Forrester: Top Emerging Technology Trends To Watch In 2021 And Beyond

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Forrester (FORR: NASDAQ), the next decade will require CIOs to both respond to digital acceleration and proactively manage uncertainty. Rapidly changing consumer trends, complex security concerns, the ethical use of artificial intelligence, and the increasing impacts of climate change will drive businesses to incorporate systemic risk into their long-term planning.

The Forrester report "Top Trends And Emerging Technologies, Q3 2020" highlights important trends and organizes emerging technologies into seven key domains that will play a big role in accelerating this shift: artificial intelligence; business automation and robotics; enterprise risk management; human experience and productivity; new compute architectures; next-generation communications; and Zero Trust security. Key trends include:

    --  Rising demand for ethical AI. In the past, firms that adopted machine
        learning and other AI technologies paid little heed to their ethical
        impact. Today, however, values-based consumers and employees expect
        companies to adopt AI in a responsible fashion. Over the next few years,
        firms will deliberately choose to do business with partners that commit
        to data ethics and adopt data handling practices that reflect their own
        values and their customers' values.


    --  Recasting of automation roadmaps. COVID-19 is changing firms' automation
        agendas rapidly toward back-office processes and business resilience.
        Intelligent automation will represent the infusion of robotic and
        digital process automation with pragmatic AI and low-code tools. These
        technologies will help businesses become more efficient and resilient
        while expanding their operations.


    --  Moving toward hyperlocal business operations. In the next decade, large
        enterprises will improve their ability to operate hyperlocally, with
        regional midsize businesses growing and expanding to new geographies.
        Organizations will need to design architectures that can strategically
        distribute customer engagement and business operations systems to
        important geographic regions while retaining centralized technology
        management benefits. Zero Trust security will help clients navigate this
        shift.


    --  Driving innovation everywhere using cloud-native technologies. Emerging
        cloud-native technologies, born from open source and incubated in public
        clouds, drive fast innovation -- and in more locations than just the
        public cloud. Over the next five years, cloud-native technologies such
        as container platforms and serverless computing will herald a new era of
        distributed enterprise software -- from cloud providers, edge providers,
        and software vendors alike.
    --  Shifting cloud strategies toward the edge. Interest in edge computing
        has been historically tied to the internet of things. In 2020,
        innovations in next-generation communications, cloud-native
        technologies, and edge computing architectures have come together to
        create breakthroughs in cloud-to-edge integration. Over the next three
        to five years, firms will shift their cloud strategy to include more
        edge services from more vendors, challenging public cloud vendor market
        dominance.

"The recipe for successful tech innovation is changing," said Brian Hopkins, VP and principal analyst at Forrester. "The strategies that worked in the 2010s will not work in the 2020s. Firms that make big bets on new business models, new ways of working, and new talent will be more adaptive and resilient to the disruptive forces that will characterize the 2020s. To sprint forward, CIOs must renew their organization's resolve to digitally transform and turn these efforts into must-have foundational investments."

Resources:

    --  To see the full list, access Forrester's "Top Trends And Emerging
        Technologies, Q3 2020" report (client login required).
    --  Register for Technology & Innovation Global to further explore the 15
        trends and associated emerging technologies.

About Forrester
Forrester (NASDAQ: FORR) is one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world. We help organizations grow through customer obsession. Forrester's unique insights are grounded in annual surveys of more than 690,000 consumers and business leaders worldwide, rigorous and objective methodologies, and the shared wisdom of our most innovative clients. Through proprietary research, data and analytics, custom consulting, exclusive peer groups, certifications, and events, we are revolutionizing how businesses grow in the age of the customer; learn more at forrester.com.

CONTACT: Shweta Agarwal, (617) 613-6805, sagarwal@forrester.com

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SOURCE Forrester