Digital Lifescapes

Trusted banking relationships are important to both customers and financial services organizations. Traditionally, a banking relationship was a longstanding one, that could potentially last a customer’s lifetime. Today, that now seems like a bygone era. The introduction of online and mobile banking solutions has fundamentally altered the traditional relationships in the banking area, enabling disruption to the legacy financial services business model. Measures to increase competition and make switching accounts easier have reduced friction, while strong commoditization of services in the U.S. market has led to decreases in profit margins. Digital Banking Market Development The total number of digital banking users will exceed 3.6 billion by 2024 -- that's up from 2.4 billion in 2020 and a 54 percent increase, according to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research. This growth will be driven by the rise of digital-only banks, fintech innovations, and the ongoin...

How do business leaders react when there's a sudden disruption in the Global Networked Economy? While some leaders see only challenges, the bold and the brave envision an opportunity for the development of solutions that result in unique competitive advantages. The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has showcased the value of IT and Digital Transformation, and savvy leaders of forward-looking organizations will now accelerate the transition, according to the findings in two recent surveys of senior executives in China. The first IDC survey canvassed the opinions of 32 CxOs in 10 industries and covered three qualitative aspects: the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on corporate business; the value of IT and digital transformation in the fight against the outbreak; and new digital transformation measures after the epidemic. The second, quantitative survey polled 121 CxOs of industry users, comprising 19 questions such as judgment on epidemic development and its impact on the econ...

Enterprise data privacy compliance has created a significant operational burden for many organizations. Now CIOs and CTOs are adopting automation tools that can ease the task of ensuring that their employees follow the relevant domestic and international requirements. Over 40 percent of privacy compliance technology will rely on artificial intelligence (AI) solutions by 2023 -- that's up from 5 percent today, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. "Privacy laws, such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), presented a compelling business case for privacy compliance and inspired many other jurisdictions worldwide to follow," said Bart Willemsen, research vice president at Gartner . Data Privacy Compliance Market Development More than 60 jurisdictions around the world have proposed or are drafting post-modern privacy and data protection laws. Canada, for example, is looking to modernize its Personal Information Protection and Electronic Doc...

CIOs and CTOs are exploring new ways to extract insights from their enterprise data assets with analytics tools. While they continue to invest in on-premises solutions, they're also looking to public cloud service providers. As cloud computing providers grow their footprint in the internet of things (IoT) value chain, their investments in data and analytics services are accelerating. Based on the review of cloud service provider offerings, recent acquisitions, and the competitive outlook, ABI Research now forecasts that cloud suppliers will grow their share of IoT data and analytics management revenues from $6 billion in 2019 to $56 billion in 2026. IoT Data and Analytics Market Development While the growth is impressive, cloud vendor services today are focused on data management complemented by a generic analytics toolset. That said, cloud computing vendor revenues come primarily from streaming, storage, and the orchestration of data. In contrast, most analytics service ...

While 2019 was the year that fifth-generation (5G) wireless services were deployed across the globe, this is just the beginning of the new trend. So far, launches in North America, West Europe and the Middle East created a small base of 5G customers, however, the technology gained significant traction within the Far East and China markets. As a result of strategic foresight by the government, the early launch and fast customer adoption in South Korea clearly drove their 5G deployment leadership. By the end of the year, there were an estimated 4.5 million 5G users in the Far East market, roughly 80 percent of the global total, nearly all of them in South Korea. 5G Network Infrastructure Market Development North America had the second-highest number of connections, reaching an estimated 800,000 users. West Europe is taking a more tentative approach, waiting to see how the technology develops and evolves, while some parts of the world lack the infrastructure to start on 5G for at le...

When governments invest in new infrastructure, information technology (IT) is now a key component of their development plan. Very large municipal governments, in particular, are spending more on Smart City projects that provide their citizens with many unique advantages. Furthermore, the IT infrastructure advancement trend is gaining momentum across the globe, as established and emerging technology applications are adopted by the forward-thinking leaders. Global spending on smart cities initiatives are forecast to total nearly $124 billion this year -- that's an increase of 18.9 percent over 2019, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Smart City Initiative Market Development The top 100 cities investing in smart initiatives in 2019 represented around 29 percent of global spending, and while growth will be sustained among the top spenders in the short term, the market is quite dispersed across midsize and small cities investi...

Given the typical complexity of planning and achieving a digital transformation, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) within federal, state or local governments have many challenges. As an example, they must rely upon the financial approval of elected or appointed leaders that are incapable of understanding the current business technology landscape. Government CIOs struggle to obtain funding for qualified independent consultants that can help them to validate their requirements for modern IT infrastructure. Some IT vendors provide professional services that offer transformation guidance, but it's often inconclusive. A survey has uncovered the key issues. Government IT Market Development Fifty-eight percent of government CIOs faced organizational disruption during the past four years, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they had also faced a funding shortfall in that same timeframe. Note, these figures are higher than...

