Instead of a detailed description of trends in information and digital technologies, one can only refer to one forecast: in just a couple of years, this market will own more than half of world GDP. Never before has a single branch of human activity developed so rapidly and has had such an impact on human life as a whole.
Who influences whom
The cliche “the world is changing at cosmic speed” stays firmly in business reviews for as many years as new digital technologies exist. It turns out that the future of mankind depends on gadgets, startups, digitalization, artificial intelligence and everything else?
Not everyone becomes comfortable with such assumptions. Therefore, we will not delve into the philosophy of "digital being", but will deal with the current situation in the information market. Everything related to the two letters of IT is always extremely interesting. For this kind of information you need to carefully monitor, otherwise there is a risk of hopelessly lagging behind life. Unfortunately, with the same rapid speed ...
Information Technology Market Characteristic
The IT industry is highly variable, so it’s hard to talk about established areas of development. Nevertheless, the structure of the information market can be divided into the following segments:
- programming products;
- Hardware or computer hardware;
- IT services of various profiles;
- equipment for communications and communications.
The IT market can be structured by industry. Perhaps there is not a single area of human affairs where digital technology would not be applied. Therefore, such a classification of the IT market would simply turn into a long list of human activities. Therefore, it is better to “walk” through some episodes of the development of an unusually lively and volatile phenomenon under the acronym IT.
Predictions, Fantasy and Fakes
Analysis of trends and forecasts for the development of the global information market is the favorite thing of consultants, ministers, professors, etc. This is a simple and win-win way to turn in front of an amazed audience into an advanced expert who knows more than ordinary mortals.
Already what is full on the Web is IT forecasts of various kinds: from real expensive research with scientific forecasting to shocking tales about what miracles are happening in Silicon Valley. And so strange stories are formed from high stands that cows will soon cease to be needed, as an extra intermediary between grass and beef, because everything will be printed by a 3D printer.
You can filter fakes and recognize real and useful information in only one way: choose serious expert sources. Such, for example, include the company "Gartner" (Gartner) and "Forrester" (Forrester). These are research companies that monitor, analyze the information market at the most serious and professional world level.
The characteristics of the IT market in terms of forecasts
The main advice from trustworthy experts in an averaged and maximally universal way is as follows: if you still have not invested in new IT technologies, do it as quickly as possible.
Now forecasts of events in the market of information resources and services for the near future, through 2020 inclusive:
- The imbalance in sales of two types of services: on the one hand, the demand for cloud services will increase significantly. On the other hand, this increase will lead to the failure of sales of familiar local software solutions. Thus, the market growth of these types of services may be unstable.
- The heterogeneous structure of the information market: uneven growth in sales of IT services and equipment in different countries. If, for example, in China, the USA or Sweden, it will increase by no less than 4%, then the vast markets of countries such as Russia or Brazil will not show high dynamics. The reason for this is the adverse economic conditions observed in this period.
- Significant growth in demand (more than 60%) for new servers due to the expansion of the artificial intelligence market.
Important trends include, of course, blockchain technology. Together with artificial intelligence and cloud IT solutions, it is included in the “shock” group of the most promising examples of the information market of the coming years. However, some companies prefer to “wait a bit” with investments in IT, given some political nuances in global markets in general.
Digital technologies for banks
The banking industry is perhaps the most capacious and grateful sector of the economy, the existence of which would not have been possible without modern IT services. Advanced banking structures were the first to realize that new client technologies would "save the banking world." And everything new in the bank is possible only with IT. Bankers are waiting for technological discoveries, new solutions and related problems (where would they be without them):
- Cloud service will become the main tool for banking customer service instead of traditional systems with subscriptions. Transaction systems on new cloud platforms will become much more advanced. But these changes will raise the problem of cybersecurity to a new, higher level, which will have to be worked hard.
- Blockchain as a technology will find wide application in the payment system, especially in a cross-border format.
- Bank services will expand significantly by creating and offering customers individual credit, financial and investment solutions that will be formed through the analysis of big data and new predictive analytics.
