Bangkok--22 Mar--PwC Consulting (Thailand)
Enterprise wearables, NoSQL databases, and business sensors top the list of digital technology trends in 2015 with the potential to raise productivity and lift profit margins, PwC says.
The new technologies would eliminate workplace accidents and injuries, give insight into customers, and improve overall engagement, according to PwC’s Three surprising digital bets for 2015.
The study, which polled some 503 business and IT leaders in 14 countries across Europe, Asia, and North America, provides insights about trends for prioritising technology investments, under-rated technologies, and investments that should be on the minds of executives this year. It’s part of a broader Digital IQ Survey conducted in December last year.
Vilaiporn Taweelappontong, a Partner at PwC Consulting (Thailand), said that businesses need to look beyond the obvious investments in order to raise their Digital IQ.
A Digital IQ is a company’s ability to understand, value and integrate technology into organisations. Investing simply in IT fundamentals such as cybersecurity, private cloud and data mining isn’t enough for businesses to set themselves apart and stay ahead of the competition.
“To remain relevant and profitable in the digital world, businesses need to develop capabilities that push the boundaries,” she said. “The explosion of interest in wearable computing, NoSQL, and business sensors, in our view, will be among tech’s fastest rising trends driving innovation in business this year.”
Wearables fit for business?
While moves from Apple, Samsung and Google are drawing attention on the customer side, Vilaiporn said that wearable technologies are useful in the workplace. They help increase efficiency, boost productivity to improve safety.
“In factories and manufacturing, workers can use goggles, lanyards or sensored-embedded clothing to perform dangerous tasks and reduce injuries,” she said. “Companies across all industries can provide staff with smart ID badges or other wearable displays for employee data collection, and use that information to improve productivity, collaboration, and overall effectiveness in the workplace.”
To work best, Vilaiporn said, wearables must have a human-centred design, provide usable insights, and integrate with other enterprise applications and the business environment. Security, privacy and battery challenges are considered potential pitfalls that need to be addressed before adopting wearable computing.
NoSQL databases matter
While databases remain a foreign concept to many CEOs, Vilaiporn said their impact on a company’s ability to deliver can’t be understated.
NoSQL databases, sometimes referred to as Not Only SQL databases, were developed in response to the sheer volume of data being generated, stored and analysed by modern users (User-generated data) and their applications (Machine-generated data).
The databases allow businesses to handle vast quantities of unstructured data and gain better insight into consumer behaviour in order to make smarter business decisions, she said.
“For instance, a parts supplier might use a NoSQL database to create a mobile ecommerce app that houses thousands of products with detailed descriptions, photos and videos,” Vilaiporn said. “The database can also keep up with all the changes whenever the company adds more products and users, or overhauls its app design.”
Sensors transform retailers, service providers
As with wearables, PwC predicts solid interest in business sensors particularly, in the retail and field service sectors.
Sensors help retailers gather information from all of the key data producing systems within the store, including point of sale, traffic counters, vendor direct store delivery activity and in-store inventory transaction data.
Relatively low-cost business sensors also give retailers immediate insight into purchasing behaviours, employees, and operations, leading to overall improved customer engagement.
The study also shows that some companies have equipped their warehouses with sensors to improve inventory security, track shipping, and monitor product levels to signal when stocks should be replenished. Many manufacturers have already used industrial automation and utilities that exploit sophisticated monitoring and control systems.
“We expect the era of smart, connected devices to continue to change how value is created for customers across virtually every industry,” she said. “What’s equally important is for corporate leaders to be well-prepared for this shift of the Internet of Things.”