A lot of change is coming -- it's time to make your technology bets. (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Think back just a few years -- social, mobile, cloud, and big data ruled the emerging technology landscape. Business and technology management executives wondered what big data meant, when the cloud would disrupt their companies, and how to engage effectively on social channels. In 2016, Hadoop turned 10, the cloud has been around even longer, and social has become a way of business and life. So, what's next?
There are the 15 emerging technologies Forrester thinks you need to follow closely. We organized this year's list into three groups: systems of engagement technologies will help you become customer-led, systems of insight technologies will help you become insights-driven, and supporting technologies will help you become fast and connected.
Why these 15? You might have noticed a few glaring omissions. Certainly blockchain has garnered a lot of attention; and 3D printing is on most of our competitors' lists. The answer goes back to being customer led, insights driven, fast, and connected. Those of you that follow our research will recognize these as the four principles of customer-obsessed operations. The technologies we selected will have the biggest impact on your ability to win, serve, and retain customers whose expectations of service through technology are only going up. Furthermore, our list focuses on those technologies that will have the biggest business impact in the next five years. We think blockchain's big impact outside of financial services, for example, is further out, so it didn't make our list, even though it is important. Maybe it will by 2018, when I update our list next.
Here are five of the fifteen that Forrester believes have the potential to change the world:
A lot of change is coming -- it's time to make your technology bets.
Brian Hopkins is VP and principal analyst at Forrester. Brian covers systems of insight, big data, data management, and analytics technology architecture and strategy. He also leads our emerging technology and technology innovation research and authors Forrester's top technology trends and top emerging technology reports for Enterprise Architecture Professionals. His research provides practical advice to architects and technology strategists seeking to embrace the business technology (BT) agenda with emerging digital technology, big data, analytics, and insights to execution technologies. Follow him on Twitter: @practicingEA