Top 10 Technology Trends 2024: The Future of Innovation

AI as Partner: AI Trust, Risk, and Security Management (AI TRiSM)

Artificial intelligence has firmly established itself as an invaluable partner in our technological journey. AI TRiSM, short for AI Trust, Risk, and Security Management, is set to revolutionize how we perceive AI. Here’s how to get started with AI TRiSM:

• Set up a task force or dedicated unit to manage your AI TRiSM efforts.
• Work across your organization to effectively manage best-of-breed toolsets as part of a comprehensive AI TRiSM program.
• Define acceptable use policies, and establish a system to methodically record and approve access to AI models and attestations of actual uses.

This technology focuses on governance, trustworthiness, fairness, reliability, robustness, transparency, and data protection. It ensures that AI models are not only powerful but also ethical and secure, offering a comprehensive solution for managing the risks associated with AI.

“By 2026, enterprises that apply TRiSM controls to AI applications will increase accuracy of their decision making by eliminating 80% of faulty and illegitimate information.” 

Source: Gartner

Be Safe: Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)

The digital world is filled with threats, and they evolve constantly. Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is the answer to this ever-changing landscape. It offers a pragmatic and systemic approach to continuously adjust cybersecurity optimization priorities, ensuring that your digital presence remains safe from evolving threats.

To get started with Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM), consider these steps:

• Integrate CTEM consistently with risk awareness and management programs to provide a relatable business-led focus and business value-based prioritization of exposure mitigation.
• When expanding a vulnerability management program, gain momentum with operational wins that frequently lie in improving the prioritization of findings through validation techniques.
• Embrace cybersecurity validation technologies to augment your existing prioritization workflows and enhance cybersecurity readiness.

“By 2026, organizations prioritizing their security investments based on a CTEM program will realize a two-thirds reduction in breaches.” 

Source: Gartner

Protect the Future: Sustainable Technology

Sustainable technology is a critical aspect of future-proofing your business. Here’s how to get started:

• Select technologies that will help drive sustainability in your industry and that are identified as a priority for the business and key stakeholders. This may include cloud services, AI, and others.
• Involve your ethics board in developing a roadmap for structured decision-making. Instead of finding trade-offs, pursue optimization of any value in favor of improved overall organizational sustainability.
• Use the Gartner Hype Cycle™ for Sustainability, 2023, to find the right balance between well-established and leading-edge technologies for your enterprise sustainability.

The world is becoming increasingly conscious of environmental and social issues. Sustainable technology offers a framework of digital solutions that enable environmental, social, and governance (ESG) outcomes. This trend is all about supporting long-term ecological balance and human rights, making it more than just a technology trend—it’s a commitment to a better future.

“By 2027, 25% of CIOs will have compensation linked to their sustainable technology impact.”

Source: Gartner

Developer-Driven Self-Service: Platform Engineering

Platform Engineering is the discipline of building and operating self-service internal platforms. These platforms are like layers, created and maintained by dedicated product teams, designed to support the needs of its users. This approach optimizes internal processes and empowers developers to be more productive.

For those looking to embark on a journey of Developer-Driven Self-Service through Platform Engineering, consider the following steps:

• Curate and build internal platforms with reusable, composable, configurable platform components, knowledge, and services.
• Treat the platform as a product. Work with end users to identify and prioritize whatever technical capabilities, tools, and processes are most useful to them, and then build a platform around that.
• Build a product management culture, with routine collaboration between platform engineers and the end users they serve, where they can share bidirectional feedback in a safe and productive environment.

“By 2026, 80% of software engineering organizations will establish platform teams as internal providers of reusable services, components and tools for application delivery.” 

Source: Gartner

Read more about Platform Engineering here: Demystifying Platform Engineering: Simplifying Development and Maintenance

Accelerate Creation: AI-Augmented Development

The fusion of artificial intelligence and software development is here to stay. AI-augmented development involves the use of AI technologies, such as generative AI and machine learning, to assist software engineers in creating, testing, and delivering applications more efficiently. This accelerates the software development process, leading to increased innovation and productivity.

To accelerate creation with AI-Augmented Development, consider the following steps:

• Establish a team of senior software engineers who can evaluate AI code generation tools to determine the best way to deploy and use these tools.
• Evaluate and deploy AI testing tools, as these will become mandatory elements of your application testing processes.
• Select or establish a design system with reusable UI design and front-end components, and enable this design system with design-to-code capabilities.

“By 2028, 75% of enterprise software engineers will use AI coding assistants, up from less than 10% in early 2023.” 

Source: Gartner

Tailor Your Tailor’s Work: Industry Cloud Platforms

Industry Cloud Platforms are tailored solutions that address industry-relevant business outcomes. They combine SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS services into a whole product offering with composable capabilities. This trend ensures that technology aligns perfectly with the unique needs of various industries.