The digital payment era is here. Record numbers of online payments are being processed. And, nearly half the world will be using digital wallets by 2024, with transaction values to increase by almost 60 percent reaching over $9 trillion, according to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research. Moreover, the greater financial services sector is in the midst of a payments revolution. The increased convenience of digital solutions is driving more eCommerce engagement. However, it has also created an environment for cybercriminals that are intent on circumventing IT security measures. Payment Fraud Prevention Market Development Understanding the current digital payment threat landscape is crucial to the development of reinforced protections while keeping fintech innovation clear of exploitation by organized criminals. Organizations with commercial transactions that are dependent on eCommerce -- such as airline ticketing, money transfer and banking services -- will cumula...

Fixed wireless broadband communication services based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology have been deployed globally, focused on areas with a poor wireline network infrastructure. Now, 5G wireless technology could open more opportunities for the fixed wireless broadband segment. As mobile network operators continue to deploy 5G network infrastructure, the commercial launch of 5G fixed wireless broadband services will accelerate in the next few years. This will ultimately drive the 5G fixed wireless Consumer Premise Equipment (CPE) market. ABI Research forecasts that shipments of 5G fixed wireless broadband CPE will reach more than 2 million units in 2020. 5G Broadband Market Development 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) delivers several benefits to both telecom network operators and consumers. The deployment of 5G fixed wireless broadband networks in place of last-mile fiber connectivity will save costs and time to install fiber-optic lines while providing Gigabit capacity b...

Hyperscale cloud providers are experiencing some market saturation. Vendor revenue from IT infrastructure products (server, enterprise storage, and Ethernet switch) for cloud environments, including public and private cloud, declined in the third quarter of 2019 (3Q19) as the overall IT infrastructure market continues to experience weakening sales following strong growth in 2018. The decline of 1.8 percent year-over-year was much softer than in 2Q19 as the overall spend on IT infrastructure for cloud environments reached $16.8 billion, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation ( IDC ). As a result, IDC chose to slightly increase its forecast for total spending on cloud IT infrastructure in 2019 to $65.4 billion -- that represents a flat performance compared to 2018. Cloud IT Infrastructure Market Development  The decline in cloud IT infrastructure spending was driven by the public cloud segment, which was down 3.7 percent year over year, reachin...

Public cloud computing applications have left the telecom service providers in a marginalized position. The whole industry has always been directly affected by technology innovation and digital disruption. That said, the past 10 years have been particularly challenging for several significant reasons. The mainstream penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in communication services, the rise of highly customized Over-the-Top (OTT) applications, the rollout of superior connectivity modes such as 4G LTE and 5G, and the internet of things (IoT) have changed the landscape. In the face of the hyper-personalized, customer-centric and often free OTT alternatives, communication service providers (CSP) have already under growing pressure to combat declining Average Revenues per User (ARPU) -- a key growth metric that industry analysts measure. CSP AI Analytics Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, total networ...

Across the globe, the traditional legal profession is still very labor-intensive. Higher salaries and the limited use of automation has driven up the cost of performing even the most mundane routine tasks. That's going to change. The disruption has already begun. The intense pressure from senior executives on their legacy corporate legal department has pushed lawyers to consider robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and natural language processing benefits, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. In fact, they now predict that law robots (or lawbots) will handle a quarter of the typical enterprise internal legal support requests by 2023. The virtual legal assistant (VLA) will be commonplace. Legal Process Automation Market Development  "While VLAs, legal chatbots, and lawbots may seem like hype, their use in legal departments can yield significant benefits," said Zack Hutto, director at Gartner . "...

Automation in commercial buildings has focused on four sectors: HVAC, lighting, access control, plus fire and life safety. Now, new applications in space management, environmental monitoring, asset management, and cleanliness & hygiene management are being offered to enhance existing building automation systems. Together, these new smart building solutions will grow at a 32 percent CAGR over the next 8 years to create $2 billion in software and services revenues by 2026, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. Smart Building Market Development Space management solutions are being created and engineered with a variety of sensors, including contact, motion, and occupancy. Typically implemented into office buildings, new space management solutions are becoming more useful in significantly larger commercial buildings, such as airports or stadiums. "Occupancy and motion sensors can be used to help improve the speed in which travelers can maneuver the...

