Skip to content
Global Report

The Decade of
Responsible Tech

Emerging technologies hold the promise of bridging the digital gap, leveling the playing field, and ensuring a more equitable society.
Authors:
Evan Kirchheimer, Vice President, Service Provider Group
Adrian Dominic Ho, Practice Leader, Enterprise Digital Services

We live in extraordinary times where societies and industries are transforming in front of our eyes.

Global events such as the pandemic, political instability, and unsustainable environmental damage are threatening the world around us as we know it, rewriting traditional assumptions and norms.

The continuous acceleration of technological breakthroughs like the rapid rise of automation and AI is forcing corporations to reinvent themselves and adapt at an ever-faster pace to changing regulations and market dynamics.

While the global pandemic accelerated digital transformation faster than any single executive could ever have imagined, the climate- and equality-driven Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) mega-trend is creating a rising tide of business culture transformation, fueling massive shifts and changes in priorities and workplaces practices as well as the rethinking of ICT investment priorities.

Yet, in the face of these challenges, there is reason for optimism. There is also a greater appreciation and confidence that technology can play a critical role in resolving some of the critical business and societal challenges of the next decade. For many enterprises, technology has become the cornerstone of all future investment as it is the building block for delivering the next set of digital innovations, products, and services.

In addition, both governments and corporations have realized that technology is one of the biggest platforms they can leverage to democratize digital training and education, ensuring a highly skilled and more prosperous, equitable society. Emerging technologies hold the promise of bridging the digital gap and leveling the playing field, thus helping to ensure that such a society develops.

Societies and Businesses of 2030

During the next 10 years, a conflation of societal, technological, and environmental factors will create positive changes and opportunities along with challenges for the way we live, work, and play.
Opportunities
  • Greater, fairer access to digital technologies and education.
  • Connectivity and automation, creating a smarter world.
  • Technologies help improve societal and environmental impact.
Challenges
  • Increased prevalence of digital abuse, including misinformation and personal data risks.
  • Rapid change in skills requirements through increased workforce automation.
  • Accelerating technological dependency deepens the digital divide.

Innovation and customer experience are top of the corporate agenda for the next decade

Accelerating technological, environmental, and social pressures will create a plethora of new challenges and opportunities for businesses. The survey clearly identifies three clear corporate priorities over the next decade (see Figure 1 below).

Innovation is top of mind. The pace of innovation has been relentless and will accelerate. Industries are constantly being disrupted by new players and many have struggled to respond to keep pace. These new competitors have raised the bar for innovation. As such, many enterprises now facing an existential threat of survival are compelled to match the pace of innovation or become irrelevant. Approximately 34% of survey respondents cited innovation as a key business challenge.

Customer experience will be a key battleground and a point of differentiation. For B2C enterprises, the battle will be fought on both the digital and physical in-store experiences. In the past, most enterprises adopted a zero- or light-touch approach to customer experience, viewing investment as a necessary cost of doing business. Those who have underinvested and fallen behind are now prioritizing the customer experience. Enterprises are building an omnichannel model with hyper-personalization of marketing and experiences. Some 31% of respondents rated improving customer experience as a key business objective.

Building IT resiliency to support innovation and growth. With innovation comes growth, and enterprises need resilient infrastructure to support expansion. IT spending will be centered on agility and simplicity to enhance operational efficiency. Security will be a key component of any digital initiative.

Figure 1: Top Business Challenges
34%
of respondents state that Innovation is a top business challenge.

31%

of respondents state that Customer Experience and Engagement is a top business challenge.

