Adopting artificial intelligence for growth
and positive social impact means forming new partnerships
with customers and business partners
TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2018 /CNW/ - Rapid advances in
artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies are
accelerating the creation of intelligent enterprises and enabling
companies to integrate themselves into people's lives, according to
Accenture Technology Vision 2018, the annual technology report from
Accenture (NYSE: ACN) that predicts key technology trends likely to
disrupt business over the next three years. However, capitalizing
on growth opportunities while also having a positive impact on
society requires a new era of leadership that prioritizes trust and
greater responsibility.
This year's report, "Intelligent Enterprise Unleashed: Redefine
Your Company Based on the Company You Keep," highlights how rapid
advancements in technologies — including artificial intelligence
(AI), advanced analytics and the cloud — are enabling companies to
not just create innovative products and services but change the way
people work and live. This, in turn, is changing companies'
relationships with their customers and business partners.
As part of the Technology Vision, Accenture surveyed more than
6,300 business and IT executives worldwide. More than four in five
respondents (84 percent) agree that through technology, companies
are weaving themselves seamlessly into the fabric of how people
live today.
For example, Amazon — through not only its tremendous online
presence but also its Echo device and AI assistant Alexa — has
integrated itself into people's everyday lives to such an extent
that developers are building dedicated Amazon lockers into new
apartment complexes and people are granting the company physical
access to their homes via its smart lock system to let couriers
make deliveries when no one is around.
"Technology is now firmly embedded throughout our everyday lives
and is reshaping large parts of society," said Paul Daugherty, Accenture's chief technology
& innovation officer. "Just as cities developed around ports
and then railroads, or people rebuilt their lives around
electricity, the world today is reimagining itself around digital
innovation — and, by extension, the companies that provide those
services. This requires a new type of relationship, built on trust
and the sharing of large amounts of personal information."
The report notes that this latest technological transformation
is unique in that for the first time the change is a two-way
street; people aren't just using companies' products and services
but feeding information and access back to them. This level of
"integrated innovation" and degree of trust requires a deeper
relationship — a true partnership based not only on a company's
products, but also its goals and values. And with this two-way
partnership come new responsibilities — to consumers, business
partners and society at large — requiring leadership and commitment
from the top.
Savvy organizations understand that these new societal
expectations can be transformed into an enterprise strength.
They're using their increased interactions to build partnerships
with customers, employees, government and the public. And this
extends beyond the consumer or retail arena.
Tesla, for instance, is partnering with governments to
accelerate the development of guidelines needed for autonomous
vehicles. And Siemens, by offering its MindSphere operating system
for internet of things that can be used for various types of assets
such as manufacturing devices, smart grid components or power
generation equipment, is creating new partnerships and embedding
itself into its business partners' architectures.
The Technology Vision identifies five emerging technology trends
that companies must address if they are to build the partnerships
needed to succeed in today's digital economy:
- Citizen AI: Raising AI to Benefit Business and Society.
As artificial intelligence (AI) grows in its capabilities, so does
its impact on people's lives. Businesses looking to capitalize on
AI's potential must acknowledge this impact, "raising" AI to act as
responsible representatives of their business.
- Extended Reality: The End of Distance. Virtual and
augmented reality technologies are transforming the ways people
live and work by removing the distance to people, information and
experiences.
- Data Veracity: The Importance of Trust. By transforming
themselves to run on data, businesses now face a new kind of
vulnerability: inaccurate, manipulated and biased data that leads
to corrupted business insights and skewed decisions. To address
this challenge, companies must follow a dual mandate to maximize
veracity and minimize incentives for data manipulation.
- Frictionless Business: Built to Partner at Scale.
Businesses depend on technology-based partnerships for growth, but
their own legacy systems aren't designed to support partnerships at
scale. To fully power the connected Intelligent Enterprise,
companies must first re-design themselves.
- Internet of Thinking: Creating Intelligent Distributed
Systems. Businesses are making big bets on intelligent
environments via robotics, AI and immersive experiences, but
bringing these intelligent environments to life will require not
only adding key skills and workforce capabilities, but also
modernizing current enterprise technology infrastructures.
"Through these new partnerships with customers, employees and
business collaborators, companies are building greater trust and
further integrating themselves into society, becoming more
indispensable and fueling their own growth," Daugherty said.
For nearly 18 years, Accenture has taken a systematic look
across the enterprise landscape to identify emerging technology
trends that hold the greatest potential to disrupt businesses
and industries. For more information on this year's report,
visit www.accenture.com/technologyvision or follow the
conversation on Twitter with #TechVision2018.
About the Methodology
The Accenture Technology Vision is developed annually by
the Accenture Labs and Accenture Research. For the 2018
report, the research process included gathering input from the
Technology Vision External Advisory Board, a group comprising more
than two dozen experienced individuals from the public and private
sectors, academia, venture capital firms and entrepreneurial
companies. In addition, the Technology Vision team conducted
interviews with technology luminaries and industry experts, as well
as with nearly 100 Accenture business leaders. In parallel,
Accenture Research conducted a global online survey of more than
6,300 business and IT executives across 25 countries and 18
industries to capture insights into the adoption of emerging
technologies. The survey helped identify the key issues and
priorities for technology adoption and investment. Respondents were
mostly C-level executives and directors, with some functional and
line-of-business leads, at companies with annual revenues of at
least US$500 million, with most
having annual revenues greater than US$6
billion.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company,
providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy,
consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched
experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries
and all business functions — underpinned by the world's largest
delivery network — Accenture works at the intersection of business
and technology to help clients improve their performance and create
sustainable value for their stakeholders. With more than 435,000
people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives
innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us
at www.accenture.com.
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SOURCE Accenture