Predictions 2017 - Enterprise Software & Application Services

As digitalisation accelerates the production of data, enterprises are becoming data rich but intelligence poor which is why Unlocking the Intelligence will be such a crucial capability to master.

For Enterprise Software & Application Services (ESAS) suppliers Unlocking the Intelligence means helping enterprises derive insight from their data assets to open up new initiatives, directions, operational and revenue models. Data underpins intelligence and machine intelligence techniques are core to unlocking value from data. Failure to release that intelligence risks existing investments being declared over-hyped and under-performing, putting future spending in jeopardy.

This is what we expect in 2017:

• Nurturing data mindsets. We have an expanding set of tools but they need to be accompanied by a data mindset. This is about trusting data-led decisions and embracing inference to bring about change and set enterprises on the right path. By investing to bring real, aggregated data into customer innovation lab initiatives, suppliers have an opportunity to nurture that mindset – and open up new revenue streams.
• Data-first suppliers will emerge as new competitors. As data owners build technology around their data they will challenge for a share of budgets previously earmarked for ESAS suppliers. Traditional suppliers can fight back by acquiring data assets or partnering with data providers, but the window of opportunity is narrow.
• Enterprises build cognitive cores as capabilities are baked into mainstream applications. As more machine intelligence capabilities are baked in, organisations of all types and sizes will have the ability to build a cognitive core. But the onus will be on suppliers to take a lead on practical applications with concrete value propositions, while also showcasing innovative use cases.
• Data driven Intelligent Applications become the acceptable face of machine intelligence. Virtual digital assistants (VDAs) and chat bots will proliferate and become the way users experience machine intelligence. These virtual assistants will form the visible edge of data driven intelligent applications and the comfortable face of machine intelligence, seeding the market for further adoption and more advanced use cases within the business environment.
• Pre-built machine learning algorithms lever up accessibility. The provision and/or management of prebuilt machine learning algorithms delivered as cloud services will present a market expanding opportunity. As they move towards accessibility improves, they will open up the market by attracting companies, from small to large. ESAS suppliers have the option of adding IP to pre-built services from Microsoft, Amazon and Google to create high value solutions, and/or creating their own proprietary machine learning services for industry specific tasks, which could become a point of differentiation.
• DevOps drumbeat will cause disruptive change within application services. The DevOps approach will gain stature as enterprises move from digital transformation planning and pilots into more widespread execution. Suppliers will adopt DevOps internally to meet customer requirements during digital transformation execution but also move towards Managed DevOps services. The rub is that Managed DevOps will not necessarily be an additional service line but one that merges and replaces several traditional services.

Look out for our 2017 Predictions compendium next week, containing the predictions from all our research streams, which will be available to all subscription service clients. Readers who don't have a subscription can contact Deborah Seth (dseth@techmarketview.com) for details. 

Posted by Angela Eager at '07:59' - Tagged: software   applications   AI   machinelearning