Equality and Sustainability Top the Societal Agenda

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) frame societal challenges in 17 categories covering human needs and rights, energy, technology innovation, the environment, and biodiversity. There is a growing awareness of the societal impact of the inequality of global access to technology, education, and skills. Technology has a role to play in societal inclusion and bringing opportunity for everyone. The Omdia Horizons survey results covering the main societal challenges mirror this as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Top Societal Challenges
Respondents were able to choose more than one option.
  • The pandemic-accelerated global digital transformation has also served to deepen the digital divide, resulting in tech inclusion and connectivity as top societal challenge for the next five to ten years.
  • Vital services are migrated to digital, including health, trade, employment, and education. In our ever-increasing digitalized world, digital inclusion has broad societal impact. A significant proportion of society has not been able to leverage these channels, giving rise to a long-term prospect and consequence that the disadvantaged will be left even further behind. Respondents to our survey ranked the provision of equal access to education and skills training in second place.
  • Environmental welfare and sustainability is ranked third, indicating that there is a growing awareness that the speed of environmental destruction is threatening the cohesion and stability of societies and markets. This has led to an increased interest and investment in technologies that support greener outcomes and lower carbon emissions.
  • Advancing connectivity, inclusion, and education tech drive positive impacts across all economies and societies; our respondents see these as improving equality, transparency, social awareness, and the climate.

Horizon’s Top Technologies 2021–30

Technology will be instrumental in resolving some of the top corporate and societal challenges and objectives. Figures 3 and 4 below are the top technologies cited by our respondents that will have the greatest impact in resolving key corporate and societal goals over the next decade.
Figure 3: Top 10 Technologies to Tackle Business Challenges
Figure 4: Top 10 Technologies to Tackle Societal Challenges
Note: Figures 3 and 4 show average readiness scores for each technology, which is an average weighting of several factors including the importance of each technology, the availability of budgets, C-suite backing, and availability of skill sets.

The Future Will be 5G-Enabled

With speed improvements, respondents rated 5G as the top technology that can help resolve business and societal challenges. 

The transformational elements of 5G will come from the applications that ride on it, supporting the key business goals of customer engagement and innovation (see Figure 5). Some 38% of respondents stated that they will use 5G to obtain faster customer insights and feedback. This will be key to delivering better customer experience and personalization.

Other applications cited by respondents include augmented and virtual reality, which can transform the retail experience, as well as employee collaboration. 5G will also be the enabler of innovation and cornerstone of IT resiliency across many industries through system and process automation with real-time analytics. Innovation includes telemedicine in healthcare, robotics in manufacturing and retail, and supporting predictive operations. More importantly, 5G will also be a critical part of delivery of Industrial IoT (IIoT), edge solutions, smarter cities, and autonomous vehicles.

Figure 5: Top 5 application scenarios for 5G
Respondents were able to choose more than one option.
Q: What are the most significant application scenarios in your organization that will be best delivered by 5G technologies?
Replacing existing LAN networks
Improving overall customer experience and personalization
Immersive experience across industries improving customer / employee experience and productivity
Improving uptime and supporting faster innovation and enhance CX
Wide ranging business processes improvements
OMDIA Horizons Survey, June/July 2021
5G also holds the promise of extending quality access to digital services to more citizens at better cost, giving them access to digital services and training. Smart-city initiatives globally are also relying on 5G to improve the quality and range of services offered to citizens. 5G may also bring these services to remote areas that previously were unable to benefit due to lack of fixed fiber investment.

Societal and employee upskilling with e-learning/e-training

Respondents to the Omdia Horizons survey ranked democratization of technology access and education and skills training in second place in terms of the positive impacts on both society and business in the five- to ten-year timeframe.

Over the next decade, technologies such as computing, artificial intelligence, security, and cloud will evolve rapidly. Businesses are already faced with skills challenges, but if the existing workforce is not trained fast enough, a chronic skill shortage will become a major impediment to growth. Second, failure to upskill staff will also be a missed opportunity for enterprises because they will not be able to leverage these technologies to build further success and be more competitive. There is a realization by enterprises and governments that a highly skilled and productive workforce is critical for future growth.

Keeping up with these changes, let alone maximizing their potential, will be a challenge for many businesses. The scope of e-learning/e-training is broad, extending from the mobilization of traditional computer-based training technologies, through to advanced AI-supported skill development and virtual, augmented, or XR experiential training. Fundamentally, the objectives are to empower every employee with the skills needed to embrace digitalization and ensure that no one is left behind. Easy access to e-training/e-learning is a key building block for a fairer and more equal society, giving all citizens more access to the tools needed to upskill.

