Umbrella Trend: Digital Transformation
What is digital transformation? In a nutshell, it's transforming the world with digits. That's the Media Mogul Enterprises definition. Wikipedia says: "Digital transformation (DT) is the change associated with the application of digital technology in all aspects of human society." In short, the world is on the cusp of massive changes and the winners and losers in business will be determined by how digital transformation is leveraged.
Digital transformation is the "umbrella trend" under which all of the other trends fall.
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Another way -- rather than use the term digital transformation -- to see the vast changes that are happening now is by classifying dramatic changes over the years as industrial revolutions. The First Industrial Revolution was driven by water and steam allowing production to be mechanized. The Second Industrial Revolution was all about electric power. This allowed mass production such as the mass production of automobiles. In the Third Industrial Revolution, the world became digitized. This revolution was driven by electronics and information technology (IT). Production now became automated. We are now in the Fourth Industrial Revolution which is built on the third. It is all about the convergence of the building blocks of matter, biology and IT. This can also be viewed as digital transformation built on the digital revolution.
Three Building Blocks
What makes digital transformation (or the Fourth Industrial Revolution) exciting is succinctly discussed in the book The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee. He talks about three building blocks: atoms, bytes and genes. How these three converge and mix and match over the next ten years may well be a very exciting ride. What is certain is that the rules have changed.
Big Trend: Artificial Intelligence
AI is considered the next "stupendous technological development," similar to the computer revolution and the evolution of the smartphone, according to Grand View Research. Divisions within AI include: machine learning (with deep learning as a subset), natural language processing, image processing, and speech recognition. Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon, says about AI: "It's hard to overstate how big an impact it will have over the next 20 years."
Big Trend: Deep Learning
Deep learning is a subset of a subset (Machine Learning) of AI. But it's important to understand because it is a game changer. You have likely interacted with Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, or other voice response system. But what is remarkable here is that there is no programming involved. The machine learning is involved with deep learning, with a computer gathering information, evaluating that information and using that information.
Big Trend: Over-the-Top Video
According to ReportLinker, the OTT market is expected to grow to $158.4 billion by 2025 from $ 36.7 billion in 2015. Players in the over-the-top video or streaming services market include: Netflix, YouTube, Sling, Hulu and Amazon. It's a dynamic, competitive and growing marketplace.