IDC has recently published its highly anticipated FutureScape report, IDC FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2024 Predictions (IDC #US50435423) offering a compelling glimpse into the future of the IT industry and the pivotal role of artificial intelligence (AI). In this blog post, we’ll explore the key takeaways from this year’s IDC predictions, underlining the profound impact that AI is poised to have on the entire technology landscape and the way businesses conduct their operations.
This year’s predictions are centered around the emergence of AI as a groundbreaking inflection point in the technology domain. While AI is not a new concept, the release of the GPT-3.5 series from OpenAI in late 2022 acted as a catalyst, capturing global attention and leading to a surge in investments in generative AI. In light of this, IDC foresees global spending on AI solutions surging to over $500 billion by 2027. This, in turn, will usher in a remarkable shift in the allocation of technology investments toward AI implementation and the adoption of AI-enhanced products and services.
Rick Villars, Group Vice President of Worldwide Research at IDC, encapsulated this transformative moment by stating, “Every IT provider will incorporate AI into the core of their business, investing treasure, brainpower, and time.” This signifies not just a technological advancement but a significant shift in the mindset of CIOs and the digitally savvy C-Suite. While the pivot towards AI promises a wealth of innovative AI-enhanced products and services, it also poses challenges such as the proliferation of “now with AI” options, which could lead to uncontrolled cost increases and a loss of data control.
IDC’s FutureScape 2024 research is focused on the external factors that will reshape the global business ecosystem over the next 12 to 24 months and it also delves into the issues IT teams will encounter as they work on defining, building, and governing the technologies needed to excel in a digital-first world. To gain a more detailed understanding of these predictions, let’s explore IDC’s top ten worldwide IT industry forecasts:
- Prediction 1: Core IT Shift – IDC expects the shift in IT spending toward AI will be fast and dramatic, impacting nearly every industry and application. By 2025, Global 2000 (G2000) organizations will allocate over 40% of their core IT spend to AI-related initiatives, leading to a double-digit increase in the rate of product and process innovations.
- Prediction 2: IT Industry AI Pivot – The IT industry will feel the impact of the AI watershed more than any other industry, as every company races to introduce AI-enhanced products/services and to assist their customers with AI implementations. For most, AI will replace cloud as the lead motivator of innovation.
- Prediction 3: Infrastructure Turbulence – The rate of AI spending for many enterprises will be constrained through 2025 due to major workload and resource shifts in corporate and cloud datacenters. Uncertainty about silicon supply will be joined by shortcomings in networking, facilities, model confidence, and AI skills.
- Prediction 4: Great Data Grab – In an AI Everywhere world, data is a crucial asset, feeding AI models and applications. Technology suppliers and service providers recognize this and will accelerate investments in additional data assets that they believe will improve their competitive position.
- Prediction 5: IT Skills Mismatch – Inadequate training in AI, cloud, data, security, and emerging tech fields will directly and negatively impact enterprise attempts to succeed in efforts that rely on such technologies. Through 2026, underfunded skilling initiatives will prevent 65% of enterprises from achieving full value from those tech investments.
- Prediction 6: Services Industry Transformation – GenAI will trigger a shift in human-delivered services for strategy, change, and training. By 2025, 40% of services engagements will include GenAI-enabled delivery, impacting everything from contract negotiations to IT Ops to risk assessment.
- Prediction 7: Unified Control – One of the most challenging tasks for IT teams in the next several years will be navigating the maturation of control platforms as they evolve from addressing a few basic systems to becoming a standard platform that orchestrates operations across infrastructure, data, AI services, and business applications/processes.
- Prediction 8: Converged AI – Today’s fascination with GenAI should not delay or derail existing or other AI investments. Organizations must contemplate, trial, and bring to production fully converged AI solutions that allow them to address new uses cases and customer personas at significantly lower price points.
- Prediction 9: Locational Experience – The accelerated adoption of Gen AI will enable organizations to enhance their edge computing use cases with contextual experiences that better align business outcomes with customer expectations.
- Prediction 10: Digital High Frontier – Satellite-based Internet connectivity will deliver broadband everywhere, helping to bridge the digital divide and enabling a host of new capabilities and business models. By 2028, 80% of enterprises will integrate LEO satellite connectivity, creating a unified digital service fabric that ensures resilient ubiquitous access and guarantees data fluidity.
IDC’s FutureScape predictions provide valuable insights into the future of the IT industry and the pivotal role of artificial intelligence. As AI becomes the driving force behind innovation, businesses must adapt and invest in AI to stay competitive. The rapid growth of AI spending, the transformation of IT services, and the convergence of AI solutions are just a few of the significant changes we can expect in the tech landscape.
Stay informed and be prepared for the AI revolution that will reshape the IT industry and the way businesses operate. Don’t miss the upcoming webinars to gain deeper insights into the future of technology and business:
- Worldwide Artificial Intelligence and Automation 2024 Predictions, November 8 at 12:00 pm U.S. Eastern time, featuring Ritu Jyoti
- Worldwide Digital Business 2024 Predictions, November 29 at 12:00 pm U.S. Eastern time, with Tony Olvet & Craig Powers
- Worldwide CIO Agenda 2024 Predictions, December 6 at 12:00 pm U.S. Eastern time, with Daniel Saroff & Mona Liddell
- Worldwide Emerging Technologies 2024 Predictions, December 13 at 12:00 pm U.S. Eastern time, featuring Rick Villars
Interested in learning more? Access the full IDC FutureScape event series and stay updated on the latest IT industry trends.