A Highly Connected, Data-driven World

Edge services and IIoT were ranked high-priority investments by enterprises and are highly co-related. Edge services is about bringing data closer to the enterprise campus allowing for faster extraction and analyzing of data. Edge services have evolved over the years, moving from tactical (e.g., data processing) to more transformational deployments. In Figure 6 below are some of the top use cases cited by enterprises for edge services. Increasingly, enterprises are leveraging edge for faster data analytics and AI and machine-learning delivering insights to support innovation, better customer experience, and ultimately operational efficiency.
Figure 6: Top 6 Applications or Initiatives Targeted with eEdge Computing
Respondents were able to choose more than one option.
Q: Which applications or initiatives is your organization targeting with edge computing over the next 12 months?
Data analytics

Faster processing of data, extracting insights faster to improve drive efficiency, CX and supply chain.

Video analytics and processing

Key in smarter city initiatives, security, movement patterns and understanding retail foot traffic.

AI and Machine Learning

Leveraged across contact centers, facial recognition, smart cities, smart retail, and industrial settings.

Data processing and pre-processing

Resolving connectivity challenges as data aggregation at the edge.

Security and monitoring

Identifying threats in real-time, allowing for pre-emptive responses to possible challenges.

Delivery of customer facing applications

Better performance and user experience by customers.

Source: Omdia Australian Cloud Computing Study n=194
Industrial IoT will be increasingly implemented across manufacturing, utilities, mining, and logistics. The top priorities as shown in Figure 7 are improving productivity and efficiencies followed by transforming customer experience and creating completely new business models (supporting innovation), all of which support key corporate objectives over the next decade.
Figure 7: Areas of IIoT Disruption in Organizations
Respondents were able to choose more than one option.

Proportion of Respondents

Multicloud Computing will Deliver IT Resiliency and Underpin Innovation Agenda

Roughly 80% of enterprises surveyed by Omdia are adopting a multicloud strategy for their digital infrastructure. Enterprises are also moving core workloads and applications to the cloud. There is a growing urgency for cloud migration for several reasons:
  • COVID-19 has demonstrated that agile infrastructure is a good hedge for any crisis.
  • Agile infrastructure is key foundation to support a rapid innovation culture especially for both development and the launch of new services.
  • Simplification, modernization, and operational efficiency themes tie in neatly with cloud platforms.
  • Cloud remains cost-effective when implemented well.

A Highly Autonomous Digital Enterprise

While not called out as a specific technology, automation features heavily in the five- to ten-year period of the Omdia Horizons survey. Automation is increasingly integrated across processes to drive greater efficiencies within the enterprise.

The theme of automation spans several technologies in the survey. Respondents rated robotic process automation (RPA), sixth and robotics seventh among corporate technologies while smart systems such as homes or cities and autonomous vehicles were in the top five technologies that our respondents flagged as transforming society.

  • Improving productivity is the top driver for adopting automation. Some 63% of respondents stated that the greatest impact of RPA is in the area of improved productivity. This was followed by improving accuracy, cited by 48%. Following this theme of improved productivity from automation, the highest-ranked robotics use case (41%) is to improve the overall productivity of an organization. Expect greater use of automation by enterprises as part of their IT resiliency initiatives. Retail, manufacturing, and logistics are some of the industries that will be highly dependent on robotics.
  • Smarter systems will deliver societal goals. The growing popularity of smarter homes and autonomous vehicles will go a long way in achieving the societal goals of sustainability and environental welfare, as both technology domains hold the promise of lowering of carbon emisssions.
Figure 8: Key Goals for Implementing RPA

Proportion of Respondents

Figure 9: Top Corporate Objectives for Robotics

Proportion of Respondents

Technology Companies are in a Position of Trust

The survey reveals that the technology industry is at the forefront of the upcoming social and corporate evolution and tech players are expected to deliver positive social impact along with business innovation and enhanced customer experiences. Supporting this is a strong belief and trust in the technology industry. The Omdia Horizons survey highlights that organizations trust technology companies more than their national governments to be effective and ethical. This places such companies in a position of strength as enterprises will rely on them and partner with them to co-create new cutting-edge solutions to deliver sustainable growth. Our survey asked participants how strongly they agreed or disagreed that technology or governments could be trusted to deliver on business and societal needs, focusing on definitive agreements and disagreements, the depth of trust and belief in technology companies, and the trust in governments. The challenge for governments is to either win the trust of its citizens directly or partner with technology companies to deliver some of the smarter-nation initiatives that are critical in delivery toward achieving the ESG goals.
Figure 10: Level of Trust by Organizations

What Does this Mean for Businesses Today?

