8/25/2016

Top10StrategicTechnologyTrendsfor2016:AtaGlance

Top10StrategicTechnologyTrendsfor2016:AtaGlance

Analyst(s):DavidW.Cearley|MikeJ.Walker|BrianBurke

Summary
Gartner'stop10strategictechnologytrendswillshapedigitalbusinessopportunitiesthrough2016.ITleaders
mustunderstandandpreparefortheimpactsthesedisruptivetrendswillhaveonpeople,theirbusinessesand
ITdepartments,andthendeterminehowtheycanprovidecompetitiveadvantage.

Overview
KeyFindings
A"digitalmesh"isevolvingaroundtheindividual.Itisanexpandingsetofdevices,individuals,information
andservicesthatarefluidlyanddynamicallyinterconnected.New,continuousandambientuserexperiences
areemergingtoexploitthedigitalmesh.
Advancesin3Dprintingmaterialsandcompositesopenupnewopportunitiesandaffectanexpandinglistof
industries.
Machinelearningtechnologycombinesthe"informationofeverything"withsmartmachinealgorithmsto
makeanalgorithmicbusinesspossible.
Relentlessandeverincreasingsecurityattacksrequireadaptivesecurityarchitecturesthatemphasize
applicationselfprotectionanduserandentityanalytics.

Recommendations
ITleadersmust:
EvaluatetheirbusinessesandtheITimpactoftheexpandingsetofenduserdevices(including"things")in
thedigitalmesh,especiallytheimpactonthedesignofcontinuousandambientuserexperiences.
Challengeandrethinkhowmaterialsarebeingcreatedandusedtoenabletheirbusinesses,alongwiththe
productsandservicesoffered.
Revolutionizetheirbusinessmodelswithsmartmachinetechnologiesthatwillharnessmassiveamountsof
informationandbringadvancedintelligencetodeliveruniqueandunimaginablebusinessmodels.
Augmentperimeterdefenseandrulebasedsecuritydetectionwithuserandentitybehavioranalyticsaswell
asapplicationselfprotectionduringthenexttwotothreeyears.
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Top10StrategicTechnologyTrendsfor2016:AtaGlance

Analysis
Digitalbusinessisanoverarchingthemethatcovershowtheblurringofthephysicalandvirtualworldsis
transformingbusinessdesigns,industries,marketsandorganizations.Autonomousbusinessisa
complementarythemecoveringhowincreasinglyintelligentalgorithmsenablesmartmachinesandsystemsto
becomeautonomousactorsinthedigitalbusinessasagentsforhumanbeings.WhenITleadersrespondto
digitalandautonomousbusiness,theymustrespondtothedisruptiveenablingtechnologytrendsthatbrought
themabout.
Strategictechnologytrendshavesubstantialdisruptivepotentialthatisjustbeginningtomaterializehowever,
thatcouldhitaninflectionpointwithinthenextfiveyears.Ourtop10listhighlightsstrategictrendswithbroad
industryimpactwithinthenextthreeyears.Thesetrendsaren'tyetbroadlyrecognizedorareexperiencing
significantchanges.Organizationsmustexaminethebusinessimpactofourtop10strategictechnologytrends,
andadjusttheirbusinessandITstrategiesandoperationalmodelsappropriately.Iftheydon't,they'llrisklosing
competitiveadvantagetothosethatdo.
Thetop10strategictrendsincludethreegroupingsofcomplementarytrends(seeFigure1)thataremutually
reinforcingwithamplifieddisruptivecharacteristics:
Thedigitalmeshisahumancenteredthemethatreferstothecollectionofdevices(includingthings),
information,apps,services,businessesandotherpeoplethatexistaroundtheindividual.Asthemesh
evolves,alldevices,computeandinformationresources,businesses,andindividualswillbeinterconnected.
Theinterconnectionsaredynamicandflexible,changingthroughouttheday.Buildingdigitalbusiness
solutionsanduserexperiencesforthedigitalmesh,whileaddressingthechallengestheycreate,mustbea
priorityforITleaders.
Smartmachinesdescribeathemethatstartswithhowtheinformationofeverythingisevolvingtoextract
greatermeaningfromarapidlyexpandingsetofsources.Advanceddataanalysistechnologiesand
approachesareevolvingtocreatephysicalandsoftwarebasedmachinesthatareprogrammedtolearnand
adapt,ratherthanprogrammedonlyforafinitesetofprescribedactions.
ThenewITrealitythemeaddresseskeyareasinwhichtechnologyarchitecturesandplatformsmust
changetosupporttheworldofdigitalandautonomousbusinessenabledbythedigitalmeshandsmart
machines.Newarchitecturesforsecurity,systems,applicationsandserviceswillberequired.Also,platforms
mustevolvetoaddressnotonlytheongoingmobilecomputingchallenges,buttheuniquerequirementsof
theInternetofThings(IoT).Unlessorganizationsaddressthesearchitecturalandplatformissues,theywon't
beabletoaddresstheopportunitiesandchallengesofthedigitalmeshandsmartmachines.
Figure1.Top10StrategicTechnologyTrendsfor2016

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Top10StrategicTechnologyTrendsfor2016:AtaGlance

Source:Gartner(October2015)

TrendNo.1:TheDeviceMesh
Thedevicemeshreferstoanexpandingsetofendpointspeopleusetoaccessapplicationsandinformation,or
interactwithpeople,socialcommunities,governmentsandbusinesses.Thedevicemeshmovesbeyondthe
traditionaldesktopcomputerandmobiledevices(tabletsandsmartphones)toencompassthefullrangeof
endpointswithwhichhumansmightinteract.Devicesareincreasinglyconnectedtobackendsystemsthrough
variousnetworks,butoftenoperateinisolationfromoneanother.Asthedevicemeshevolves,weexpect
connectionmodelstoexpandandgreatercooperativeinteractionbetweendevicestoemerge.
Weexpectsignificantinnovationinnewtypesofdevicesduringthenextfiveyears.Thiswillcreatemanynew
digitalbusinessopportunities,butalsoposesignificantITsecurityandmanagementchallenges.
Thedevicemeshincludes:
Traditionalcomputingandcommunicationdevices,includingdesktopandmobiledevices
Wearabledevices,includingheadmounteddisplaysthatenablevirtualandaugmentedreality
Homeelectronicsandotherconsumerdevices,includingappliances
Transportationdevicesincludingtheautomobilethatbecomedigitalendpoints

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Environmentaldevices,includingobjects,camerasandothersensorsintheIoT
Relatedresearch:

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