The digital economy is changing how business professionals work, thanks to new emerging technology. Almost all areas of business are undergoing digital transformation, including procurement. Innovative technologies such as cloud, AI/cognitive, machine learning, natural language processing, and big data/analytics are completely altering traditional procurement applications, digitizing procurement and partners.
While we’ve discussed the disruptive power that artificial intelligence (AI) applications bring to enterprise organizations, the truth is that AI adoption is still low for these businesses. However, adoption level is at a tipping point; investment in AI has tripled, and recent technical innovations promise to make AI not just an underlying technology capability, but a fundamental business tool. Here are just three of the technical innovations that enterprises can use to better leverage the disruptive power of AI:
By now you’ve probably heard about this next generation of cellular connectivity thing known as 5G. Nationwide advertising campaigns tout the ability to play multiplayer games on the move and logos are already changing on our phones. You might even think you have it via the 5G (GHz) channel on your WiFi router. Mobile operators began announcing launches of one form of 5G service or another beginning late last year and are continuing through 2019. Leading academics and engineers have already moved on and started talking about 6G and 7G. The 5G era is signed, sealed and delivered, right?
The Internet of Things (IoT) market is a tricky thing; customers aren’t necessarily looking to buy “IoT technology” but are instead searching for solutions that can help them achieve a specific business goal, such as supply chain efficiency or cost savings. That’s why IoT vendors need to not only have a good handle on the other players in their space, but on the ways they and their competition are framing their individual IoT solutions. It’s not enough to talk about the IoT market; vendors must frame their solution in a business value context in order to connect with their customer base.
In an earlier blog about the Future of Work, and in a recent IDC Perspective, we presented IDC’s view of the Future of Work and offered a framework that provides a way to approach and scope the organizational, policy, and technology changes required to leverage this opportunity in a holistic manner. In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at the growing role of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, IPA, and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) in automating and augmenting the tasks and processes traditionally accomplished by human workers. We’ll also explore how organizations are planning to acquire the skills required to leverage the opportunities for automation and human-machine collaboration.