The emerging technologies we have investigated have the potential to enable positive change for both corporations and our societies. There is a strong connection in the heads of key influencers and decision makers that societal and business outcomes are strongly linked. Connectivity and education are the foundational technologies for societal and business adaptation over the course of the coming decade. The future will be fast and different. It will be data driven, fully connected, highly automated, and, if we take full advantage of emerging technologies for societal benefit, our activities will be more positively aligned with the environment. Foundational connectivity and education technologies such as 5G and e-learning will amplify the impact of cloud, IoT, edge, and automation.

Businesses and corporations have always needed to invent and reinvent themselves. On the way to 2030, the rate of innovation will increase at a new pace. Governments and enterprises will need to work more efficiently with technology companies to create more innovative products, services, and customer experiences.

However, because of the increasingly recognized alignment between business and society, corporations will be expected to act accordingly. Technology companies will be entrusted to deliver innovation and social impact ethically but must continue to earn that trust through transparent delivery on expectations. During the current decade, the lines between business impact and social impact will continue to blur as will the definitions of customers, partners, and competition. New virtual and human customer types will emerge with ever-increasing real-time needs. Simultaneously serviced by several companies at once, effective user-centric customer experiences will be crucial and will build on automation derived from secure and consent-based data sharing.

How to Use This Report

Omdia is a proud advocate of the business benefits derived through technology. Customer engagement platforms are at the forefront of realizing benefits to businesses and government organizations across the globe. The Omdia Universe report is not intended to advocate an individual vendor but rather to guide and inform the selection process to ensure all relevant options are considered and evaluated efficiently. Using formal selection criteria, Omdia picks the leading solutions in the market for comparison, so inclusion in the Universe is in itself an accolade. Using in-depth reviews on TrustRadius to derive insights about the customer experience together with the analyst’s knowledge of the market, the report findings gravitate toward the customer’s perspective and likely requirements. The focus is on those of a medium-to-large multinational enterprise (5,000-plus employees). Typically, deployments are considered across the CPG (consumer packaged goods), financial services, manufacturing, retail, TMT (technology, media, and telecoms), and government sectors globally.

Appendix

Further Reading
ICT Enterprise Insights 2020-21 – Global ICT Drivers and Technology Priorities, September, 2020

The Gravitational Laws of Customer Experience, June 2020

The Evolution of Account-Based Marketing to Account-Based Engagement in B2B Enterprises, March, 2019

Heskett, J.L., Sasser W.E. Jr., Schlesinger, L.A., The Service Profit Chain, Free Press, New York, 1997

Copyright Notice and Disclaimer
The Omdia research, data and information referenced herein (the “Omdia Materials”) are the copyrighted property of Informa Tech and its subsidiaries or affiliates (together “Informa Tech”) and represent data, research, opinions or viewpoints published by Informa Tech, and are not representations of fact.

The Omdia Materials reflect information and opinions from the original publication date and not from the date of this document. The information and opinions expressed in the Omdia Materials are subject to change without notice and Informa Tech does not have any duty or responsibility to update the Omdia Materials or this publication as a result.

Omdia Materials are delivered on an “as-is” and “as-available” basis. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to the fairness, accuracy, completeness or correctness of the information, opinions and conclusions contained in Omdia Materials.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Informa Tech and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees and agents, disclaim any liability (including, without limitation, any liability arising from fault or negligence) as to the accuracy or completeness or use of the Omdia Materials. Informa Tech will not, under any circumstance whatsoever, be liable for any trading, investment, commercial or other decisions based on or made in reliance of the Omdia Materials

