WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

In this report, TDWI uncovers deeper insights that give users new perspectives on business questions. AI will transform BI and the way people make decisions and act. Rather than start with a hypothesis, data analysts will begin with an AI-driven insight. Instead of querying data to prove or disprove their hypothesis, users will query data to expand or validate a machine-generated insight or recommendation—or they might act on the AI-based insight at face value. But to get to that point, AI-infused BI tools will need to gain people's trust by consistently delivering accurate, relevant, and transparent insights within the context of a business user’s existing workflow.
In the future, AI-infused BI tools will go beyond just surfacing insights; they will recommend ways to address or fix issues, run simulations to optimize processes, create new performance targets based on forecasts, and take action automatically. And yes, machines will make some decisions for us—especially operational decisions in real-time environments. We see this today with fraud detection and online trading systems, but it will become more pervasive.

In this report, TDWI uncovers deeper insights that give users new perspectives on business questions. AI will transform BI and the way people make decisions and act. Rather than start with a hypothesis, data analysts will begin with an AI-driven insight. Instead of querying data to prove or disprove their hypothesis, users will query data to expand or validate a machine-generated insight or recommendation—or they might act on the AI-based insight at face value. But to get to that point, AI-infused BI tools will need to gain people's trust by consistently delivering accurate, relevant, and transparent insights within the context of a business user’s existing workflow.
In the future, AI-infused BI tools will go beyond just surfacing insights; they will recommend ways to address or fix issues, run simulations to optimize processes, create new performance targets based on forecasts, and take action automatically. And yes, machines will make some decisions for us—especially operational decisions in real-time environments. We see this today with fraud detection and online trading systems, but it will become more pervasive.

Workplaces and workflows will change as more people work alongside machines

As machines increasingly complement human labor in the workplace, we will all need to adjust to reap the benefits.

...it forces CEOs to rethink how companies execute, with new business processes, management practices, and information systems, as well as everything about the nature of customer relationships. I’m seeing leaders who get this. They’re all over it: they want to launch five transformation initiatives right now; they’re talking to me and every digital leader they know about where the technology threats are coming from; and they’re hiring the best people to advise them. Yet I’m shocked by—even fearful for—the many CEOs I know who seem to be asleep at the switch.

It may come as no surprise that technology-centric roles stole the show among emerging jobs in the United States, but the prevalence of machine learning and data science roles and skills indicate a shift in the types of technology we can expect to be using in the near future, as well as what professionals should be preparing themselves for.

Having an academic background and a comprehensive suite of skills were also strong trends, especially among professionals who are now machine learning engineers and data scientists. Both of these roles are also often held by professionals with 10 years or more of professional experience, so for those just starting out and having trouble landing one of these titles, don’t be discouraged!

It’s always a good reminder that soft skills will always be important, no matter the profession. The ability to collaborate, be a leader, and learn from colleagues will stand out in interviews, and even more once starting a job.

So leaders need to focus on asymmetrical rivals and unlikely allies, on hackers and hobbyists, on rooftop solar panels and 3-D printers. They must also adapt their strategies to the possibility of shared infrastructure, to data that wants to be big, to the implacable embrace-and-extend bear hug of Google and Amazon and the National Security Agency. Conventional business models may be simultaneously too big and too small. How should executives respond? Here are the four major drivers of the new industrial architecture and the key strategic imperatives for companies.

Capgemini’s 2017 Edition of TechnoVision presents 37 compelling technology trend building blocks of inspiring, challenging, and disruptive perspectives.

The most anticipated slide deck of the year is here. Key takeaways:

• Global smartphone growth is slowing: Smartphone shipments grew 3 percent year over year last year, versus 10 percent the year before. This is in addition to continued slowing internet growth, which Meeker discussed last year.
• Voice is beginning to replace typing in online queries. Twenty percent of mobile queries were made via voice in 2016, while accuracy is now about 95 percent.
• In 10 years, Netflix went from 0 to more than 30 percent of home entertainment revenue in the U.S. This is happening while TV viewership continues to decline.
• Entrepreneurs are often fans of gaming, Meeker said, quoting Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman and Mark Zuckerberg. Global interactive gaming is becoming mainstream, with 2.6 billion gamers in 2017 versus 100 million in 1995. Global gaming revenue is estimated to be around $100 billion in 2016, and China is now the top market for interactive gaming.
• China remains a fascinating market, with huge growth in mobile services and payments and services like on-demand bike sharing. (More here: The highlights of Meeker's China slides.)
• While internet growth is slowing globally, that’s not the case in India, the fastest growing large economy. The number of internet users in India grew more than 28 percent in 2016. That’s only 27 percent online penetration, which means there’s lots of room for internet usership to grow. Mobile internet usage is growing as the cost of bandwidth declines. (More here: The highlights of Meeker's India slides.)
• In the U.S. in 2016, 60 percent of the most highly valued tech companies were founded by first- or second-generation Americans and are responsible for 1.5 million employees. Those companies include tech titans Apple, Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook.
• Healthcare: Wearables are gaining adoption with about 25 percent of Americans owning one, up 12 percent from 2016. Leading tech brands are well-positioned in the digital health market, with 60 percent of consumers willing to share their health data with the likes of Google in 2016.

Now a new breed of software applications is reshaping sales force management. Their common characteristic: Using digital data exhaust, which is the data generated from the regular activities of a sales force or their customers, to change the behaviour of frontline sales representatives in ways that dramatically improve sales productivity and effectiveness.

Capgemini Consulting's digital transformation business journal looks at the digitization of operations, taking in robotics, 3D printing, and the second machine