Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2015: The Robots Have Awakened
To hear VP of Research and Gartner Fellow Daryl Plummer tell it, the robots will take over the world. And that's not such a bad thing, he said. "Robots can be our friends, and they can help us." (Tell that to Skynet.)
October 6, 2015
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To hear VP of Research and Gartner Fellow Daryl Plummer tell it, the robots will take over the world. And that's not such a bad thing, he said. "Robots can be our friends, and they can help us." (Tell that to Skynet.)
Robots, smart networks and the evolution of the Nexus of forces—cloud, mobile and digital—make up Gartner's Top 10 Strategic Predictions for 2016 and Beyond, which Plummer presented during Tuesday's lineup at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2015. Want to know what they are? Read on.
Deadly dull content, such as business reports, will go to the writers who won't complain about the work—robots. CIOs should identify opportunities to adopt automated content generation services now, while copywriters might want to refresh their resumes as more companies turn to "robowriting" services.
Should I be worried? You tell me.
Imagine a refrigeration system at a pharmaceutical company requesting help from the network because it's experiencing power fluctuations that could impact the compounds stored inside. It's going to happen—the question is when. IT leaders should start viewing "things"as customers of services and learn to market to them and to satisfy their nonhuman requests, Plummer said.
Think about it: In the near future, machines will be conducting financial transactions that we mere mortals will know nothing about. That could open a wealth of opportunity for robothieves. To ready their businesses for the coming wave of unseen digital transactions, CIOs should brush up on technologies based on crypto-currencies to become familiar with the predominant decentralized value-exchange platforms, Plummer said.
Now that's a mouthful.
I know, some of you think this has always been the case. And we've always had our doubts about Fred in Accounting. But Gartner predicts one day we really will have to answer to our robot overlords. Managers, of course, will add the human element. Plummer said to prepare, IT leaders must train managers to focus on "human" issues such as creative leadership, worker relations and strategic planning.
Yeah, they can be amusing. Those hacked highway signs telling us to turn back, zombies ahead, or "use yah blinkah." But the fact that they can be hacked at all is disturbing. And it's going to get worse before it gets better. So until the proper security mechanisms are in place for digital signs and smart buildings, companies using them must commission algorithms to detect and avoid obscenities introduced from outside the business, Plummer said.
We knew it was coming: the smart manufacturing floor. Or the smart inventory warehouse. Now it's here—or at least, it will be within a few years. To prepare now for a hybrid human/machine environment, companies need to do two things: establish a role for governance and management of a hybrid ecosystem, and promote the use of smart machine technology for higher leverage as a supplement to hiring people.
"Machines are efficient at what they do without emotional bias," Plummer noted. "They are more accurate and efficient. You need to change yourself and your role to accommodate the machines. I'd rather be prepared than scared."
In my opinion, if Siri were human, she'd be fired as a personal assistant. Honestly, she can't even tell a good joke. But Siri—and Cortana, and Alexa, and a growing list of others—are the future of customer interaction. And they'll know us by our voices and facial features. Which, of course, leads to issues regarding privacy. To prepare, CIOs must enable customer-led rules of engagement with an opt-in "pull approach" to avoid perceived privacy threats, Plummer said.
You see them everywhere: fitness bands being worn by everyone from CEOs to janitors. Right now they're a fashion accessory, but soon they'll be a requirement for employment, if Gartner is correct. After all, a healthier workforce is a happier workforce, right? But such a practice could lead to a slew of civil liberties and privacy lawsuits. To make it work, companies must establish policies for gaining employee permission to share fitness data with wellness providers.
"The post-mobile post-app era is coming. Systems will interact with you—there will be no need for apps in the future," Plummer said. We are entering an era where your car schedules itself for service, not you. All will be done with assisted help from machines. To prepare, IT leaders must do three things:
Evaluate virtual personal assistants (VPAs) for workforce productivity
Develop cloud services with open VPA APIs
Assess security and privacy concerns for potential data leakage
Yep, you read it right. The cloud is secure, it's humans who are the problem. What will it take to fix this? Awareness, for one. "The cloud is secure. Are you secure in using it?" he said. "It is your responsibility."
To help make things rights, Plummer said companies should use cloud access security brokers to discover if their SaaS is exposing sensitive data internally or externally.
Yep, you read it right. The cloud is secure, it's humans who are the problem. What will it take to fix this? Awareness, for one. "The cloud is secure. Are you secure in using it?" he said. "It is your responsibility."
To help make things rights, Plummer said companies should use cloud access security brokers to discover if their SaaS is exposing sensitive data internally or externally.
To hear VP of Research and Gartner Fellow Daryl Plummer tell it, the robots will take over the world. And that's not such a bad thing, he said. "Robots can be our friends, and they can help us." (Tell that to Skynet.)
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