Digital Lifescapes

Worldwide spending on mobility solutions is forecast to reach $1.72 trillion in 2021, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Spending on mobility-related hardware, software, and services will see a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.7 percent. Global spending on mobility solutions will total $1.58 trillion in 2017 -- that's an increase of 4.3 percent over 2016. Mobility Market Development The United States will account for a quarter of all mobility spending throughout the forecast, making it the largest geographic market at nearly $392 billion in 2021. Mainland China will be the second largest country in terms of overall spending ($337 billion in 2021), followed by Japan, Brazil, and the UK. The countries that will see the fastest growth in mobility spending over the five-year forecast period will be Venezuela (8.2 percent CAGR), India (8 percent CAGR), Philippines (7 percent CAGR) and Peru (6.7 percent CAGR). In contras...

Digital health revolves around the integration of traditional healthcare systems and newer technologies to improve efficiency, value for money and ultimately patient outcomes. Electronic Health Records (EHR) have been a big part of this evolution, promising universal access to key elements of a patient's medical history. As many nations have now adopted EHRs, the debate has moved on to what can be done with this data. Interoperability and analytics have become important requirements of healthcare IT systems. Improving access to healthcare and the convenience of that access has become a key goal. As these new IT systems develop, disruptive technologies are now being utilized as part of the digital health landscape. Leading the charge for this disruption is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and chatbots. Digital Health Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research , the annual cost savings derived from the adoption of chatbots in healthcare ...

More CIOs are investing in business technology that improves their organization's resilience to cyber threats. Worldwide spending on IT security-related hardware, software, and services is forecast to reach $119.9 billion in 2021, according to the latest global market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). With nearly every industry investing in IT security solutions, enterprise spending will achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.6 percent over the 2016-2021 forecast period. Worldwide spending on security products and services will total $83.5 billion in 2017, an increase of 10.3 percent over 2016. IT Security Market Development "Three overarching trends are driving security spending: a dynamic threat landscape, increasing regulatory pressures, and architectural changes spurred by digital transformation initiatives," said Sean Pike, vice president at IDC . "While IDC expects spending to continue growing, organizations are actively searching ...

Digital transformation has begun to impact the industrial sector where maintaining security is a high priority. According to the findings from a recent survey of U.S. based utility companies, 40 percent of respondents believe that data security is the leading barrier to the adoption of new digital technologies. However, it's clearly a barrier that can be overcome, with 64 percent of large utility organizations expressing a willingness to adopt innovative technologies -- such as Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and wearable solutions -- within the next twelve months. Utility Technology Market Development "Technological transformation on energy as in the deployment of smart meters, sensors, and other IoT devices embedded into energy infrastructure, presents potential security vulnerabilities such as cyberattacks and threats from hackers, which have the potential to cause catastrophic results," said Raquel Artes, industry analyst at ABI Research . ABI survey findi...

Savvy technology vendors know the trend, CIOs and CTOs are laser focused on digital transformation projects that will fuel enterprise growth, enabled by new online business models and other strategic imperatives. That said, IT infrastructure investment within many markets is still relatively flat. According to the latest regional market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), IT spending in Western Europe will total $453.8 billion in 2017 -- that's a 2.7 percent increase compared with 2016. IT spending in this market will continue to grow at about a 2 percent five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR). European IT Market Development Investments in new technologies -- such as augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR), artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing, robotics, 3D printing, and Internet of Things (IoT) -- will drive demand as companies strive to innovate, improve customer experience, and streamline business processes. During 2017, consumer,...

Personal computer (PC) manufacturers will find no relief from the latest overall industry assessment. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 67 million units in the third quarter of 2017 -- that's a 3.6 percent decline from the third quarter of 2016, according to the latest global market study by Gartner. Note, this is the twelfth consecutive quarter of declining PC shipments. Optimistic industry analysts continue to seek an upside for this historically weak technology market, but some of the largest regions still show no sign of a meaningful recovery. Personal Computer Market Development "While there were signs of stabilization in the PC industry in key regions, including EMEA, Japan and Latin America, the relatively stable results were offset by the U.S. market, which saw a 10 percent year-over-year decline in part because of a very weak back-to-school sales season," said Mika Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner . Business PC demand, led by Windows 10 upgrades, conti...

