in business technology development, but integrating AI into applications remains a formidable challenge. According to a recent Gartner survey, 77 percent of engineering leaders identify AI integration in apps as a major hurdle for their organizations. As demand for AI-powered solutions accelerates across every industry, understanding the tools, the barriers, and the opportunities is essential for business and technology leaders seeking to evolve. The Gartner survey highlights a key trend: while AI’s potential is widely recognized, the path to useful integration is anything but straightforward. IT leaders cite complexities in embedding AI models into existing software, managing data pipelines, ensuring security, and maintaining compliance as persistent obstacles. These challenges are compounded by a shortage of skilled AI engineers and the rapid evolution of AI technologies, which can outpace organizational readiness and...

The world of eCommerce payments has evolved. As we look toward the latter half of this decade, we're witnessing a transformation in how digital commerce operates, with a clear shift toward localized payment solutions within a global marketplace. The numbers tell a compelling story. According to Juniper Research's latest analysis, global eCommerce transactions are set to reach $11.4 trillion by 2029, marking a 63 percent increase from $7 trillion in 2024. This growth isn't just about volume – it's about fundamental changes in how people pay for goods and services online. Perhaps most striking is the projected dominance of Alternative Payment Methods (APMs), which are expected to account for 69 percent of global transactions by 2029, with 360 billion transactions processed through these channels. eCommerce Payments Market Development What makes this shift particularly interesting is how it reflects the democratization of digital commerce. Traditional card-based systems ar...

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformational force, reshaping business processes and unlocking new possibilities for efficiency and innovation in corporate finance. The latest Gartner survey on AI usage in finance provides evidence of this emerging trend, offering valuable insights into the future growth trajectory of AI in finance. The Gartner survey reveals a significant milestone. As of 2024, 58 percent of finance functions actively use AI technology -- that's a substantial increase from previous years. Artificial Intelligence Market Development Perhaps even more telling is the projection that by 2026 more than 80 percent of finance functions are expected to be leveraging AI solutions. The survey sheds light on the use cases of AI in finance: AI is being deployed to enhance forecasting accuracy and provide deeper insights into financial trends. Automation of routine tasks and improved accuracy in financial reporting are key benefits observed. AI algorithms are ...

As an independent management consultant specializing in the tech sector, I've witnessed numerous technological advancements reshape vertical industry workflow and horizontal job functions. However, few innovations have shown as much promise to revolutionize business operations as Generative AI (GenAI). A recent Gartner market study has shed light on the transformative potential of this technology, particularly in the realm of finance. The findings reveal a significant shift in how finance leaders perceive and plan to implement generative AI, signaling a new era of data-driven decision-making and operational efficiency. The Gartner assessment provides compelling insights into the expectations and priorities of finance leaders regarding GenAI adoption. One of the most striking statistics is that 66 percent of finance leaders believe GenAI will have its most immediate impact on explaining forecast and budget variances. GenAI in Finance Market Development This high percentage undersc...

As a senior executive, have you considered how the rapidly evolving blockchain and distributed ledger technologies could revolutionize your organization's operations and competitive standing in the Global Networked Economy? Across the globe, the enterprise demand for blockchain applications is on the rise, driven by the need for operational efficiencies, transparency, and security in business transactions. As organizations grapple with the challenges of digital transformation initiatives, blockchain technology offers a promising solution to streamline processes, reduce fraud, and enhance customer trust. Blockchain Market Development Despite the prior volatility and hype cycles associated with blockchain use cases, its potential to revolutionize industries from finance to supply chain cannot be understated. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research , the blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) market is expected to reach a value of $25 billion by 2027...

Recent news headlines may not instill confidence in the overall Global Networked Economy, but that doesn't discourage spending on Digital Transformation initiatives that are focused on creating new  business models. IT market performance remained patchy in April, with some vendors experiencing a sharp decline in growth while others continued to benefit from long-term enterprise commitment to digital business. According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), overall growth this year in constant currency will reach 4.8 percent to $3.27 trillion -- that's a slight improvement, which reflects the continued IT services market performance. IT Services Market Development IT services growth this year will be almost 6 percent, as large enterprises remain committed to long-term digital transformation investments despite the recent short-term economic turbulence. Overall software spending growth will be almost 11 percent, driven mostly by cloud soft...

Your Digital Transformation depends on strategic investment in business technology that drives profitability and growth. Given the current global economic outlook, will your Chief Financial Officer (CFO) deny your next request for IT project funding? Think again. Seventy-eight percent of CFOs plan to maintain or increase their enterprise-wide digital investments in the next two years, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. The findings come even as CFOs indicate they are planning cost reductions in other areas of the business if inflation persists this year. Digital Transformation Market Development "Companies that drive the right digital investments have 2.7x higher customer retention, 1.6x higher customer satisfaction rates, and 1.9x higher average order value," said Alexander Bant, chief of finance research at Gartner . Leading digital-enabled companies are also 3x more likely to achieve above-industry revenue and margin growth. Gartner has also found t...

