Strategy Analytics forecasts global consumer spending in 2020 on smart home related devices will drop to $44 billion in 2020, from $52 billion in 2019, due to the economic downturn as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the market will recover in 2021, and consumer spending will increase in 2021 to $62 billion. Strategy Analytics forecasts the global smart home device market will continue to grow at a CAGR of 155, reaching $88 billion in 2025.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in Europe are competing for the top position in the connected car segment as its two key domains, connected services and human-machine interfaces (HMI), unlock tremendous growth prospects by offering new revenue streams, as revealed by Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis. Telematics services are expected to achieve a penetration of 90% in Europe, while more than 60% of vehicles will have wider (12.3+ inch) infotainment displays controlled by touch or gestures, with artificial intelligence (AI)-based digital assistants being omnipresent, by 2025.

The global pro AV industry took a $20 billion hit thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic but will grow $56 billion from its 2019 peak by 2025, according to the latest research from AVIXA and Omdia. In its 2020 AV Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis (IOTA), industry association AVIXA in conjunction with Omdia, said the global market would not return to its 2019 peak of $259 billion until 2022.

82% of company leaders intend to permit remote working some of the time as employees return to the workplace, as revealed by a Gartner survey of company leaders from HR, Legal and Compliance, Finance, and Real Estate departments. For many organizations with employees working both onsite and remotely, adapting to a new, more complex hybrid workforce is the challenge as how people work together to get their job done evolves.

Worldwide IT spending is projected to decline by 7.3% from 2019 according to the latest forecast by Gartner, totaling just $3.5 trillion in 2020. While the global economy is expected to witness a ‘swoosh’ recovery, IT spending will experience more of a ‘swoop’ recovery.

The hospital capacity management solutions market is slated to reach a value of $99 million by the end of 2020 according to Future Market Insight's (FMI) recent report. Management solutions, such as real time location systems (RTLS) and cloud-based monitoring, help to increase hospitals’ operational efficiency. The demand for these technologies has increased drastically since the outbreak of COVID-19.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, global sales of smart speakers in Q1 2020 reached $28.2 million units, an increase of 8.2% on Q1 2019, according to new research from Strategy Analytics. Amazon remained the leading brand with a share of 23.5%, up from 21.5% in the same period a year ago. Google retained second place with a 19.3% share, compared to 17.9% in Q1 2019.

Due to rising environmental concerns and stringent regulations by governments (especially in the European region) Frost & Sullivan project a growing demand for a wide variety of goods made of technical ceramics. This increased demand should further propel innovation and research and development (R&D) efforts in the technical ceramics market.

In a new study published by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a computer algorithm improved the accuracy and efficiency of cervical cancer screening compared with cytology (Pap test), the current standard for follow-up of women who test positive with primary human papillomavirus (HPV) screening. The new approach uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automate dual-stain evaluation and has clear implications for clinical care. The algorithm was developed and the study conducted by investigators at the NCI, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in collaboration with researchers from several other institutions.

Strategy Analytics predicts a strong recovery for the global Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) markets in 2021 after COVID-driven contraction in 2020. This recovery is expected to be spurred on by a 6 fold increase in XR (the combination of AR and VR) shipments, recent consumer-friendly innovations to AR headsets, and the adoption of smartphone-tethered VR.

A recent analysis by Frost & Sullivan’s found that an average of 50% to 60% of pump original equipment manufacturers’ (OEMs’) revenue is expected to be generated from services-related activities, such as real-time monitoring and reliability services. This will result in the pump industry transitioning from a product-based to a service-based model in the wake of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in this digitalization era. Global pump revenue is estimated to reach $46.92 billion by 2025 from approximately $38.34 billion in 2019.

The mobile augmented reality (AR) market is projected to have an impressive surge in growth prospects in the short-term and long-term forecast, reaching a valuation of $24 billion by 2030 as reported by a study from Future Market Insights (FMI).

More than 2,000 IT and line of business (LoB) decision makers confirms that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is growing worldwide, as shown by a recent survey conducted by the International Data Corporation (IDC). Over a quarter of all AI initiatives are already in production and more than one third are in advanced development stages, and organizations are reporting an increase in their AI spending this year.

In the ongoing push for more secure internet of things (IoT) devices and applications, the hardware choices for embedded security are growing dynamically. Research from ABI research forecasts that shipments for secure hardware serving digital authentication and embedded security will double that of 2019, reaching $5.3 billion by 2024.

Stand-alone broadband, typically defined as broadband not sold in a bundle with pay TV, is growing in popularity, according to new research from Parks Associates. The stand-alone broadband adoption rate increased from 34% of U.S. broadband households in 2017 to 42% in the first quarter of this year, as evident from Parks Associates’ researchers.

A new data base released by Parks Associates found that the number of hours consumers spend watching online video per week has nearly doubled from 3.6 hours in 2017 to almost 7 hours in 2020 . Dallas-based Parks said at the same time traditional pay-TV service has declined from an adoption rate of 75% to 62% in U.S. broadband households between Q1 2017 and Q1 2020, which led a subsequent decline in set-top box adoption.

Vendor revenue from sales of IT infrastructure products (server, enterprise storage, and Ethernet switch) for cloud environments, including public and private cloud, increased 2.2% in the first quarter of 2020 (1Q20) while investments in traditional, non-cloud, infrastructure plunged 16.3% year over year (YoY) according to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker.

In spite of the economic slowdown witnessed due to COVID-19, the security industry has tremendous investment opportunities according to Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Post-Pandemic Growth Opportunity in the Global Security Industry. Despite a marginal slowdown expected in 2020 and 2021, strong demand-side trends will present immense development potential for security market participants. Under an aspirational recovery scenario, the global security industry is likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3%, garnering revenue of $140.60 billion by 2025 from $109.30 billion in 2019. The conservative forecast scenario predicts that the industry will generate $131.01 billion between 2019 and 2025, at a CAGR of 3.1%. In the pre-COVID-19 forecast, the industry was estimated to increase at a CAGR of 7.1%, generating revenue of $164.97 billion over the forecast period.

The second quarter of 2020 (2Q20) ended well for the Traditional PC market, comprised of desktops, notebooks, and workstations, with global shipments growing 11.2% year over year reaching a total of 72.3 million units, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). As restrictions around the world tightened in the first few weeks of the quarter, demand for notebooks continued to grow to maintain continuity of business and schooling for many communities.

Regardless of where organizations are in their digital transformation journey, success or failure is ultimately determined by the impact that these initiatives have on key external stakeholders -- starting with prospects and existing customers. So says Lisa Meier, CEO of Symphonic Leadership Partners, a multidisciplinary source of results-driven executives who help organizations accelerate the achievement of desired outcomes.