Professional Documents
Culture Documents
C 04
C 04
Strategic
Technology
Trends
for 2019
Edited by
David W. Cearley, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner
© 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. PR_575107
Introduction
The Gartner top 10 strategic technology trends for
2019 highlight changing or not yet widely recognized
Intelligent Digital Mesh
trends that will impact and transform industries
through 2023.
David W. Cearley
Digital Ethics
Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner and Privacy
Quantum Computing
Autonomous
Things
At the most basic level, autonomous things use artificial
intelligence (AI) to automate tasks or functions traditionally
performed by humans. Autonomous things can appear in
different forms and environments, although often they are
in the form of a physical device operating in the real world.
Augmented
Analytics
Augmented analytics represents a third major wave for data
and analytics capabilities, as data scientists use automated
algorithms to explore more hypotheses than traditionally
possible. Data science and machine learning platforms have
transformed how businesses generate analytics insight.
Augmented analytics identify hidden patterns while
removing personal bias and will eventually be embedded
What is a citizen data scientist? into enterprise applications.
Contextualized vision Unique perspective Organizations will need data scientists to take advantage of
of the organization of individual the opportunities that come with the analytics advancements.
business area
However, there will not be enough of them to fill all the open
Proven application of
roles, and organizations will begin using citizen data scientists.
analytic techniques Curiosity to explore
to business problems and learn
AI-Driven
Development
AI-driven development looks at tools, technologies and
best practices for embedding AI into applications and using
AI to create AI-powered tools for the development process.
To take advantage of this trend, data scientists must partner
with application developers to create AI-enhanced solutions
as a service. This expands the number of developers who
are able to deliver AI-enhanced solutions and delivers
higher developer productivity.
Take Action
Beyond this “augmented developer” option is the Most of these services will be delivered via the
“automated developer,” in which AI is applied to the cloud. Decide what type of cloud infrastructure
actual development process itself. This technology (i.e., standard, hybrid or multicloud) is the best
will evolve from virtual software engineers developing fit for your organization’s goals.
basic code to developing solutions.
Digital Twins
A digital twin is a digital representation that mirrors a
real-life object, process or system. Digital twins can also
be linked to create twins of larger systems, such as a
power plant or city.
Empowered Edge
Edge computing is a topology where information processing
and content collection and delivery are placed closer to the
sources of the information, with the idea that keeping traffic
local will reduce latency. Empowered edge is focused on
driving greater capabilities to edge devices. In particular,
this trend focuses on three areas:
Immersive
Technologies
By 2022, 70% of enterprises will be experimenting with
immersive technologies for consumer and enterprise use,
and 25% will have deployed to production. Through 2028,
conversational platforms, which change how users interact
with the world, and technologies such as augmented reality
(AR), mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR), which change
Business case: Remote maintenance
how users perceive the world, will lead to new immersive
experiences. AR, MR and VR show potential for increased A broken piece of manufacturing equipment can cost millions
productivity, with the next generation of VR able to sense in production downtime before someone can be brought in to
shapes and track a user’s position and MR enabling people to fix it. Immersive technology enables an engineer in a different
view and interact with their world. location to quickly remotely view and fix the issue.
Blockchain
Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger, which is a
technology that provides trust in an untrusted environment
(removing the need for a central authority figure, such as
a bank) and reduces business friction. These ledgers keep
a chronological list of cryptographically signed, irrevocable
records that all participants can see and use to trace the
history of any of the individual records. The ledger operates
independently of individual applications and participants.
Smart Spaces
Smart spaces are environments that bring technologies
and trends together in an innovative fashion to support
a targeted persona or user category, for example, an
advanced digital workplace or connected factory. The
idea is to look at a workplace or city not as a collection
of individual applications and technologies, but as a
holistic unit.
Digital Ethics
and Privacy
In today’s world of privacy, enterprises must ask, “Just
because we can gather all this information about people,
should we?” Consumers are increasingly aware of and
concerned about how much of their personal data is being
collected and how that data is being used. Conversations External (avoidance)
about privacy must be grounded in the broader topic of
Making a difference: Ethical considerations can create a
digital ethics and trust, which shifts the conversation from
competitive differentiation by using ethics to create a value
“are we compliant” to “are we doing the right thing.” The
proposition. An example is implementing “privacy by design”
move from compliance-driven to ethics-driven can be
to position products and services as more privacy-friendly
described as the hierarchy of intent.
than those of competitors.
The hierarchy of intent Following your values: Making business decisions based
on your moral compass and brand values.
Internal (achievement)
Mind-compliance: Externally driven and focused on
avoiding issues. As long as there is no law or rule against
what’s proposed, it’s allowed.
Take Action
Mitigate risk: This is focused on the risk an enterprise is Determine your organization’s position
willing to take without harming itself. Organizations will on privacy driven by the broader position on
examine the risk of doing harm to others and the risk of ethics and trust. Begin the shift from privacy
“getting caught” doing something that will damage the to ethics to become digitally trustworthy.
reputation of the enterprise.
Quantum
Computing
Quantum computing is a type of nonclassical computing
based on the quantum state of subatomic particles that
represent information as elements denoted as quantum bits
or “qubits.” A qubit can hold all possible results simultaneously
(superposition) until read and can be linked with other qubits
(entanglements). Quantum computing is a massively parallel
Consider the following:
process that scales exponentially as qubits are added. The
parallel abilities means that quantum computers can solve Imagine a giant library of books that includes every book
problems too complicated for classical computers or where ever written. The goal? Find one particular phrase in one
a traditional algorithm would take too long. specific book. A classical computer would read each book
one after the other. A quantum computer would read all
Quantum computers are not general-purpose, but the books simultaneously. Quantum computers are able
rather are capable of running a limited number of algorithms. to theoretically work on millions of computations at once.
However, there is significant hype surrounding them. For
example, meaningful work requires 100 to 300 logical
qubits, currently not a practical number.
Take Action
Wait to buy quantum computing options
until the technology has matured, but monitor
industry progress and anticipate potential
opportunities.
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© 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. PR_575107