IDC: Digital Native Enterprises The New Norm And The Top 10 Predictions for the ICT Industry

On November 3rd 2017 IDC announced predictions for the Digital Economy and the ICT at the Asia/Pacific at IDC FutureScapes 2018 held at the Mandarin Orchard in Singapore. IDC revealed that it expects at least 60% of the Asia/Pacific GDP to be digitized, with growth in every industry driven by digitally-enhanced offerings, operations, and relationships over the next three years. The IDC also predicted that by 2020 investors will use platform/ecosystem, data value, and customer engagement metrics as valuation factors for all enterprises^[1]. According to the IDC the aforementioned changes will transform the companies/firms that are a part of the digital economy into Digital Native Enterprises (DNE).

Read: The Ever-Evolving Role of CIOs: A Look at Gartner’s CIO Agenda Survey

If the IDC predictions do in fact come to pass, any organization that is unable or unwilling to make the necessary changes, would end up competing for a rapidly shrinking global market; eventually leading to their demise within the next decade.So what exactly is a DNE? A DNE is one that is able to scale its operations and innovate at a pace that is an order of magnitude greater than traditional businesses. It is driven by a customer-centric and empowered workforce that embraces risk taking as it seeks to continuously innovate.Technology and data are its lifeblood, fueling more efficient operations, new revenue streams and customer loyalty,” says Sandra Ng, Group Vice President of Practice Group, IDC Asia/Pacific^[1].

The top 10 predictions from the IDC that are expected to affect all aspects of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) industry within the next three years are as follows^[1]:

1. Data-centricity: By 2020, revenue growth in half of A1000 firms from information-based products and services will be triple the growth rate in the balance of the product/service portfolio.
2. Digital business: By 2018, 60% of CIOs will put experimental engagement, data monetization, or digital business at scale at the top of their agenda.
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) everywhere: By 2019, 40% of digital transformation initiatives will use AI services. By 2021, 75% of commercial apps will use AI, over 90% of consumers will interact with customer bots, and over 50% of the new industrial robots will leverage AI.
4. HD interfaces: By 2020, human-digital (HD) interfaces will diversify, as 20% of field-service techs and over 20% of info workers will use augmented reality, nearly 30% of new mobile apps will use voice as their primary interface and 30% of consumer-facing A1000 will use biometric sensors to personalize experiences.
5. Digital assistants: By 2019, personal digital assistants and bots will execute only 5% of transactions, but they will influence 15%, driving growth among the organizations that have mastered utilizing them.
6. DX platforms: By 2020, 50% of all enterprises will have fully articulated an organization-wide digital platform strategy, and will be in the process of implementing that strategy.
7. Cloud 2.0: Distributed and specialized: By 2021, enterprises’ spending on cloud services and cloud-enabling hardware, software and services is expected to reach US$75 billion, leveraging the diversifying cloud environment that is one-third at the edge, over 15% specialized (non-x86) compute, and 80% multicloud.
8. Risk and trust: By 2019, 60% of CIOs will refocus cybersecurity around authentication and trust to manage business risks, initiating the retirement of systems that cannot ensure data protection.
9. Open API ecosystems: By 2021, more than half of the A1000 will see an average of 40% of their digital services interactions come through their open API ecosystems, up from 5% in 2017 – amplifying their digital reach far beyond their own customer interactions.
10. Blockchain and digital trust: By 2021, at least 25% of the A1000 will use blockchain services as a foundation for digital trust at scale. By 2020, 25% of banks, 40% of supply-chain and 20% of healthcare organizations will use blockchain networks in production.

For more information on the Top 10 predictions for the ICT please visit the FutureScapes Library^[2] and look up the following articles:IDC FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2018 Predictions —APeJ Implications; IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Digital Transformation (DX) 2018 Predictions – APeJ Implications; and IDC FutureScape: Worldwide CIO Agenda 2018 Predictions – APeJ Implications.