Cloud computing battles, AI and digital transformation: Research round-up

Let's start with CIOs, who are meant to be helping their organisations embrace digital transformation. Yet too many businesses feel the threat of disruption is leaving their company at a disadvantage -- and some CIOs are beginning to feel their influence over technology is diminishing. That's one of the key conclusions from the 2018 CIO Survey from recruitment specialist Harvey Nash and consultant KPMG, which suggests a move towards digital platforms is proving a huge challenge.

For more see: Is the CIO losing their grip on tech decisions?

The Harvey Nash and KPMG survey of 3,958 CIOs provides further proof of the changing role of the IT chief. The top three priorities for digital leaders in 2018 are: developing innovative new products; delivering stable IT; and enhancing customer experiences. Smart IT leaders are using the appointment of a chief digital officer (CDO) to help bring clarity around their own roles.

For more see: Is the CIO losing their grip on tech decisions?

Consultancy Deloitte has also released new CIO research. Although the topic of gender diversity in technology has received much attention, there has been less research specifically looking at diversity and the CIO role. Deloitte completed a recent study, with perspectives from leading women CIOs (pdf).

See more here: Research: CIO gender diversity is good for business

A new study by Salesforce Research, State of the Connected Customer suggests 65 percent of IT teams say innovation for competitive differentiation is a high priority. However, innovating for the business has been a perennial challenge for IT teams. The good news? Many IT leaders are trying to give their teams more time to innovate; over the next 12 month to 18 months, 81 percent of IT organisations will increasingly automate the more routine tasks to allow team members to focus on innovation, including -- most importantly -- artificial intelligence (AI).

For more see: New research on customer expectations reveals new CIO mandate

Early adopters are ramping up investment in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in 2018, reveals a study conducted by Constellation Research. Sixty percent of C-level executives surveyed say their organisations plan to increase investment in AI by over 50 percent compared to last year. AI budgets, however, remain relatively modest with 92 percent of respondents expecting to spend less than $5 million on AI in 2018.

For more see: AI investment rising significantly among early adopters

Fifty-two percent of respondents report AI projects in production or in pilots in the IT department; 50 percent report production or pilot AI projects in customer service/commerce; 46 percent report AI projects in production or pilots in sales and marketing; and 36 percent report AI projects in production or in pilots in employee productivity.

For more see: AI investment rising significantly among early adopters

When it comes to customers, there's a fair amount of polarisation around companies using AI. A new study by Salesforce Research, State of the Connected Customer, examines the forces that are driving customer expectations. Some want to paint AI in a negative light, but others have a more balanced view. In several industries, retail as an example, high-performing brands are winning by leveraging AI for sales, services, and marketing.

For more see: New research on customer expectations reveals new CIO mandate

The State of the Connected Customer survey found that 59 percent of customers are open to companies using AI to improve their experiences. Whether they directly realise that AI is powering the experience, customers have come to like -- or even love -- a variety of everyday processes that would be impossible without it. Credit card fraud detection, email spam filters, and automatic reminders are among the favorites. Self-driving cars, however, won't win an AI popularity contest anytime soon.

For more see: New research on customer expectations reveals new CIO mandate

AI, of course, is just part of the puzzle when it comes to making the most of advanced technologies. The innovation requirements today mean every company is a technology company. Every company is also a data company that must operate like a software company -- agile, adaptive, experimental, and design focused. As IDC research -- highlighted in the 2018 Internet Trends presentation from KPCB -- demonstrates, the amount of information being created continues to rise exponentially.

For more see: How companies can innovate at scale

Smart companies use this information to create a competitive advantage. One common characteristics of the most valuable internet companies in the world is their ability to scale. The adoption of data, wireless networks, social, mobile, and video technologies is driving the need for designing innovation that can scale at an unprecedented rate.

For more see: How companies can innovate at scale

Research firm IDC posits that enterprises will ramp up spending this year on technologies and services that enable digital transformation, including applications, connectivity services, and IT services. IDC highlights discrete and process manufacturing as the heaviest spenders, with roughly $333 billion in combined total spending. These two industries will also set the agenda for many digital transformation priorities, programs, and use cases, IDC notes.

For more see: Digital transformation technology and services spending is on the rise

Cloud remains a crucial component in the digital transformation journey -- and our analysis of the 2018 cloud wars suggests the field is narrowing dramatically. ZDNet editor-in-chief Larry Dignan referred to Gartner's Magic Quadrant for cloud, suggesting the analyst has basically whittled the IaaS market down to a big three in leadership. Not surprisingly, those three are AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

For more see: Cloud wars 2018: 6 things we learned in the first half