IMV is set to greatly enhance manufacturing engineering, training, safety, and production. According to a new report from ABI Research, spending on industrial metaverse solutions and services will grow at 22.8% to reach US$6.3 billion by 2030 as immersive and collaborative capabilities come to the forefront of industry 4.0 software development efforts to enable connectivity between digital twins and other systems.

In 2024, CIOs are expected to prioritize the adoption of gen AI for larger scale implementations. The primary motivation behind enterprise gen AI initiatives is to improve the velocity of existing operations. A recent global survey from Everest Group and Yates Ltd. suggests gen AI has successfully penetrated early enterprise adoption thresholds, with nearly 83% of global enterprises actively testing their capabilities or have already adopted gen AI for production-grade use cases.

While most large enterprise technology leaders have reconciled themselves to running complex hybrid enterprise infrastructures made up of on-prem and cloud-based resources for the foreseeable future, their risk-management posture should be firmly rooted in cloud-native security principles. So says Sean Flynn, Director of Security Technology and Strategy at Akamai, in a recent podcast interview with BizTechReports. 

Gartner, Inc. has highlighted the top trends that will impact technology providers in 2024.

“GenAI is dominating the technical and product agenda of nearly every tech provider,” said Eric Hunter, Managing Vice President at Gartner. “The technology reshapes a tech provider from its growth and product strategy down to the everyday tools used by its associates. Despite the potential for GenAI to reshape providers, it is not the only influence facing technology leaders. There are new friction points in growth plans, new points of fusion in marketing and sales, and new relationships opening up to TSPs.”

IDC predicts that by 2024, 35% of companies and regional public service institutions will leverage AI technology to advance their ESG metrics and data management beyond reporting capabilities to generate sustainability-driven cost benefits and competitive advantages. In a recent survey, technology buyers in APEJ ranked AI and its derivatives as the number one most useful innovative technology to meet their sustainability/ESG objectives.

As economic conditions continue to improve, tech spend will grow 5.3% in 2024 — up from 3.5% in 2023. Two factors will primarily contribute to this growth: Increased spending on software and IT services, including genAI, cloud, security, and digital, and economic growth in Asia Pacific. By 2027, software and IT services will capture 69% of global tech spend, with investments in genAI software predicted to reach $227 billion by 2030.

By 2027, Gartner predicts over 50% of CDAOs will secure funding for data literacy and AI literacy programs due to the failure of enterprises to achieve the expected value from GenAI. Few organizations are implementing AI literacy programs, but industry executives are beginning to realize that a workforce knowledgeable in data, analytics, and AI is vital.

The latest KPMG Global Automotive Executive Survey reveals a dip in optimism as the sector deals with concerns over the global economy and rising costs. Overall, just 34% of executives said they were highly confident versus 41% the previous year. Meanwhile, highly confident respondents in Western Europe dropped from 31% last year to 24% and fell from 48% to 43% in the US.

In a recent FutureScape report, IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Developer and DevOps 2024 Predictions — Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) Implications, IDC predicts that by 2028, GenAI-based tools will be capable of writing 70% of software tests, decreasing the need for manual testing, resulting in improvements to test coverage, software usability and code quality.

Forrester estimates that global tech spending will rise to $4.7 trillion in 2024, However, the highly competitive markets and increased spending will add pressure on technology leaders to provide IT capabilities that can contribute to their firm's growth agenda while managing costs and increasing efficiencies - and disconnected IT strategies can undermine the positive impact on revenue, profit, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement.

GenAI exploded into the public consciousness in 2023, promising to transform the way business functions. Despite the potential, leaders are struggling to convert hype into reality. According to a new report by BCG, 66% of executives are ambivalent or outright dissatisfied with their organization’s progress on AI and GenAI so far, citing three primary reasons for their dissatisfaction: a lack of talent and skills (62%), an unclear AI and GenAI roadmap and investment priorities (47%), and absence of strategy regarding responsible AI and GenAI (42%).

Half of supply chain leaders plan to implement generative AI (GenAI) in the next 12 months, with an additional 14% already in the implementation stage, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. The survey data also showed that chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) are dedicating 5.8% of their function’s budget, on average, to GenAI.

Automotive OEMs are focused on integrating immersive VoD and gaming to fill the vehicle with digitally native experiences that generate engagement and revenue among their customers. ABI Research forecasts worldwide shipments of cars with VoD will reach 15.09 million by 2030, driven by improved connectivity, higher screen size and resolution, and enhanced computing power of today’s vehicles.

The 2023 Brooklyn 6G Summit highlighted both the optimism and uncertainty the telecom industry is experiencing as it progresses from the 5G era, which is about halfway through its developmental cycle, to the 6G era, which is expected to commence in 2028, when the first 6G specification in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 21 is finalized.

The highly competitive streaming video landscape is prompting executives in the over-the-top (OTT) video streaming market to explore features and capabilities that drive customer retention and greater audience engagement. High Dynamic Range (HDR) is a technology that falls into this category of emerging solutions as it gains more attention from consumers and the industry, according to Nick Mitchell, Media Solutions Consultant for InterDigital, in an interview for journalists.

In the ever-evolving landscape of networking and security, two buzzwords have been making the rounds: SD-WAN and SASE. With the confusion surrounding them and SASE (the newer of the two), you may wonder: “Does SD-WAN have a future in a SASE world?” GigaOm explores the benefits of SD-WAN, the hype around SASE, how they fit together, and whether SASE is an automatic choice for all SD-WAN customers.

Consumer adoption of smart home devices continues apace, with a new Futuresource Consulting report indicating that shipments could have exceeded 257 million units worldwide in 2023. That’s a year-on-year increase of 23%, and the specialist research firm expects sector activity to intensify over the next few years.

GenAI is predicted to handle 30% of traditional marketing tasks in Asia/Pacific by 2027. 37.8% of CMOs are already implementing GenAI technologies. Marketing is becoming more data-driven with the rise of Generative AI, content fatigue, phasing out of cookies and a shift towards open advertising.

Worldwide smart TV shipments are on track to decline 5.5% year over year in 2023, according to IDC. However, the market is expected to recover with a flat growth forecast in 2024, followed by slow growth in the following years. With high inflation and long refresh cycles, much of the growth in the smart TV market is relegated to emerging markets.

Advanced collaboration tech will be crucial in the post-COVID office. A Futuresource Consulting report shows that 2022-2023 saw corporate AV budgets squeezed due to chipset price hikes and supply chain disruption. The tech sector also faced layoffs. But, the firm sees a potential growth upswing, projecting growth in volume and value for various collaboration devices.