Introduction
In this week’s edition of WiredWisdomWednesday, let’s do a quick round up of some insights from the best consulting firms in the Industry. This week, we will focus on Deloitte and Accenture. Both companies had an interesting view on what 2024 would look like from a transformation standpoint, a few months ago. We have already seen many of these predictions stick, even if we are less than 90 days into the year!
Deloitte
The report “Tech Trends 2024” from Deloitte focuses on the evolution and impact of emerging technologies on businesses and identifies key trends shaping the future of technology across various sectors. It outlines how advancements in technology are being harnessed by pioneering leaders and organizations to build aspects of the future today, with a particular emphasis on the application of emerging technology innovations.
The report categorizes the forces driving these changes into elevating forces (interaction, information, and computation) and grounding forces (business of technology, core modernization, and cyber and trust), highlighting the interplay between these elements in the technological landscape.
The document details several key trends:
- “Interfaces in new places: Spatial computing and the industrial metaverse” discusses augmented and virtual reality technologies finding significant applications in industrial settings, contributing to digital twins, spatial simulation, augmented work instructions, and collaborative digital spaces, enhancing safety and efficiency.
- “Genie out of the bottle: Generative AI as growth catalyst” covers the explosion of generative AI on the scene, emphasizing its ability to mimic human cognition and the potential for significant productivity and efficiency gains in enterprise settings.
- “Smarter not harder: Beyond brute force compute” explores the need for specialized hardware beyond traditional computing to support the computationally intensive workloads of today’s businesses, highlighting the evolution toward using GPUs, AI chips, quantum computing, and other technologies to achieve these goals.
Accenture
The “Accenture Life Trends 2024” report scathingly delves into the evolving relationship between individuals and technology, as well as societal shifts that challenge traditional life milestones. Its like watching It Black Mirror play out in real life! It outlines how people are increasingly questioning established norms, influenced by rapid technological advancements, changing demographics, and shifting values. The document identifies key trends that reflect these shifts:
- Shrinkflation, reduced focus on the quality of the product, and hence the customer. There is an escalating sense of loss of trust – especially from services on offer, mostly for a price.
- Finally, an internet that speaks to you in a language you can understand. Generative AI (and its forms like Conversational AI, etc) has totally upgraded the experience – from serving up a mere sorted list – to a cogent and coherent response that can be used immediately. Now we are spoilt and want the same everywhere!
- Creative stagnation – is that the ultimate writers block, or is it the perceived perfection of a addled brain that has reveled in so much creativity, that normal is not acceptable any more.
- Loss of faith in Humans, Humanity not yet. Our interaction with devices has become some prevalent that we don’t balk when our screen time reports tell us we have been interacting with technology for more than 70% of our waking hours
- Super shrunk life cycles due to rapid pace of change. Societal and traditional milestones have shifted meteorically – so much so that some of the milestones are willfully discarded – like owning a home, or starting a family. Sustainability is no longer just for the environment, it is as much relevant for society, and for individuals.