Many organizations need to verify your identity before you initiate an online transaction. But there are two issues: it's easy for fraudsters to exploit the system when all that's required is an email address and password. And, when the burden of proof is higher, this can be problematic for users. The ability to either create or impersonate identities is a challenge for many businesses, particularly those processing financial data and associated payments. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, in 2024 over $50 billion will likely be lost due to online payment fraud. There are multiple points of potential failure in conventional identification and verification processes, particularly for online payment details. Passwords and centralized repositories are typically the core security issue in the growing problem of identity fraud. Blockchain and SSI Market Development Juniper analysts believe that one of the most promising approaches to improve ...

Global spending on robotic systems and drones will reach $128.7 billion in 2020 -- that's an increase of 17.1 percent over 2019, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). By 2023, IDC expects the investment will reach $241.4 billion with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.8 percent. Robotic systems will be the larger of the two categories throughout the five-year forecast period with worldwide robotics spending forecast to be $112.4 billion in 2020. Spending on drones will total $16.3 billion in 2020 but is forecast to grow at a faster rate (33.3 percent CAGR) than robotics systems (17.8 percent CAGR). Robotics and Drones Market Development Hardware purchases will dominate the robotics market with 60 percent of all spending going toward robotic systems, after-market robotics hardware, and system hardware. Purchases of industrial robots and service robots will total more than $30 billion in 2020. Meanwhile, robotics-relat...

While much of the prior interest in automation has focused on very limited worker categories and related tasks -- such as traditional manufacturing -- there's now a growing interest in exploring the potential to automate all types of repetitive work. Artificial intelligence (AI) applications -- as an example, virtual personal assistants and chatbots -- are being adopted rapidly within the global workplace. By 2024, Gartner predicts that these technologies will replace almost 69 percent of the typical manager’s workload. AI Applications Market Development "The role of manager will see a complete overhaul in the next four years," said Helen Poitevin, vice president at Gartner . "Currently, managers often need to spend time filling in forms, updating information and approving workflows. By using AI to automate these tasks, they can spend less time managing transactions and can invest more time on learning, performance management and goal setting." According...

Mobile roaming enables customers of one mobile provider to use the network of another when the subscriber’s 'home network' is unavailable. As a result, network operators acquired agility in releasing new mobile communication services. Over the next five years, mobile network operators must ensure they can offer new 5G services to subscribers when roaming away from the home network. However, the majority of providers will launch offerings through alliances of sub-regional bilateral packages to gain access to other networks. Global Wholesale Roaming Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the global number of roaming subscribers will reach 1.1 billion by 2024 -- that's rising from 900 million subscribers in 2020. This represents a growth of 28 percent over the next four years. The new research forecasts that the wholesale roaming model will be crucial to mitigating threats from high data traffic generated by emerging tech...

When you think about the applications of big data and analytics, the industrial and manufacturing sector may not be top-of-mind. However, consider that every type of commercial enterprise will become a 'digital business' and it makes sense. Automation and big data analytics will continue to transform key sectors of the global economy. Today's factories run on data. To harness that data, manufacturers are turning to software applications such as Electronic Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Inventory Management, and CRM and Demand Planning. Big Data Analytics App Market Development The investment within the industrial and manufacturing sector on these applications is set to grow from $18 billion in 2019 to just over $27 billion in 2024, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. "Data underpins activities such as onboarding raw mater...

Smart city projects will gain new momentum in 2020 as more municipal government leaders adopt new technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine to Machine (M2M) communications. Street lighting is the area where adoption is noteworthy. According to the latest worldwide market study by Berg Insight, the installed base of smart street lights was 10.4 million worldwide at the end of 2018. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.5 percent, the installed base will reach 31.2 million in 2023. Smart City Market Development Global market leadership continues to evolve as new projects are launched. Europe is the leading smart street lighting market accounting for nearly 40 percent of the installed base. Characterized by a higher degree of utility ownership of street lighting assets, the North American market has seen a more scattered uptake of smart street lighting but is nevertheless home to several of the world’s largest deployments. North America acc...

Talent development was a reoccurring topic at the WEF 2020 event in Davos this week. In related news, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) full-time employment (FTE) will reach 55.3 million worldwide in 2020 -- that's an increase of 3.9 percent over 2019, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Moreover, the global ICT FTE workforce will maintain this pace of growth over the 2019-2023 forecast period, reaching more than 62 million people in 2023, with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.8 percent. ICT Talent and Emerging Staffing Trends IDC believes a person can, as part of an occupation, perform several roles and split their time across those roles. The combination of roles for an occupation may vary over time between industries and organizations, even though the activities performed by a role remain relatively stable. Within ICT job roles, activities are performed within projects, programs, and lines of busi...