When implemented correctly, the potential benefits that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can bring to the digital advertising industry are significant. Enhancing a digital advertising platform's ability to efficiently target the correct audience, while detecting fraudulent publisher activities, would be a huge advantage. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the use of AI for advertising purposes overlaps with the development of other applications. For instance, as bots and digital assistants are mechanisms for human to machine communications, the opposite may also be true -- where the AI machine, aware of the user's interests, can be used as a tool for brand advertising. However, the applications of AI in advertising extends beyond this use case. AI for Advertising Market Development That said, what's primarily driving the demand for AI apps in advertising? The Juniper Research study found that advertisers will lose an estimated $19 billio...

The ongoing momentum for progressive digital transformation projects continue to fuel IT infrastructure investments across the globe. Open innovation, that will be enabled by emerging business technologies, is the commercial catalyst that can drive a strategic competitive advantage. Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.7 trillion in 2018 alone -- that's an increase of 4.3 percent from 2017 estimated spending of $3.5 trillion, according to the latest global market study by Gartner. Global IT Infrastructure Market Development Enterprise software and IT services continue to register strong growth, with communications services driving the majority of new spending. Software spending is projected to grow 8.5 percent during 2017, and it will grow another 9.4 percent in 2018 to total $387 billion. IT services spending is on pace to grow by 4 percent in 2017 to reach $931 billion, and that's an increase of 5.3 percent in 2018 to reach $980 billion. Moreover, the device...

As more CIOs and CTOs prepare for the data deluge that's driving demand for enterprise storage solutions, savvy IT infrastructure vendors are already offering next-generation systems that meet the evolving requirements of their customer's digital transformation projects. Software-defined storage (SDS) is one of several new technologies that are rapidly penetrating the IT infrastructure of enterprises and cloud service providers. SDS is gaining traction because it meets the demands of the next-generation data center much better than legacy storage infrastructure. As a result, International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts the worldwide SDS market will see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.5 percent over the 2017-2021 forecast period, with revenues of nearly $16.2 billion in 2021. Enterprise Storage Market Development Enterprise storage spending has already begun to move away from hardware-defined, dual-controller array designs toward SDS and from traditional on-...

The rush to move IT applications from on-premises enterprise data centers to public cloud service providers, primarily on the basis of the promise of a low-cost, has once again been challenged by recent market research findings. In fact, savvy CIOs and CTOs are seeking comprehensive solutions that meet all their expectations, rather than merely a limited subset. Even if it costs more to achieve that goal, the demand for superior hybrid cloud services is gaining momentum across the globe. As an example, seventy-five percent of respondents to the latest worldwide market study by 451 Research indicate that enterprise IT leaders are willing to pay a premium for enhancements to their server hosting and cloud services. Cloud Services Market Development The most desired improvements are guarantees of security (48.7 percent of respondents) and service performance (43.3 percent) with less interest in paying service providers to take on the operational management burden (27.9 percent). ...

What if the employees in your organization had access to intelligent automation that augmented their own skills and abilities? What if the routine processes and repetitive tasks could be executed by a trained computing system? Given that scenario, how might your organization improve employee productivity and enhance their job satisfaction? That's the promise of cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) technology. It's becoming a new reality, as numerous organizations across the globe start to embrace these trained computing systems. Cognitive and AI Market Development Worldwide spending on cognitive and AI systems is forecast to reach $57.6 billion in 2021, according to the latest global market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). With many industries investing in cognitive and AI solutions, spending is expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50.1 percent over the 2016-2021 forecast period. Worldwide spending on cognitive and AI systems...

Many organizations are now actively considering blockchain deployments, and a significant proportion are already anticipating integration of blockchain into their IT systems within the next 18 months, according the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research. The Juniper survey found that among the largest companies (those with 20,000 of more employees) that were considering deploying or were in the process of deploying blockchain, 54 percent had reached the PoC (Proof of Concept) stage, with a further 16 percent involved in trial deployments. Among all companies that have reached the PoC stage, 66 percent expected blockchain to be integrated into their systems by the end of 2018. Integration was expected to take longer as companies got larger among the smaller companies surveyed (i.e. those with less than 1,000 employees), 81 percent expecting integration to be completed by the end of 2018 -- compared with 57 percent of companies with over 20,000 employees. IBM Leads Bl...

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...

Much of the initial interest in cryptocurrencies centered around their potential as alternatives to fiat currencies. Increasingly, however, attention has shifted to the potential of the technology that underpins them: blockchain. A clear indication of blockchain’s increasing maturity is the extent to which an industry that was once the preserve of fintech start-ups is now being driven by leading IT platform providers -- many of whom are developing their own offerings. Blockchain Market Development A number have been involved in joint ventures and consortia while at the same time developing their own solutions. For example, IBM unveiled Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) for developers in February 2016 based on Hyperledger Fabric -- one of the Hyperledger blockchain framework implementations hosted by The Linux Foundation. A new worldwide market study by Juniper Research has found that the value of cryptocurrency transactions is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2017 -- that's ...

