Disruptive trends to realize a safe and sustainable future
NTT Report predicts disruptive trends in 2021 that will force digital transformation in businesses and society.
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Without a doubt, 2020 was an unforgettable year. From a global pandemic that sent most of the world into lock down to a sea of significant changes in most people’s lives. New customer behaviour online and remote working has fundamentally altered the way everyone has to communicate and do business.
As 2021 gets off to a new start, one thing is clear, companies must rapidly digitise their businesses to adopt and thrive in a new reality. NTT predicts five key disruptive technology trends that will have the potential to profoundly change existing business models, as well as help enterprises and society to realise safety and security, support sustainable growth and reduce environmental loads.
The five technology trends include: All-photonics networks, Cognitive Foundation technology, Digital Twin Computing, robotic process automation , as well as quantum and edge computing.
According to NTT, All-photonics networks, with the use of optical and hybrid cabling, allow for the transfer of large volumes of traffic while keeping the quality high and latency low. Transmission capacity could be increased to the extent that you could download 10,000 2-hour movies in a fraction of a second. Added to this, while the current IT equipment and networks rely on electronic processing and chips that require high levels of power, All-photonics networks will support a smart, sustainable and energy-efficient society as it is just 1/100th of the power consumption required by networks today.
Then turning to Cognitive Foundation, a computer intelligence technology that is capable of analysing and forecasting without being constrained by the format of systems or data. It can integrate with various Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, collect data from different media including voice, video or others, as well as orchestrate and centrally manage the data in its information processing platform. NTT has implemented the technology in its smart city project in Las Vegas for incident response management and prediction.
The next disruptor, according to NTT, is Digital Twin computing. Digital twins are virtual representations of real-world environments, products or assets. It enables predictive analytics by integrating the real and virtual worlds and can assist in designing solutions and products. Examples of adoption include manufacturers using them to manage performance of machines, and city planners using them to simulate the impact of new developments and road traffic.
Another game changer in the coming year will be robotic process automation and the evolution of ‘citizen developer’. By automating certain tasks and processes, businesses can create their new applications using low-code/ no-code development platform with simple process and little oversight.
Lastly, it is expected that quantum and edge computing will usher in a new era of computing. With the expectation that there could be as many as 50 billion devices being online generating data in the next decade, quantum computers can solve computational problems substantially faster than traditional computers. Edge computing would mean that more computational work will be done locally at the edge rather than in the central cloud which could cause delays. For example, a car’s computer vision system could process and recognise images immediately rather than sending that information to the cloud for verification.
“At the heart of these changes are the people. Digital transformation in 2021 will be imperative for businesses to enable them to deliver superior, more connected, seamless and positive customer and employee experiences, ” Taichi Hiramatsu, CEO, North Asia & Hong Kong, NTT Ltd., said.
“The immense amounts of data that most organisations access, capture, manage and analyze from multiple sources are only set to grow in the year ahead. As such, automation, alongside with various disruptive technologies, are continued to expect to play a key role in the future of working,” Pranay Anand, Senior Director of Intelligent Workplace, Asia Pacific, NTT Ltd., said.
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