Methodology

Omdia Universe
The process of writing a Universe is time consuming:
  • Omdia analysts perform an in-depth review of the market using Omdia’s market forecasting data and Omdia’s ICT Enterprise Insights survey data.
  • Omdia creates a matrix of capabilities, attributes, and features that it considers to be important now and in the next 12–18 months for the market.
  • Vendors are interviewed and provide in-depth briefings on their current solutions and future plans.
  • Analysts supplement these briefings with other information obtained from industry events and user conferences.
  • The Universe is peer reviewed by other Omdia analysts before being proofread by a team of dedicated editors.
A complimentary report distribution brought to you by Oracle.
Oracle-Logo-800

Oracle Customer Experience (CX)

Customer signals are everywhere. Can your business effectively interpret those signals and take action to make the most of the customer experience? Oracle Fusion Cloud CX goes beyond traditional CRM to help you build and manage lasting customer relationships. Take action in every moment that matters—from customer acquisition to retention—and everything in between.

Power Real-Time Customer Experiences

Deliver experiences tailored to customers’ online behavior, in real time. Oracle Cloud CX helps you turn intelligence into relevant and personalized experiences in the moments that matter.
Download PDF

Harness Data to Understand Your Customers

Gather everything you know about your customers into a single profile and use that information to personalize every aspect of their experience. Oracle has been helping customers manage, secure, and drive business value from data for more than 40 years. Data is in our DNA.
View Video

Add Your Heading Text Here

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Click here
about the Author
Gabriel Brown
Principal Analyst, Heavy Reading

Gabriel leads mobile network research for Heavy Reading. Starting from a system architecture perspective, his coverage area includes RAN, core, and service-layer platforms. Key research topics include 5G, LTE Advanced, virtual RAN, software-based mobile core, and the application of cloud technologies to mobile networking.

Gabriel has more than 15 years’ experience as a mobile network analyst. Prior to joining Heavy Reading, he was Chief Analyst for Light Reading’s Insider research service; before that, he was editor of IP Wireline and Wireless Week at London’s Euromoney Institutional Investor.

Linkedin Twitter

Add Your Heading Text Here

  • Enterprises have confidence and trust their IT partners to deliver on technology’s potential to resolve some of the top business and societal challenges over the next decade.
  • Rapid innovation and customer engagement excellence are top two challenges confronting businesses, with IT resiliency also on the agenda.
  • Societal challenges, including technology access, inclusion, and sustainability, are now on the radar for enterprises as they increasingly believe they have a role to play.
  • Corporate progress should not be at the expense of societal development and sustainability.
  • Top technologies cited by enterprises that can resolve these challenges include 5G, e-learning/training, multicloud computing, edge services and highly connected smarter consumer solutions.

Add Your Heading Text Here

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Click here

Key Findings From Wave One

  • Enterprises have confidence and trust their IT partners to deliver on technology’s potential to resolve some of the top business and societal challenges over the next decade.
  • Rapid innovation and customer engagement excellence are top two challenges confronting businesses, with IT resiliency also on the agenda.
  • Societal challenges, including technology access, inclusion, and sustainability, are now on the radar for enterprises as they increasingly believe they have a role to play.
  • Corporate progress should not be at the expense of societal development and sustainability.
  • Top technologies cited by enterprises that can resolve these challenges include 5G, e-learning/training, multicloud computing, edge services and highly connected smarter consumer solutions.

What is Omdia Horizons?

Combining the power of Omdia’s global data and expert analysis with influencer insights from across the tech ecosystem, Omdia Horizons is a global report that unites the power of Omdia’s expert research alongside enterprise insights to provide an unrivaled view of the technologies that will revolutionize business and society in the future world we will live in.

Our aim is to empower the tech industry to harness emerging technologies to design, build, and run better businesses, thus creating a better world.

About the Authors

Evan Kichheimer
Vice President, Service Provider Group
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Eget arcu dictum varius duis at consectetur lorem. Enim eu turpis egestas pretium. Augue neque gravida in fermentum. Facilisis gravida neque convallis a cras semper. Pellentesque diam volutpat commodo sed.
Adrian Dominic Ho
Practice Leader, Enterprise Digital Services
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Eget arcu dictum varius duis at consectetur lorem. Enim eu turpis egestas pretium. Augue neque gravida in fermentum. Facilisis gravida neque convallis a cras semper. Pellentesque diam volutpat commodo sed.