Digital Deluge

There are several trends that that have shaped the last several years in the business world, but at the end of the day they all create the same challenges and opportunities around how to generate more data, what do do with it once it’s generated, and then how to quickly understand if we’re all focusing on the right things.  These challenges have created several areas that leading organizations focus on and continue to invest in whether it be on a large scale project basis or a more fundamental organizational shift to make these capabilities part of their operating model.

1. Big Data and AI – Artificial Intelligence fueled by ubiquitous computing and advances in speech processing will frame our future
2. IoT – everything is online
3. Software – everything is an API
4. User Experience (UX) – the average American’s attention span is now 8 seconds, 1 second shy of a goldfish
5. Agile Transformation – there is more value in customer collaboration than contract negotiation
6. Security – how do we continue breaking down technical boundaries while keeping identities, personal data, and our news secure and reliable?

This list is not comprehensive of what is impacted by the ongoing digital revolution through which we are all still living, but these opportunities and challenges are at the challenges we are tasked with time and time again at almost every organization with whom we partner.  There are several other areas that are disrupting the marketplace such as the shift to cloud computing and the rise of the smartphone as the primary computing device of both personal and business users, but these trends can be subsumed into Agile Transformation and IoT, respectively.  The shift to the cloud has allowed for companies to rapidly provision infrastructure and resources, thereby allowing their teams to focus on creating solutions instead of wasting valuable time of its most valuable resources just to get started.  Similarly the rise of smartphones (and now smart devices) has led to a present that feels like the future – we all interact with several connected devices per day, with some industry experts stating that in the next 3 years there could be up to 80 billion devices connected to the internet compared to the approximately 5 billion today – an increase of 1600%.

Last year alone we were tapped to assist with the development of computational platforms to assist with Artificial Intelligence use cases, API and distributed data grid solutions to handle rapidly growing device and sensor data collection, countless custom software development challenges for next generation web and mobile solutions, and UX design and research challenges to keep up with the rapid evolution of how we all expect and desire to interact with technology (and ultimately, our world).  These challenges were all presented with an underlying desire and expectation to figure out how to do all of this faster, in the cloud, securely, and across departments, timezones, and borders.

As we look into the New Year one can only assume that these trends will continue, and that other new trends will emerge or other current themes will step more into focus as priorities shift and our experience causes us to react by searching for new solutions.

If you and your team are looking for ways to capitalize on the unprecedented opportunities our brave new digital world presents, or if you’re grappling with how to implement the technology and solutions to help realize the opportunities you’ve already begun pursuing, drop us a line, we’d love to help.