Even if I can't foresee the future, one thing is certain at the beginning of 2021: technology will continue to change the way we live and work, and the pace will continue to increase.
Here are the top ten tech trends that I believe will shape the year ahead:
# 1: The digital workplace will continue to exist
The rapid adoption of virtual collaboration tools in response to lock-down and social distancing has enabled companies to continue serving their customers and maintaining business relationships. At KPMG, we introduced Microsoft Teams for more than 260,000 employees across the organization two years ahead of schedule and have held almost 300 million virtual meetings since March last year. The change in employee needs and a declining demand for office space will make hybrid teams the rule. Since new functionalities are constantly being added, companies must be able to further develop the digital workplace at a new pace and always offer their employees the most modern user experience.
# 2: The cloud transformation is accelerated
A significant part of our lives has shifted to the internet. The increase in remote work, the explosion of e-commerce, and limitless streaming have pushed the adoption and use of cloud infrastructures and led to double-digit growth rates. Although many companies are still in the early stages of this transformation, increasing digitization will accelerate the transition to cloud infrastructures and help companies to increase their productivity and efficiency and to implement innovations on a large scale and at high speed.
# 3: Cyber
security continues to have top priority
Fraudulent emails and text messages usually pile up after world events. Unfortunately, COVID-19 is no exception in this regard: The Harvey Nash / KPMG CIO survey 2020 shows that 41 percent of companies have recorded an increase in incidents, in particular through spear phishing and malware attacks targeting employees in the home office. Securing the digital infrastructure in company networks continues to have top priority and goes hand in hand with educating the workforce about cyber risks.
# 4: Companies cultivate their alliance partnerships
In a pandemic, unilateral measures will not get you very far. The same applies to all major challenges that - to put it simply - can be better solved together. KPMG has built a strong network of alliances with some of the world's leading technology, data and service companies. Jens Rassloff, Global Head of Strategic Relations & Investments at KPMG, presents some of the impressive projects. KPMG experts work with our alliance partners, customers and the public sector. Like KPMG, numerous companies have recognized their ecosystems as a key success factor and want to expand them.
# 5: The democratization of technology will lead to
"Citizen Developers"
The requirements of digital transformation exceed central IT resources and the lack of professional developers is increasing. Innovative and intuitive low-code / no-code development platforms enable specialist employees from all areas of a company to create their own applications, optimize company processes and intensify customer loyalty quickly and cost-effectively, which results in an actual democratization of technology and the transformation gap is closed.
# 6: Intelligent
automation (IA) and artificial intelligence (AI) are used on a large scale
All around us we perceive rapid automation and digitization made possible by advanced machines based on artificial intelligence. Chatbots, for example, are integrated into business processes and perform tasks based on data and machine learning so that employees can concentrate on value-adding activities. As the underlying technologies become more accessible via the cloud, intelligent automation and artificial intelligence are moving from the experimental phase to large-scale deployment. This is reflected in the increase in discussions on ethics, regulation, oversight and other related new topics.
# 7: Technology as a driver
for sustainability
The KPMG 2020 CEO Outlook shows that executives see ESG issues not just as a global challenge or regulatory matter, but as an opportunity to reshape their company in such a way that a sustainable economy can be promoted, competitive advantages can be created, more influence can be exercised on buyer decisions and skilled workers can be recruited . 71 percent of respondents said they want to stick to the achievements on climate change made during the pandemic. Technology acts as a catalyst in this regard, because technology enables us to analyze and forecast our impact on the environment. It creates transparency and contributes to increasing efficiency within our value chain. It also optimizes processes and systems to reduce waste, save energy and change our daily behavior for the better.
# 8: Networked healthcare
COVID-19 has become a catalyst for long overdue changes in healthcare. Health systems around the world have used digital technologies to deliver care through new channels and enable viral disease monitoring and contact tracking. In this “New Reality”, further digital transformation will be required to create more resilient and connected health systems that enable patient-centered, holistic care, support informed physician decision-making, and promote innovation, including advances in operational and support functions.
# 9: Lifelong
Learning
A 12-year-old recently told me that he was "bored with online classes". Well, I have bad news for him. E-learning will continue to exist not only for children but also for adults. The type of provision of the learning offer will change, away from the (virtual) classroom towards a continuous, self-determined learning model with compressed, individualized learning units (so-called knowledge nuggets) that are integrated into processes and offered in a context-related manner. For example, we support our KPMG audit experts with contextual guidances that are embedded in our KPMG Clara workflow to enable both continuous and real-time learning.
# 10: Trust is paramount
With the outbreak of COVID-19, companies have adopted new technology at a record pace. In many cases, these software launches have been successful and have helped address the challenges of the pandemic. At the same time, however, they have often heightened existing concerns about trust and raised questions about cybersecurity and risk management practices. For long-term success, companies should integrate trust, technology and governance into the organizational structures and the holistic corporate strategy.
Even without looking into the crystal ball, it can be clearly seen that digital transformation and its implementation are no longer just optional - they are absolutely necessary for business operations and can make the decisive difference between a successful future and the failure of a company.
The COVID-19 crisis has given technology a new meaning. It has the potential to turn important social, ecological and economic issues for the better and to make our lives safer, healthier, more sustainable and happier. It is now up to all of us to ensure that everyone benefits equally from this technological progress and that we successfully counteract the digital divide in society.
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