3 Hottest Technologies That Will Change Your Business By 2020

KPMG recently conducted its annual survey of 800 global technology industry leaders, from startups to Fortune 500. The results are the top 3 emerging technology trends that are expected to disrupt business significantly in the next three years. Some 41 percent of respondents identified these three below. Take a closer look at and follow any new developments there, as your business will be disrupted by these technologies sooner than you think.

1. The Internet of Things (IoT)

This is the leading trend, with 20 percent of respondents identifying it as driving business transformation. Connected devices become more and more intelligent. IoT ranked the highest in India and Korea (South...), due to the size of the population (mainly in India) and the growing number of millennials. Market research firm IDC believes that spending on IoT will grow 17 percent in 2017 compared with the year before. The highest driver of the use of IoT in business transformation is expected to be improved business efficiencies and productivity, followed by faster innovation cycles. Not surprisingly, the technology industry is expected to have the greatest monetization potential as a result of adopting IoT. Gartner believes that by 2020 there will be 20.4 billion (with a 'b'...) connected devices, and IDC believes that by 2021, $1.4 trillion will be spent on IoT technologies.

2. Robotics

Eleven percent of respondents believe that Robotics will be the second most impactful technology trend. Robots are being loaded with more sensors, intelligence, and capabilities. In many cases they are used to do what humans can't (or won't), either because they are impaired, of because those are dangerous tasks. Research and Markets expects that $226 billion will be spent on robotics by 2021. It also believes that 2016 was the crossover point after which the majority of robots will be used in non-industrial applications. Once again, the main driver for the adoption of robots for business transformation is improved efficiency and productivity. Even more so than with IoT. Here, as well, it is estimated that the second driver will be faster innovation cycles.

3. The Next Wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

A close third, with 10%, was the next wave of artificial intelligence. With increasing processing power, AI would simulate closer how humans learn, reason, understand, and make decisions. IDC believes that by 2021, $46 billion will be spent on cognitive and artificial intelligence systems, which reached $12.5 billion in 2017, 60 percent higher than 2016. While the main driver for business transformation from AI is, as in all top three trends, improved business efficiencies and productivity, the second driver is cost reduction. Faster innovation cycles comes in only at the fourth place. Here, it is expected that the main beneficiary from AI would be the financial services market, with a very close second for the technology industry.