To embark on the journey of Industry Cloud Platforms (ICPs), consider the following steps:

• Use ICPs to complement the existing portfolio of applications, much like an exoskeleton, by introducing new capabilities that add significant value, rather than starting by replacing existing capabilities.
• Create rules for when ICP functions should be deployed as production platforms to optimize and modernize by enhancing existing processes, and when these functions should be actively restructured to enable more differentiated transformation and innovation initiatives.
• Begin building composability capabilities by engaging enterprise technologists and fusion teams to build enterprise-wide understanding and support for the ICP journey.

“By 2027, more than 50% of enterprises will use industry cloud platforms to accelerate their business initiatives, up from less than 15% in 2023.” 

Source: Gartner

Optimize Decision-Making: Intelligent Applications

Intelligent applications are a game-changer. These are consumer or business applications augmented with AI and connected data from transactions and external sources. They provide better insights and optimize decision-making, improving overall efficiency and productivity.

To optimize decision-making with Intelligent Applications, consider the following steps:

• Establish a center of excellence or similar team to capture, explain, catalog, map, and monitor the breadth and depth of intelligence as a capability for your apps.
• Assess how intelligent applications transform the scope, purpose, and functionality of your enterprise apps.
• Establish a clear and shared understanding of intelligent applications and their potential use cases throughout your organization.
• Evaluate the impact on your wider portfolio of apps and services as you expand the range and scope of intelligent applications in the medium to long term.

“By 2026, 30% of new apps will use AI to drive personalized adaptive user interfaces, up from under 5% today.” 

Source: Gartner

Power AND Responsibility: Democratized Generative AI

Generative AI is a transformative force, enabling the creation of new content with ease. Democratized Generative AI empowers individuals and businesses to leverage AI tools for creativity, automation, and innovation while ensuring that the well-being of employees remains a top priority.

To harness the potential of Democratized Generative AI, consider these steps:

• Create a prioritized matrix of generative AI use cases based on technical feasibility and tangible business value, and clearly outline a time frame for piloting, deployment, and production across these use cases.
• Employ a change management approach that prioritizes employee training and well-being by equipping them with the knowledge to use generative AI tools safely and confidently, while reassuring them on how these tools will be an assistant to them in automating routine tasks.
• Build a portfolio of quick wins and differentiating and transformational generative AI use cases that combine initiatives with hard ROI and those delivering benefits and competitive advantage that are difficult to initially quantify directly in financial terms.

“By 2026, more than 80% of enterprises will have used generative AI APIs, models and/or deployed generative AI-enabled applications in production environments, an increase from fewer than 5% today.” 

Source: Gartner

Reade more about Generative AI here: The Transformative Impact of Generative AI: An Essential Guide for Every CEO

Push the Pioneers: Augmented Connected Workforce

To get the most out of your human workforce, it’s essential to optimize their performance. Augmented Connected Workforce is a strategy that leverages intelligent technology, workforce analytics, and skill augmentation to accelerate and scale talent building. It’s all about improving the way your workforce operates in an increasingly digital world.

To embark on this journey of Augmented Connected Workforce, consider these steps:

• Prioritize time to competency for inexperienced workers who perform in highly complex environments — quantify results such as faster onboarding.
• Create a cross-functional program consisting of leaders from IT, HR, sales, customer service, and supply chain; as a group, decide which workforce segments to prioritize investment in and which outcomes to pursue.
• Design employee experiences that are augmented with intelligent technology.
• Create insights and guided recommendations that help employees accomplish what would otherwise be impossible within existing constraints of time and cognitive capacity.

The Augmented Connected Workforce empowers your employees to achieve more by leveraging intelligent technologies and data-driven insights. It’s about optimizing processes, enhancing employee experiences, and achieving better outcomes in complex environments.

“Through 2027, 25% of CIOs will use augmented connected workforce initiatives to reduce time to competency by 50% for key roles.” 

Source: Gartner

Buyers With Byte(s): Machine Customers

Machine Customers, or non-human economic actors, are set to become a significant part of the business world. These entities can purchase goods and services in exchange for payment, opening new dimensions in commerce and business relationships.

To embrace Machine Customers and explore the market opportunities, consider these steps:

• Create a Machine Customer Investigation team by enlisting senior representatives from strategy, IT, product development, sales, marketing, supply chain, and service.
• Create one to three scenarios that explore the market opportunities, such as the Internet-of-Things-enabled products that might arise in the situations/activities where customers use your products and services today.
• Start architecting the data sources and API platform needed to serve machine customers that should not or will not use your human-readable digital storefront.

Machine Customers are a unique aspect of the evolving business landscape. They introduce new possibilities in commerce and business relationships. By embracing this trend, businesses can tap into new market opportunities and create innovative solutions.

“By 2028, machine customers will render 20% of human-readable digital storefronts obsolete.”

Source: Gartner

Summary

In conclusion, the technology landscape for 2024 promises to be an exciting and transformative one. From AI trust and sustainable technology to democratized generative AI and machine customers, innovation is on the horizon. Staying up to date with these trends is crucial for individuals and businesses looking to thrive in the rapidly evolving tech ecosystem.