PM Network - December 2015

Source: ISACA, Innovation Insights: Top Digital Trends that Affect Strategy, 2015; U. N. Global Pulse; Mercy Corps; Market Watch; Forbes; eMarketer; Class-central.com. (ISACA report methodology: More than 140,000 ISACA members around the world—practitioners and executives across all business sectors—were surveyed.)

Technology is increasingly driving organizations’ strategies. Those that fail to innovate around the right digital trends—and launch projects to integrate them into operations—risk falling behind quickly.

THE TOP 10

Portfolio managers take note: Ten emerging digital technology trends are most likely to deliver significant value to organizations in the near future.

DIGITAL ADVANTAGE

TREND POTENTIAL IMPORTANT FIGURE PROJECT EXAMPLE

BIG DATA ANALYTICS MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES CLOUD COMPUTING MACHINE LEARNING INTERNET OF THINGS MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSES (MOOCS)

SOCIAL NETWORKING DIGITAL BUSINESS MODELS CYBER-SECURITY DIGITAL CURRENCY

Uncover trends and patterns that can be leveraged to improve organizational intelligence Extend an organization’s reach through new platforms for business applications and richer interactions with customers, plus streamline operations Access on-demand technology services while cutting in-house IT costs Cognitive computer systems with the ability to learn from business-related interactions can help transform how organizations operate.

Physical objects linked to the Internet can originate data—and communicate it to organizations or individuals to add value.

Educate large numbers of people—including employees—at low cost in virtual learning environments Enhance employee and customer interactions, extending an organization’s marketing platform through web and mobile platforms Disrupt entire industries through business models impossible without digital technologies Protect information networks and devices from threats Enable transactions that aren’t tied to physical currency (e.g., cash)

Already mainstream Already mainstream Already mainstream More than five years Two to five years One to two years Already mainstream One to two years Already mainstream Two to five years

Worldwide
value: US$125
billion

Worldwide value: US$3.3 trillion in 2014

Worldwide value: US$127 billion by 2017

Worldwide
private invest-
ment: US$14.9
billion in 2014

Worldwide value: US$1.9 trillion in 2013

Worldwide
MOOCs available
(as of October
2015): 4,054
Worldwide social
network ad
spending (2015
projection):

US$25 billion

Worldwide potential reach: At least 30 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020.

Worldwide
value: US$75.4
billion
Worldwide value:

More than US$10 billion in 2014

Health organizations used anonymized information from mobile phone networks to help understand travel patterns during a 2015 typhoid outbreak in Uganda.

A mobile app allowed the Philippines’ first micro mobile bank to send US$2.3 million directly to 25,000 families affected by Typhoon Haiyan.

Adobe in 2015 released a cloud-based programmatic ad platform for advertisers and media publishers that integrates analytics and audience-targeting capabilities.

Healint developed a mobile app to let users summon help when having a stroke. The app can learn to distinguish between a deliberate emergency shake and other movements.

The French company Babolat created a smart tennis racket that records detailed information about the player’s performance.

To on-board new employees and save time, McAfee created online courses.

Nokia created its own worldwide social network, BlogHub, to break down organizational silos and facilitate employee communications.

The ride-sharing service Uber added a new function to its platform in 2015 allowing businesses to request rides for customers.

A US$15 million initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy aims to develop new technologies to protect the U.S. power grid from cyberattacks.

A team at Johns Hopkins University is developing a digital currency called Zerocoin that will prevent fraudulent transactions without revealing buyers’ personal information.