Yes, AI-supported customer service has not been without its headaches, and the metaverse plunge has been slow to unfold, but brands and marketers must make no mistake—these are among the rapidly evolving technologies linking the physical and digital worlds that will define how business is done in the very near future, asserts new research from Accenture.
The firm’s new report, Technology Vision 2023, When Atoms Meet Bits: The Foundations of Our New Reality, explores these technology trends underpinning the convergence of the physical and digital, as businesses look to accelerate enterprise reinvention in the here and now—and identifies four trends that are key to unlocking this new shared reality.
“The next decade will be defined by three mega technology trends—cloud, metaverse and AI—which collectively will collapse the distance of our digital and physical worlds,” said Paul Daugherty, group chief executive of Accenture Technology, in a news release. “While generative AI will have far-reaching impact, leaders must dive in now to achieve its full promise, as it will require significant investments in data, people, and customizing foundation models to meet organizations’ unique needs.
The meteoric rise of ChatGPT has captivated the world’s attention on the power of generative AI to augment human capability. The researchers estimate as much as 40 percent of all working hours will be supported or augmented by language-based AI. Among business leaders, 98 percent of respondents agree AI foundation models will play an important role in their organization’s strategies over the next three to five years.
The four trends that brands will need to embrace to succeed in this new business landscape:
Generative AI
Advancing human capability as a co-pilot, creative partner or advisor, nearly all executives agree that generative AI will spark significant creativity and innovation (98 percent) and usher in a new era of enterprise intelligence (95 percent).
Digital identity
The ability to authenticate digital users and assets—the foundation for traversing digital and physical worlds—is now seen by 85 percent of executives as a strategic business imperative, not just a technical issue.
My data, your data, our data
AI cannot reach its full potential until companies figure out data. That means breaking down data silos and modernizing their data foundations. In fact, 90 percent of executives believe data is becoming a key competitive differentiator within organizations and across industries.
Our forever frontier
Feedback loop between science and technology is getting faster, with each accelerating the advancement of the other, in ways that 75 percent of respondents believe could begin to unlock the world’s grand challenges.
Download the full report here.
For this report, Accenture gathered input from an external advisory board of more than two dozen practitioners spanning public and private sector, academia, venture capital and entrepreneurial companies. In parallel, Accenture Research conducted a global survey of 4,777 C-level executives and directors across 34 countries and 25 industries. The survey was fielded between December 2022 and January 2023.
