As businesses decide on where to place investment dollars this year, Deloitte identified six trends to consider.
“Business leaders continue to face many varying challenges and opportunities, and staying ahead of these trends will have a lasting impact on how their organizations will operate in the future,” said John Lucker, Deloitte Consulting LLP about the company
Following are the six major trends, from the “2016 Deloitte Analytics Trends “ report that are most likely to significantly impact business in the coming year:
Cybersecurity—Offense can be the best defense: The worldwide financial services industry was projected to spend $27.4 billion on information security alone in the last year (source: IDC). These organizations are beginning to employ more predictive approaches to threat intelligence and monitoring, which may mean automated scanning of Internet “chatter” by far-flung groups and individuals who may intend cyber-harm or analyzing past hacks and breaches to create predictive models for tomorrow’s threats.
Companies struggle to bridge the data talent chasm: Smart companies are realizing that analytical talent is critical to their success and in short supply, but more than 40% struggle with finding the talent they need (Source: 2015 MIT Sloan Management Review). In fact, businesses need more than 1.5 million new data scientists to operate at peak efficiency.
Man/machine partnerships are getting stronger: The era of smart machines is upon us as analysts project that businesses will spend more than $60 billion on cognitive solutions by 2025 (source: IDC). However, leading businesses will use humans to add value to these smart machines. Some human talent will have to build and implement cognitive technologies, while others will ensure that those technologies are performing well, and still others will complement computers in roles machines cannot perform well such as those involving high levels of creativity or empathy.
The Internet of Things, and people, too: The Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly evolving from the realm of interesting gadgets to include tracking people as “things” to form new business models and influence people’s behaviors. This innovation is taking place in both consumer-focused and business-to-business (B2B) industries and it has significant implications for business models and industry.
Triumph of the scientists: In the 2000s, it was called the triumph of the nerds. In the 2010s it may be the triumph of the scientists. Deloitte Analytics sees a significant shift in how scientists are utilized within companies, and an increasing number of them are leading companies. This trend is poised to reshape the competitive landscape and the way managers work.
The rise of the insight-driven organization: Analytics expands across the enterprise: Business leaders are beginning to take serious steps towards the insight-driven organization (IDO), which goes beyond the selective use of insights to fuel decision-making in individual parts of the business. It deploys a tightly knitted combination of strategy, people, processes and data to drive competitive advantage and improved operations.
