Deloitte’s 2014 Report Identifies Tech Trends Disruptors, Enablers

Deloitte, a professional services firm, at the launch of its fifth annual Tech Trends report in Lagos on Wednesday, identified 10 technological trends that could have an impact on African companies across industry sectors over the coming 18 to 24 months.

By Disruptors Deloitte cited opportunities that can create sustainable positive impact in IT capabilities, business operations and sometimes even business models, while enablers are technologies in which many Chief Information Officers (CIOs) have already invested time and effort, but which warrant another look because of new developments or opportunities.

The identifiable disruptors include CIOs as Venture Capitalist; Cognitive analytics; Industrial crowdsourcing; Digital engagement and Wearbles, while the enablers are technical debt reversal; social activation; cloud orchestration; in-memory revolution and real-time DevOps.

“At their core, these trends inspire disruption by having the potential to reshape organisations, business models, and even entire industries in South Africa and beyond. While some of these technologies might seem far-fetched for some, the reality is that the evolving competitive landscape means they can provide companies with a distinct business advantage,” said Kamal Ramsingh, Technology Leader for Africa at Deloitte.

Ramsingh said the disruptive technologies highlighted in the report can challenge CIOs to anticipate the impacts that these forces may have on their organisation.

“This year, we look at how technology forces offer CIOs the opportunity to shape tomorrow, to inspire, to create, and to transform business as usual.”

According to Mark White, the global chief technology officer of Deloitte, “the trends identified in the report have to adhere to very strict criteria which include having to be business-led and technology-enabled, as well as have at least three real world instances of adoption.”

“It is clear that organisations need to be forward-thinking to develop strategies that are cognisant of the pace of technological change. However, trends that are too future-focused are of very little practical value for decision-makers wanting to get a competitive edge in the market in the short-term. As such, the Tech Trends report is focused on those emerging technologies that can provide measurable returns in the next 18 to 24 months,” said White.

“This year’s report reflects the reality of the connected world. Data, mobile, social, cyber security, and the cloud are all key drivers in what businesses do online. Even South African organisations are starting to realise the business benefits that leveraging developments in this area can provide them,” said Ramsingh.

While advising the Nigerian indigenous companies to embrace new ways of using skills in information technology for enterprise value and business growth, he said, “Nigerians need to be more conscious on their security and environment by adopting application of wearable technology which support video and audio solution for personal security.”

On Technical Debt, he said that Nigeria companies could reverse its huge debt consequent, technical deficiencies by adopting the global standard design for technical operation in multinational companies.

Ramsingh disclosed that “Global Technical debt is estimated at $500billon”.

He also charged Nigerians to adopt in-memory storage system, stressing that In-memory computing aid processing of big-data.

He said “In-memory helps to create business value on big data.”

On Cloud Orchestration, the Director said that 100% big data management with efficient cloud solution is possible in Nigeria public and private sector, while there are likely potential pitfall for business using the social media and other e-commerce platform especially as African countries are open to embrace any technology.

“The ability to understand what digital means to any striving business means in Nigeria is essential to leverage global practices,” he said.