According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), global shipments of personal computing devices (PCDs), comprised of traditional PCs (desktops, notebooks, and workstations) and media tablets (slates and detachables), will continue a decline through 2021. The study results show PCD shipments declining from 435.1 million units in 2016 to 398.3 million in 2021, which represents a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -1.7 percent. Personal Computing Market Development While growth for the overall PCD market is not expected at any point within the forecast period, there are a few interesting trends that continue to develop. Apart from 2018, notebook PCs show small but steady year-over-year growth throughout the forecast period. Detachable tablets and convertible notebooks, which represent more versatile designs, will be the fastest growing segments in PCD with a 5-year CAGR of over 14 percent. Ultraslim notebooks are also expected to...

Smart City projects have gained momentum over the last decade, as more municipalities across North American have launched a wide variety of digital transformation initiatives. That said, some cities have achieved significant outcomes that enable them to improve services for citizens. Los Angeles, New York, Chicago are the smartest cities in the United States, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. Cities were evaluated across various metrics such as deployment of LED streetlights, smart meters, renewable energy, electric mobility, smart parking, mobility-as-a-service (MaaS), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies, smart waste, and first responder communications. American Smart City Project Assessment "New York is the leading city with the highest deployment of LED streetlights in the U.S., followed closely by Los Angeles," said Raquel Artes, analyst at ABI Research . Chicago will have the highest upgrade of current legacy streetlights as the local gov...

Billions of people around the world use the internet to share ideas and trade with one another. With worldwide internet penetration at nearly 50 percent, the global digital economy has become a space of immense opportunity. It’s clear that business transactions are becoming heavily reliant on us being connected onlne. Digital flows are now responsible for more GDP growth globally than trade in traditional offline goods and services. Digital transformation is now driving globalization. As such, achieving a competitive advantage in the global digital arena has become a key priority for governments and businesses who strive for inclusion and relevance. It is also clear that trust has a critical role to play when countries look to improve their eCommerce adoption. It's in this context that The Fletcher School at Tufts University, in partnership with Mastercard , present findings from the 2017 edition of the  'Digital Evolution Index' (DEI 17). Exploring National Digital...

Following a disappointing year in 2016, when the Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) payment cards market nearly came to a complete halt, ABI Research now expects that the market will bounce back this year with an anticipated annual growth rate of 4.6 percent. The EMV market problems began in 2016 with overstocking issues in the U.S., causing shipments to drop by 18 percent. Additionally, the market in China reached saturation and was further impacted by new legislation limiting the number of accounts one citizen is permitted to own at a singular bank. Both issues in China resulted in a card shipment decrease of 8 percent YoY. Global EMV Market Development All eyes are now firmly fixed on the U.S., China, and India, driven by an expectation that over 56 percent of all EMV cards issued globally in 2017 will be issued into one of these three countries. India will be one of the positive growth factors in the near-term future, currently in the early stage of EMV migration which will...

Much of the initial interest in cryptocurrencies centered around their potential as alternatives to fiat currencies. Now attention has shifted to the upside potential of open distributed ledger technologies know as blockchain. A clear indication of blockchain's increasing maturity is how the emerging Fintech sector, which was once dominated by tech start-ups, is becoming crowded with leading IT platform providers -- many of whom are developing their own offerings. The market leaders have been involved in collaborative ventures and consortia. As an example, IBM unveiled Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) for developers back in February 2016 that's based upon the Hyperledger Fabric. Blockchain Market Development Meanwhile, market demand is growing rapidly across vertical industries. Juniper Research has found that 57 percent large corporations are either actively considering, or are in the process of deploying, blockchain technology, according to the analysis of the data f...

Telecom service providers in the Asia-Pacific region are actively virtualizing their network architecture. A flurry of new applications development is driven by open source communities -- such as OPNFV and ONAP -- as well as from individual efforts by telcos. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, the network function virtualization (NFV) market in the Asia-Pacific region will grow to $9.24 billion in 2022. NFV Market Development in Asia-Pacific Japan is the largest single market within the Asia-Pacific region, constituting 25.7 percent of the total NFV revenue. This is followed by South Korea and China, at 22.7 percent and 14.6 percent of the revenue growth respectively. "Japan leads in the region, not only because of the desire to design resilient and reliable networks in preparation for future disaster threats, but also to prepare for the 2020 Summer Olympics," said Lian Jye Su, senior analyst at ABI Research . South Korea and China are actively pr...