Cultivating a connected world with emerging technology
But while we’re getting there with connecting the world, a gap between the technology we have and our ability to use it to its fullest means we’re still struggling to realise our true digital potential.
Adopting the latest trends, innovations and software releases is all well and good, but doing so without getting the most out of what we already have can hold businesses back. It’s therefore essential that we gain the maximum benefit of the technology we currently have at our fingertips.
An increasingly important focus on data
An IDC report recently revealed that the amount of data in existence will grow to 175 zettabytes in 2025, a 430% increase on the 33 zettabytes in existence in 2018. And 90% of that data is expected to be created by the IoT alone. While data is increasing exponentially, businesses remain unable to capture data effectively and put it to use in a way that delivers value.
This is indicative of the digital gaps that are permeating the business world. To illustrate, public services like tax payments, utility bills and health information could be made more accessible and user-friendly if government data was made more publicly accessible; and small businesses could gain a huge competitive advantage on their larger, less agile competitors if they were to fully capitalise on the opportunities of cloud computing.
Achieving our digital potential
Closing these digital gaps won’t suddenly be achieved through a ‘big bang’ moment. Rather, it will be a gradual process of intelligent transformation, which will see businesses digitising their assets driven by big data and the cloud, as well as emerging technologies like blockchain, edge computing, 5G and Artificial Intelligence.
These technologies are increasingly shaking up businesses, changing the way they operate, reshaping their processes and rewriting business models as we know them.
For example, the combination of 5G and edge computing will eliminate the need for businesses to have a server on-premise, enhancing their data processing capabilities and guaranteeing low latency and high bandwidth. To put it into context how businesses will change the management of their data, around one-tenth of enterprise-generated data is currently created and processed outside of a traditional data centre – but by 2022, Gartner predicts that will rise to 75%.
We’re seeing businesses all over the world begin to get the most out of their existing tools and systems by embracing emerging technologies.