- Internet of Things (IoT) technologies will also lead to new types of payments.
Information market for production
If we talk about the manufacturing industry, then here the priority interest and prospects are concentrated mainly on the capabilities of artificial intelligence. This technology will become the most dynamic sector with growth up to 70%.
In comparison with the banking technological breakthrough in IT, the industrial business can be called perhaps the most conservative in this regard. The following drivers can be distinguished in the production information market:
- Integration of IT solutions in the chain of production processes. Optimization of business processes with increasing their efficiency and transparency.
- Formation of full-fledged IT landscapes through the consolidation of IT applications.
- Technological IT solutions for next-generation analytics - a real-time process.
- Integration of not only individual business processes, but the entire product life cycle
Russian market of hackers and hunters for them
Numerous computer crimes have received a common name: cybercrime. The fight against it also takes on new formats and principles. This is now called the Cybercrime Decision Ecosystem: Predict and Prevent.
Fraud. Crime. Hackers. Carding. Phishing DDos attacks ... Constantly around the clock on a global scale, educated and skilled people steal money and secrets. The Russian market sector has become truly international. It is quite specific: Russian criminals are well organized, bold and technologically competent.
It is not surprising that Russian professionals will be the best hunters for hackers and other violators of Russian leaven. So it is: Russian cybersecurity companies are highly rated on the global information market. Recently, a new type of service has appeared - cyber intelligence (Threat Intelligence) with its tactical, operational and strategic combat missions. The world is changing here too ...
Retail IT Market
And interesting events are unfolding in this sector. Retailers, including Russian ones, are investing in new sales channels related to the so-called omnichannel trading. It's about choosing the best way for customers to purchase: online or offline with the constant price of the goods.
A variety of mobile applications from trading companies are moving away from the practice of banal and boring newsletters about promotions and discounts. Today's applications are aimed at the formation of individual offers using big data and other analytical tools.
Customer loyalty is increasingly valued, so another area of IT development has become a variety of systems for accumulating loyalty points, taking into account the personalities of regular customers up to age, gender and geography.
Amazing predictions
We cannot but mention medicine, in which fantastic technological IT breakthroughs are observed in all areas: from surgical operations to the production of new pharmacological agents.
For example, by 2023, the demand for emergency medical care in developed countries will decrease by almost half thanks to the new online virtual care for chronic patients. The basic technology in this case will be artificial intelligence. To be honest, this forecast does not apply to Russia.
In the field of general security, there are also a huge number of achievements and even more prospects for the future. Indeed, besides cybercrime, no one has yet abolished ordinary crime. But violators of the laws are already living a lot harder with the latest integrated video surveillance systems and multi-level audio monitoring.
The latest versions of face recognition systems are used even in the transport sector: for example, at international airports. Search for missing persons, stolen goods, illegally exported animals or false documents: for the information market, this is nothing more than integrated border services. Safety, transportation, logistics - all this is becoming much more efficient and safer.
Features of the Russian IT market
Unfortunately, the Russian market for information resources lags far behind markets in developed countries (this does not apply to cybersecurity services). There are practically no purely Russian products on the IT market. Domestic IT companies are surprisingly satisfied with their secondary in the global market, acting as small development contractors.
Outsourcing is the main disaster and problem of Russian IT. In terms of the work “for someone else’s uncle”, only Belarusians and Indians are ahead of Russians. The consequence of this alignment of forces is the following two troubles of Russian IT: secondary and borrowing. It's about bulk copying of applications, products, standards, etc.
And yet integration
Of course, sooner or later, the processes of globalization, and especially digitalization (a new and awkward official term in Russian) will lead to the alignment of all regional IT markets. This also applies to the integration of the Russian market in the world.
In the meantime, you need to follow reliable sources of IT news and read the forecasts of reputable experts on trends and future changes in human life. To master useful gadgets by ourselves, not to be afraid of the new and to lead the lifestyle of a modern, advanced, dynamic person.