Forrester highlighted seven key domains and technology trends that will play a big role in the coming years: Artificial Intelligence, Business Automation and Robotics, Enterprise Risk Management, Productivity, New Compute Architectures, Next-Gen Communications and Zero Trust Security. “The recipe for successful tech innovation is changing,” said Brian Hopkins, VP and principal analyst at Forrester.
“The strategies that worked in the 2010s will not work in the 2020s.
Firms that make big bets on new business models, new ways of working, and new talent will be more adaptive and resilient to the disruptive forces that will characterize the 2020s.
To sprint forward, CIOs must renew their organization’s resolve to digitally transform and turn these efforts into must-have foundational investments.”
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Forrester forecast of technology trends include:
- Rise of Ethical AI
- Intelligent Automation
- Hyperlocal businesses with distributed customer engagement and operations
- Driving Innovation with Cloud Native Technologies
- Shifting Cloud toward the Edge
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Ethical AI
Enterprises in the past have paid little heed to the ethical impact of the AI technologies and ML adopted. Values-based consumers and employees expect organisations to adopt AI in a responsible fashion, noted Forrester.
Over the next few years, firms will deliberately choose to do business with partners that commit to data ethics and adopt data handling practices that reflect their own values and their customers’ values.
CIOs must renew their organization’s resolve to digitally transform and turn these efforts into must-have foundational investments.
Forrester Analyst
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Recasting of Automation Roadmaps
Intelligent automation will represent the infusion of robotic and digital process automation with pragmatic AI and low-code tools.
Forrester noted this technology trend could help businesses become more efficient and resilient while expanding their operations.
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Hyperlocal businesses with distributed customer engagement and operations
Organizations will need to design architectures that can strategically distribute customer engagement and operations systems to important geographic regions while delivering on centralized technology management benefits. Zero Trust security will help enterprises navigate this shift.
Also read: Gartner View Of The Technology Advancements In The 2020s
Driving Innovation with Cloud Native Technologies
Emerging cloud-native technologies, born from open source and incubated in public clouds, drive fast innovation.
Forrester report highlights “cloud-native technologies such as container platforms and serverless computing will herald a new era of distributed enterprise software — from cloud providers, edge providers, and software vendors alike”.
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Cloud-Edge Integration: Shifting Cloud toward the Edge
Interest in edge computing has been historically tied to the internet of things.
In 2020, innovations in next-generation communications, cloud-native technologies, and edge computing architectures have come together to create breakthroughs in cloud-to-edge integration.
Over the next three to five years, firms will shift their cloud strategy to include more edge services from more vendors, challenging public cloud vendor market dominance.
For more details of the Forrester report on technology trends for 2021, see here.
