Alice Chambers |
Technology research firm Gartner has identified three emerging themes in technology, including the expansion of immersive experiences, the acceleration of artificial intelligence (AI) automation and the optimisation of technology service delivery.
The themes were identified after Gartner analysed 25 emerging technologies in its paper Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2022. All the technologies have the potential to provide help organisations gain a competitive advantage over the next two to 10 years (see graph above).
Immersive experience technology allows users to control their identities and data with virtual representations, environments and ecosystems. These technologies include tools such as metaverse, non-fungible tokens, super apps and Web3, decentralised identity, digital humans, digital twins and internal talent marketplaces.
Accelerated AI automation covers the growth of specialised AI models that can be applied to automate model development, training and deployment. These include autonomic systems, causal AI, foundation models, generative design AI, and machine learning code generation.
Additionally, the theme of optimised technology service delivery includes technology that provides feedback and insight to accelerate the delivery of products, services and solutions. These include FinOps, cloud data ecosystems, cloud sustainability, computational storage, cybersecurity mesh architecture, data observability, dynamic risk governance, industry cloud platforms, minimum viable architecture, observability driven development, OpenTelemetry and platform engineering.
“Emerging technologies offer transformational potential for businesses, but chief information officers and technology innovation leaders are challenged to scale digital capabilities while improving sustainability in the face of expanding resource constraints,” said Melissa Davis, vice president analyst at Gartner. “It is essential that organisations cut through the noise surrounding emerging technologies to accelerate change by leveraging innovations that drive competitive differentiation and efficiency.”
Gary Ollife, vice president analyst at Gartner, said: “All technologies on this Hype Cycle are at an early stage, but some are nascent and great uncertainty exists about how they will evolve. Such technologies present greater risks for deployment, but potentially greater benefits for early adopters who can assess and exploit them in line with their organisation’s ability to handle unproven technologies.”