Data surge top IT issue
Robotics, augmented reality and artificial intelligence will continue to flourish over the next year.
ICT solutions company Dimension Data published its top information technology predictions for 2017 and ownership and access to data came out as a top theme.
Chief technology officer Ettienne Reinecke said data was the ‘‘gold dust’’ that allowed organisations to get insights into customer behaviour. ‘‘In addition, metadata allows organisations to identify specific behavioural patterns, derive business intelligence, and make informed business decisions,’’ she said.
More organisations were wanting to perform analytics with the data and metadata they had.
Reinecke said this would trigger interesting discussions about the ownership of data.
Dimension Data also predicted cyber security will become more predictive as cybercrime becomes more sophisticated.
Technology such as holographics, augmented reality and virtual reality will move more into the workplace, driving change.
A report this year by professional services firm PwC identified eight technologies leading change in the business landscape.
These were blockchain, artificial intelligence, robots, drones, the internet of things, augmented reality, virtual reality and 3D printing.
Companies were thinking about using artificial intelligence in areas ranging from customer service to investment advice.
PwC partner Andy Symons said in the report that almost 40 per cent of companies surveyed were already using augmented reality and virtual reality in product design and development.
More and more household appliances, vehicles, machines, boats and airplanes would be connected to the internet and creating huge amounts of data.
Symons said some of the industries that will be most affected included payments, retail, e-commerce, design and travel.
‘‘Having an ability to test and experiment with these new emerging technologies is going to become critical for companies to understand how these technologies could impact their business,’’ he said.