WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY IT MATTERS: this list of technology questions for 2022 feels like an answer to the question "what is digital disruption?".

We have reached a moment in time where old technologies - eCommerce or videoconferencing for example - are finally breaking into established industries. And the impact, at scale, cannot be found in technology but rather in every single industry it disrupts.

Very thoughtful piece, very good questions.

WHY IT MATTERS: a long read about tens of new developments in the works at Apple from a long time AR-VR industry watcher (he was very bullish about Google glasses back in the day). Nevertheless, the article is a good rundown of what the future of 3D in AR and VR may be. 

What I find great is that it goes beyond the classic AR-VR use cases and into a more fundamental trend of embedding digital into the real world in 3D. The examples of what is being developed in the labs is eye opening. But remember, this is R&D and will take years to become ubiquitous. 

WHY IT MATTERS: this long read from Facebook Tech provides insights into the potential of augmented reality.

WHY IT MATTERS: a good article on the Metaverse as part of a series on new social media. Just in case you thought digital transformation was about to slow down.

Also: https://a16z.com/social-strikes-back

WHY IT MATTERS: this post is a bit theoretical for someone not bathing in digital transformation all day as I do (mostly). It explores what could come next but more importantly stresses an important fact: we now have a new platform - the mobile phone - in our pockets that has the potential to transform our world. We have started to see this with eCommerce - physical retail stores become irrelevant and we can price compare from anywhere - but we have yet to see the real impact of eCommerce+mobile+cloud+5G. THIS is what I think about most days...

WHY IT MATTERS: augmented reality is looking for good use cases to make it a reality. Is this one of them?

WHY IT MATTERS: 5G telecom network promises to revolutionize many industries including retail. This report from Forrester presents use cases for 5G may bring but also puts those in context of what exists today and how fast the transformation will be.

WHY IT MATTERS: movie production is going digital real fast enabling distributed teams to work collaboratively. Will this mean that the production of hyper realistic fake videos will become easier to produce. One may think so :-(

WHY IT MATTERS: biggest hyped product in Apple glass. No one knows when they come out but they may represent as big a leap as iPone was in 2007. This article provides some good insights in future possibilities of an augmented reality world - as different from today as nokia phone vs. iPhones. Great read to see the potential. But be careful, this remains very visionary and many solutions (hardware, software, ecosystem, etc.) need to be in place for this to become reality... Hype ahead!

WHY IT MATTERS: short white paper on what travel *may* look like in 20 years. I think it is idealistic and far fetched but there are elements in there that feel very probable (ie. renting clothes instead of packing your own, robots that carry your luggage, AR-VR to help with travel planning). Not saying if this future is good or bad, but will certainly be very digital. Thoughts?

WHY IT MATTERS: 360 pages of reference material for any strategic planning exercice.

WHY IT MATTERS: the trends is clear, technology drives a number of business innovations in Retail. Questions is: is there a business model behind those innovations? Not always unfortunately... Nevertheless, useful insights about what's trending.

WHY IT MATTERS: always good to look beyond digital transformation into practical applications of the digital technologies. In particular, #2,6,7 in the list. Here an extract from the #7 highlights an application of blockchain which we've been tracking for a while as a disruptive digital technology that has received a lot of bad press with the bitcoin debacle but that has real future...

"Together, a pair of technologies could reduce both food poisoning and food waste. The first, an innovative application of blockchain technology (better known for managing virtual currency) is beginning to solve the traceability problem. Enhanced food packaging, meanwhile, is providing new ways to determine whether foods have been stored at proper temperatures and whether they might have begun to spoil."

WHY IT MATTERS: it looks like the next time will be better with a focus on business applications rather than personal life. Listen to the video that Boeing has produced where they used Glass to help assembly of wire bundles in airplanes using heads-up display in Google Glass: impressive.

https://9to5google.com/2017/07/18/google-glass-enterprise-edition-officially-announced-with-multiple-upgrades-video/ 

I can see many more applications in transportation, order delivery, manufacturing, and maybe even retail where repairs or service require some form of step-by-step process to complete the work. Expect this in 2019.

WHY IT MATTERS: A good summary of potential use cases and applications for key digital technologies that revolutionize business.

WHY IT MATTERS: the world economic forum keeps putting out great reports on the impact of digital transformation. I love the illustrations, great summary of key trends and their adoption. Must read.

WHY THIS MATTERS

I find most of my clients struggling to find time and money to implement technologies that have been around for more than 10 years: Internet, Big Data, mobility, cloud computing, etc. When they do make it to implement them in their organizations, it is often too little too late to make a difference with their competition. As Wayne Gretsky famously said, you should "skate to where the puck will be, not where it is". Thus, every company's strategy should have a clear view on AI, blockchain, robots, 3D printing, Internet of Things, etc. Does your strat plan include them?

WHY IT MATTERS

Forrester has recently produced a matrix of disruptive technologies that is worth sharing. More important is the article conclusion where Forrester recommends that cIO act as Venture Capitalists to actively scout new technologies and companies to leverage this innovation for improved competitiveness. This is a radical departure form traditional IT roles and responsibilities which I believe has important benefits in large organizations where All eyes are on the CIO to lead the digital transformation. Unfortunately we are a long way away from this in most organizations.