Accenture_Technology_Vision_2014

TREND 1: DIGITAL–PHYSICAL BLURBut what does the average smartphone subscriber havein common with the person riding in a driverless car?They are both using “edge devices”—devices whose edgesborder other devices in that they have unprecedentedcapabilities to connect with other devices. These“cyber physical” systems sense their environments andrespond—appropriately—in real time, making possiblebetter-informed decisions within windows of opportunitythat can create competitive advantage. The pivotalpoint is that the sheer quantity of these edge devices isincreasing as dramatically as their prices are dropping.At the same time, their ability to sense environmentalvariables, share data with other edge devices via thecloud, and have deep analytics performed by the cloudadds up to create rich user experiences that inform muchmore intelligent, real-time decision-making.As the line between the digital and the physicalcontinues to blur, a vast new window of opportunity isopening for the enterprise. By leveraging and enhancingtheir physical assets, traditional companies are looking atthis opportunity as a way to leapfrog online competitors,create immersive real-world experiences for consumers,and gain market share. In addition, every company nowhas the opportunity not just to gather insight to makesmart business decisions but to turn those decisions intoactions, in real time, in the real world. The enormousexpansion in intelligent capabilities is rapidly reshapingestablished operations, paving the way for industrydisruption on a massive scale.But to chase these new opportunities, business andtechnology leaders alike must rethink how they bothengage customers and run their businesses in a digitalphysicalworld. For industrial Internet leaders like GE, thismeans pushing sensing technologies outside of industrialapplications and further to the edge of operations.For companies such as Cisco, which predicts that theindustrial Internet market will be worth $14.4 trillion overthe next decade, this means focusing on the “Internet ofEverything”—or, as Cisco describes it, “bringing togetherpeople, process, data, and things to make networkedconnections more relevant and valuable than ever before.” 515ACCENTURE TECHNOLOGY VISION 2014