Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) is a type of cloud-based solution for the development of blockchain applications. BaaS serves as a launchpad for broader blockchain technology adoption, effectively providing developers with a functional environment in which to build, test, and run new blockchain applications without having to worry about building the infrastructure from scratch or hosting and managing it.

In today’s uncertain and volatile environment, customer service must play a larger role in driving both customer retention and also growing customer loyalty, according to Gartner, Inc. However, most customer service organizations attempt to do so by leaning heavily on initiatives to improve service experience quality. Gartner research reveals this long-held belief is wrong, as a good service experience is not enough to make customers more loyal.

Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Global Building Automation Systems (BAS) Market, Forecast to 2026, reveals that energy-efficiency requisites, energy conservation and favorable government initiatives, rising energy prices, and strict building codes are prominent factors driving the global BAS market. The market is estimated to reach $5.91 billion by 2026 from $4.69 billion in 2019.

The 30 must-watch technologies on the Gartner Inc. Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2020 include technologies that enable a composable enterprise, aspire to regain society's trust in technology, and alter the state of your brain.

The worldwide infrastructure as a service (IaaS) market grew 37.3% in 2019 to total $44.5 billion, up from $32.4 billion in 2018, according to Gartner, Inc. Amazon retained the No. 1 position in the IaaS market in 2019, followed by Microsoft, Alibaba, Google and Tencent.

With the popularization of mobile robotics in a wide range of verticals, it will become necessary to utilize the computing power of cloud infrastructure to store and manage the vast troves of collected data as well as to train more advanced algorithms used to power robot cognition. ABI Research forecasts the robot-related services powered by cloud computing will reach US$157.8 billion in annual revenue by 2030.

Worldwide spending on security products and services will see solid growth in 2020 as organizations invest in solutions to meet the needs of a much larger remote workforce and a wide range of security threats and requirements. Worldwide spending on security-related hardware, software, and services will be $125.2 billion in 2020, an increase of 6.0% over 2019. As the global economy recovers from the impact of COVID-19, worldwide security spending is set to reach $174.7 billion in 2024.

The anticipated growth and the establishment of Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) devices and applications in enterprise and consumer markets raise numerous questions about the potential threats associated with the user and business privacy and security. With over 52 million smart glasses active in 2024, and hundreds of millions more mobile devices used for AR content consumption, the exploitable market is sizeable. The significance of this exploitable market and related operating environments is more notable given the rich use cases leveraging AR/MR in industrial and manufacturing, logistics, utilities, and healthcare.

The worldwide market for artificial intelligence (AI) software will expand to $98.8 billion by 2025, rising by a factor of six from $16.4 billion in 2019, despite the varying effects of the COVID-19 pandemic across different industries, according to research from Omdia.

Outsourcers are increasingly relying on advanced technologies to meet client requirements in the customer experience (CX) outsourcing services industry. The European market is mature and characterized by demands for specific languages, cultural affinity, and nearshoring. COVID-19 has adversely affected the industry in 2020 and Frost & Sullivan expects total market revenue to reach €16.23 billion, a 7.5% decline.

As the IoT data-enabled services continue to expand, the market is approaching the stage of data democratization, where real-time analytics is very sought after. Currently, data integration, real-time stream processing, and analytics services are falling under the

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.