Commissioned by F5 and conducted by consumer trends specialists Foresight Factory, the report uses a bank of technological and societal trends, research from 25 markets across EMEA (including Great Britain), interviews with leading experts and eminent entrepreneurs specialising in automation, biometrics IT and technology, the report explores the following themes that will affect businesses now and in the near future:
- Conscientious Collaboration: The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and evolution of integrated apps
- Optimum Intelligence: The revolution that AI, biometrics and machine-learning in apps enabling optimum decision making
- Personal Realities: The increasing use of augmented and virtual reality and a future world of embedded smart technologies and individual realities
- New Networks: De-centralisation as blockchain technologies and edge computing move into the mainstream
Some of the projections include:
- How industry collaboration is required to promote the benefits of digital transformations and creation of new benchmarks for corporate behaviour and social responsibility (especially surrounding new principles and practices with data and AI)
- The development of complex ecosystems with new interfaces, spanning voice, biometrics, haptics, AR and VR, creating new worlds for users and unprecedented responsibilities for the companies powering them
- Localised AI will grow, where autonomous cars could become servers in order to process information directly, removing the need to send data to the cloud and risk the information being compromised
- Emerging innovation in the health sector indicates the potential for transformation in the provision of healthcare with cognitive apps set to be instrumental in improving patient outcomes and achieving significant cost savings
Josh McBain, Director of Consultancy, Foresight Factory, commented:
“This unique report provides an insightful view into the future of apps and the rapid transition to a powerfully immersive digital and app-centric society. Physical and digital worlds are blurring. We now have the opportunity for unprecedented productivity and efficiency at both a corporate and individual level. More than ever before, embedded biometrics and AI will enable humans to take greater control of their personal data. However, these technological shifts will bring significant risks to an increasingly fraught threat landscape, including the dangers of self-replicating AI, autonomous vehicle hacks or the weaponization of the Internet of Things. We now need to be prepared for when cybercriminals hack the human or even breach the brain.”
Lizzie Cohen-Laloum, Senior Vice President EMEA, F5 Networks, adds:
“There is growing pressure on organisations and developers to stay relevant. Demands are changing at lightning pace and security concerns are surging. The Future of Apps indicates how the balance of power is shifting away from businesses, creating immense opportunities for those capable of delivering apps with speed, adaptive functionality and security. This is particularly true as apps increasingly harness the cloud and sit at the heart of complex ecosystems incorporating everything from voice and biometrics to haptics and augmented reality.”
