New Dell Technologies Research Reveals Divided Future

The globe is currently entering the next era of human-machine partnerships with a divided vision of the future, according to global research now available from Dell Technologies. Half of the 3,800 global business leaders surveyed forecast that automated systems will free up their time, while the other 50 per cent believe otherwise. Similarly, 42 per cent believe they will have more job satisfaction in the future by offloading tasks to machines, while 58 per cent disagree.

The quantitative research conducted by Vanson Bourne, follows Dell Technologies’ seminal story, “Realising 2030: The Next Era of HumanMachine Partnerships.”

The study forecasted that by 2030, emerging technologies will forge human partnerships with machines that are richer and more immersive than ever before, helping us surpass our limitations. Business leaders agree: 82 per cent of respondents expect humans and machines will work as integrated teams within their organisation inside of five years. Commenting on the research forecast, the Chief Marketing Officer at Dell Technologies, Jeremy Burton, said: “You can understand why the business community is so polarised. There tends to be two extreme perspectives about the future: The anxiety-driven issue of human obsolescence or the optimistic view that technology will solve our greatest social problems. These differing viewpoints could make it difficult for organisations to prepare for a future that’s in flux and would certainly hamper leaders’ efforts to push through necessary change.

Given the promise of monumental change, triggered by exponentially increasing data and the applications, processing power and connectivity to harness it, 56 per cent speculate that schools will need to teach how to learn rather than what to learn to prepare students for jobs that don’t yet exist. This thinking corroborates IFTF’s forecast that 85 per cent of jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t been invented yet.

Furthermore, many businesses are not moving fast enough, and going deep enough, to overcome common barriers to operating as a successful digital business.

Only 27 per cent of businesses believe they are leading the way with digital technology. About 42 per cent do not know whether they will be able to compete over the next decade, and the majority, which is about 57 per cent of businesses are struggling to keep-up with the pace of change.

According to the researchers global leaders may be divided in their view of the future and facing barriers to change, but they are united in the need to transform.