Internet of Things (IoT) is finding its way across various industries and applications, and the data generated from these devices is creating new opportunities to improve business outcomes. Managing this data is key to delivering organizational insights. Furthermore, choosing the appropriate storage solution for long- and short-term storage of this data is vital.

Cloud services are set to remain resilient and maintain a robust growth in ASEAN, with a projected growth by 26% in 2020 for IaaS. As organisations in ASEAN are looking to rebound from the pandemic, there are changes that many businesses are looking to adapt to moving forward. Remote working and distributed workforce will be prominent owing to the prolonged effect of the pandemic, as well as organisations building business continuity and resiliency on cloud technologies. This sets precedence to sustained growth of cloud services in ASEAN for 2020.

Growth in worldwide and European* AR/VR spend will decline in 2020 compared to the pre-COVID-19 forecast scenario according to the June release of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) Spending Guide. Marked reductions in IT spend and an economic downturn due to the pandemic will slow worldwide AR/VR spend to $10.7 billion — a tempered 35.3% growth from the $7.9 billion spent in 2019. But the long-term outlook remains strongly positive — IDC estimates a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in AR/VR spending of 76.9% worldwide in 2019–2024 to reach $136.9 billion by 2024.

Worldwide revenues for the artificial intelligence (AI) market, including software, hardware, and services, are expected to total $156.5 billion in 2020, an increase of 12.3% over 2019. While this year's growth is somewhat slower than previous years due to the economic impact of COVID-19, International Data Corporation (IDC) believes investment in AI will recover quickly. A new forecast from the IDC Worldwide Semiannual Artificial Intelligence Tracker shows worldwide revenues surpassing $300 billion in 2024 with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.1%.

With Desktop as a service (DaaS) expected to have the most significant growth in 2020 — increasing 95.4% to $1.2 billion — the overall worldwide public cloud services market is forecast to grow 6.3% in 2020 to total $257.9 billion, up from $242.7 billion in 2019, according to Gartner, Inc. DaaS offers an inexpensive option for enterprises that are supporting the surge of remote workers and their need to securely access enterprise applications from multiple devices and locations.

An increase in remote working employees and under-utilization of existing office spaces due to the COVID-19 pandemic will trigger a need for smart, wellness-equipped office spaces in the future, according to Gartner, Inc.

Widespread home-based working will result in the elimination of billions of commuter journeys and a decline in office-based working environments of 22%, according to a new study by Strategy Analytics.

Nearly three quarters (72%) of remote workers say they are more conscious of their organisation’s cybersecurity policies since lockdown began, but many are breaking the rules anyway due to limited understanding or resource constraints, according to research from Trend Micro, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 64.8 million units in the second quarter of 2020 (2Q20), a 2.8% increase from the second quarter of 2019 (2Q19), according to preliminary results by Gartner. After a significant decline in the first quarter of the year (1Q20) due to COVID-19-related supply chain disruptions, the PC market returned to growth as vendors restocked their channels and mobile PC demand increased.

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.