Global sourcing activity picked up in Q3 2020 as the initial effects of the pandemic temporarily eased and countries reopened for business. However, the industry is bracing for another slowdown as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic takes hold across the world.

In its new whitepaper, 68 Technology Trends That Will Shape 2021, the analysts at global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research identify 37 trends that will shape the technology market and 31 others that, although attracting huge amounts of speculation and commentary, are less likely to move the needle over the next twelve months.

Samsung sold 11.8 million smart TVs worldwide in Q3 2020, the best ever quarter by Samsung or any other vendor, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics’ TV Streaming Platforms service. Samsung’s Q3 performance means that there are now more than 155 million Tizen OS smart TVs in use around the world, an increase of 23% in the past year.

Smart AI-based cameras enable an increasing number of low latency mission-critical machine vision applications like pedestrian detection and alerting, and real-time surveillance in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and the wider Smart Cities markets.

79% of marketers believe the best way to engage B2B buyers is to deliver personally relevant communications. This level of personalization requires more from marketers - more customer insights, content, and resources. However, this is a luxury many B2B marketers can’t afford right now.

Smart speaker users are switching increasingly to display-based devices, or Smart Displays, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics’ Smart Speakers and Screens service. The share of all smart speaker sales incorporating a display was 26% in Q3 2020, compared to 22% a year earlier.

Chief marketing officers (CMOs) must focus on building trust as 57% of consumers reported they lacked trust in U.S. brands, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. In the midst of dire loss of trust, marketing leaders hope to differentiate themselves by improving brand trust.

The automotive world is speeding ahead: electric (EV) and autonomous vehicles (AV) are poised to become increasingly mainstream, posing a clear challenge to the industry’s established players.

To be more agile and adaptive in the year ahead, marketing leaders must prioritize four core competencies with a renewed focus that accounts for the unprecedented changes of 2020. Customer understanding, adaptive planning, data-driven decision making and strategic cost optimization are the core competencies that will help marketing to survive and thrive in 2021.

Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Demand for Asset Efficiency Propels the Global Asset Performance Management (APM) Market, finds there is a growing need to monitor, measure, analyze, and manage the failure of assets as a part of digital transformation initiatives.

Global telco cloud revenue will grow to US$29.3 billion by 2025, up from US$8.7 billion in 2020, at a 5-year Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 27%. The telco cloud growth will be driven primarily by cloud infrastructure-related investments.

US online holiday sales are estimated to grow 24% year over year in 2020. According to a new forecast report, “US Online Holiday Sales Will Reach Historic Levels Despite Uncertainty From COVID-19,” US online holiday sales will mirror the high growth trend that online retail has experienced since the start of the pandemic.

COVID-19 has reorganized the risk landscape for chief audit executives (CAEs), as CAEs have listed IT governance as the top risk for 2021, according to Gartner, Inc. Analysts said the pandemic is giving rise to new sets of risks while exacerbating long-standing vulnerabilities.

Automation of routine work with artificial intelligence (AI), digital dexterity, and hybrid work with distributed workforce will be three key trends impacting the future of work that CIOs should focus on, according to Gartner, Inc.

The development and introduction of more diverse and affordable 5G smartphones will be the main driver accelerating 5G adoption after 2021, with many lead vendors expected to push deeper into the segment, quickly democratizing the 5G experience and establishing a wider ecosystem.

The growth of connected devices, incorporation of network virtualization functions, and shift to a multi-tenant cloud infrastructure are key factors driving the global Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) testing market. Compared to other markets, the impact of COVID-19 on the Gigabit Ethernet testing market was mild due to the shift to working from home.

Parks Associates, ahead of the third annual Future of Video conference, today\ released its updated list of the top 10 US subscription over-the-top (OTT) video services, based on estimated number of subscribers through September 2020 from the firm’s OTT Video Market Tracker.

At the end of 2020, 6.6 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices will be connected and active worldwide; 840 million of them will use cellular networks, which is just under 8% of the total. At the end of 2014, there were 180 million cellular IoT devices active worldwide, and that number increased by over 4.5X in the six intervening years.

As the number of workloads operating in the cloud grows, organizations are recognizing that, in a multicloud world, they must adopt the correct strategy for digital transformation. Demand for resiliency has seen the growth of hybrid cloud.

The Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) market has recorded more than US$2 billion in total investment so far in 2020. According to a new report from global tech market advisory firm ABI Research, more than US$1.3 billion for AR and VR company funding and more than US$500 million spending for M&A deals has taken place across enterprise and consumer markets, and across hardware, software, and services.