CIOs and CTOs are developing comprehensive Hybrid IT infrastructure models, in response to growing demand from CFOs and line of business leaders that request access to applications hosted via both on-premises private cloud and off-premises public cloud offerings. That's why savvy technology leaders must therefore align with the most qualified vendors and service providers that enable them to manage and support these complex multi-cloud scenarios. Furthermore, the chosen provider must demonstrate vertical industry knowledge and prior experience. A major shift is taking place in how enterprises select their financial management applications, with a migration to cloud applications happening faster than expected, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. Multi-Cloud Service Market Development A recent Gartner survey of senior finance executives found that by 2020, 36 percent of enterprises will use the cloud to support more than half of their transactional syst...

According to the latest market study by Frost & Sullivan, the financial services industry is on the brink of disruption as widening technology use challenges existing products, services and fee structures. Stakeholders across the traditional global banking, insurance, funding, lending, payments, business and retail finance segments are reviewing processes to align with their digital transformation agenda. For instance, progressive customers and younger investors are more reliant on digital channels. Similarly, automation is reducing human activity and decreasing costs, creating lower fee structures across the board. The ongoing evolution of financial services will focus on empowering customers to choose and customize the services they receive or the products they purchase. Market trends to emerge by 2025 include: Pervasive use of convenient biometric authentication. Cloud-based, software-as-a-service infrastructure model. Robot advisors that reduce processing fees for cu...

Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity has improved in 2016, with deal value experiencing two consecutive quarterly increases, according to the latest worldwide market study by Mergermarket . Case in point: during the third quarter (Q3) of 2016, a reported 666 deals worth $179.6 billion represented a 39 percent climb in value -- that's compared to Q3 2015 (828 deals, $128.8 billion). With year-to-date activity (2,168 deals, $403.1 billion) still 21 percent lower by value when compared to the Q1-Q3 2015 period (2,410 deals, $510.2 billion), a re-balancing effect following the 2015 record high is still impacting the market. Why Market Development Gained Momentum Furthermore, according to the Mergermarket assessment, Q3 2016 strength demonstrates that some M&A deals put on-hold at the beginning of the year -- due to uncertainties about the UK Brexit referendum and the British and American central bank interest rate poli...

Use of cash varies widely, even in developed markets. However, there's been steady growth of credit and debit card use across the globe. Therefore, point-of-sale (POS) terminals are becoming more commonplace, as growth is driven by adoption of electronic payments by emerging markets. For example, China experienced the most significant growth among the larger emerging economies during 2015, with a year-on-year increase in terminal numbers of ~20 percent. Industry analysts estimate that the global total number of POS terminals reached nearly 80 million in 2015. Worldwide POS Transaction Growth A new market study by Juniper Research has found that the value of contactless POS terminal transactions -- conducted in-store via cards, mobile phones and wearables -- will approach $500 billion annually by 2017; that's up from an estimated $321 billion this year. However, the low value nature of contactless payments means that it will only represent about 5 percent of the total va...

Given that the financial services sector thrives on large quantities of data, it is not surprising that new technology is expected to play a key role in this industry's digital transformation. Innovative and disruptive financial technology (Fintech) ventures will create new business models that drive progressive change. Juniper Research has found that Fintech platform revenues for unsecured consumer loans issued using machine learning technology are set to grow by 960 percent during 2016 to 2021, rising to $17 billion globally. This growth is being driven by advances in big data analytics and cognitive computing. Juniper's latest market study found that machine learning investment in Fintech will advance rapidly, owing to the highly data-driven nature of the market -- it's anticipated that AI integration is likely to produce substantial benefits. Machine learning technology advances -- a subset of artificial intelligence (AI) -- have grown significantly since 2011, wi...

Technology industry analysts have shared their initial view on the impact from the political and social unrest that's sweeping across Europe. In particular, concerns about the outcome of the United Kingdom (UK) European Union (EU) membership referendum has added to the region's volatility. After 7 percent growth in 2015, European technology spending will remain flat at €707 billion this year and grow by just 0.8 percent next year, according to the Forrester Research midyear forecast. Business and political uncertainties after the decision by UK citizens to leave the European Union (Brexit) on top of already slow economic growth have led Forrester to reduce its original projection for EU tech market growth for 2016 and 2017 by about 2 percent. At a country level, UK tech spending will see the sharpest slowdown, growing by just 1.3 percent in pounds in 2016, with no growth in 2017 -- representing a drop of 4.2 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively, compared with Forrester’...

The combined Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) sector has continued to evolve throughout this year, as ongoing consolidation results in some huge deals. Furthermore, in the near future, we could see more private equity transactions. "Entire private equity funds have formed in recent years around a tech acquisition strategy," according to Mergermarket intelligence, highlighted by a 21.2 percent increase in the value of American technology buyouts ($32.8 billion) compared to the whole of 2014. TMT market activity during the first quarter through the third quarter of 2015 has reached the second highest annual value on Mergermarket record (since 2001) with transactions valued at $534.2 billion, only beaten by 2006’s full-year total at $600.9 billion. Compared to the whole of 2014, Q1-Q3 2015 accounts for 804 fewer deals (2,168 vs. 2,972), but has already seen a $10.8 billion higher deal value (vs. $523.5 billion), according to their latest worldwide market study. The...