This past week, Gartner issued a list of their 100 data analytics predictions through 2024.
If you subscribe to the idea that data, analytics and artificial intelligence will define the next era of technology innovation (I do), you might want to read through the list and align your strategy accordingly.
There is a lot to pick from their top 100 predictions. You’ll likely find surprising insights that apply to your life and work.
In this piece, I’m highlighting a couple themes that I think are universally relevant. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
WHAT'S NEXT?
You Don’t Decide Anymore
Just a few years ago, I wrote about the automation of decision making in our daily shopping decisions. I asked: “what if our weekly groceries were delivered to us automatically based on the information we’re willing to share with retailers about our schedule, eating habits and preferences?” After all, we’re used to Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) recommending movies based on our viewing habits. What if that extended to our physical world?!
In this year’s predictions, Gartner implies that we might be getting closer to that reality: “by 2025, the top 10 retailers globally will leverage AI to facilitate prescriptive product recommendations, transactions and forward deployment of inventory for immediate delivery to consumers”.
The idea that Artificial Intelligence (AI) might not only aid our decision making process but that it would in fact enact decisions on our behalf might be scary for some. However, countless examples of this trend are already present in our daily lives.
I feel so strongly about this truth that, just a few months ago, I told a reporter that “A.I.” (the acronym used for “Artificial Intelligence”) should also be used to describe the benefits we get from Artificial Intelligence: “A.I. doesn’t just stand for “Artificial Intelligence”. It also stands for “Applied and Invisible”
Don’t believe me? Try this simple exercise:
- Pick up your phone and start a text
- Type a sentence but don’t insert spaces within words (for example: ‘whatdoyou’)
- Hit the spacebar.
Notice how your phone inserted spaces in the correct places? Your phone detected your error and corrected it as you typed. It decided for you.
This occurs around us every day. Multiple times a day. Almost invisibly. In plain sight. And it’s just the beginning. According to Gartner: “By 2024, 80% of newly created documents and correspondence will contain recycled content and content inserted through autocompletion”
There is a massive difference between a phone completing your texts and a retailer automatically delivering goods to your doorstep. However, my simple autocompletion example points to what I believe are important vectors for AI value realization: Application and Invisibility.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is most useful when it is “Applied” and “Invisible”. And humans make choices (sometimes unconsciously) to accept AI into their life based on the value and the risk they perceive the service provides.
The Future
Back to my retail example. If you’ve ever used Zappos, you might have benefited from their return policy: customers can easily order multiple shoe sizes or types and return what they don’t like for free. When I asked Zappos founder (who happens to live in my neighborhood) what was hard about starting his company, he pointed to the fact that, when he started it (over 20 years ago), investors didn’t believe that customers would behave that way. As it turns out, they did. That model worked so well that 10 years later, Zappos sold to Amazon for close to $1B.
The company seems to have worked out a pretty successful business model despite what investors believed would be tough barriers to overcome: the cost of shipping physical goods and consumers' habits.
What if Zappos now sent you shoes based on what it knows about your habits? Would you find that intrusive or would you elect to pay for such a service?
As it turns out, such a service already exists and many are already paying for it. Take a look at Stitch Fix (NASDAQ: SFIX), an online personal styling subscription service that uses recommendation algorithms and data science to decide what clothing items to deliver to you based on size, budget and style. The company went public 3 years ago, has a valuation north of $2B and has a business model that predicated on the idea that algorithms can choose for you. The future is already here but not everyone is aware of it. Yet.
What does this mean for you?
When assessing technology like Artificial Intelligence, focus on how “invisibly applicable” it is (or will be). Focus on how effortlessly and conveniently value is delivered. Businesses that thrive on using A.I. don’t do so because of the predictions of investors (see Zappos’ example). They succeed because consumers choose to evolve habits based on the value that technology brings to their lives. Value is best realized when it is applied to a specific problem and it is experienced effortlessly or invisibly (see the phone auto-correct example above). Finally, by the time you predict a technology trend, it might already be there (see StitchFix story above): don’t miss the technology trends that are hidden in plain sight.
One More Thing
If the above feels too scary, rest assured: massive change won’t occur as abruptly as you might fear. Indeed, Gartner predicts that despite the fact that “augmented analytics technology will be ubiquitous” by 2022, “only 10% of analysts will use its full potential”.
And the research firm goes on to explain that, through next year, “80% of line of business (LOB) leaders will override business decisions made by AI”.
The reality though is that change is coming and that it will ultimately change the way we live and work. According to Gartner, “69% of what a manager currently does will be automated by 2024, requiring a complete overhaul of the role of the manager”.
For more insights like the above, join me every Monday as I discuss the top Data, AI and Analytics trends of the week on youtube, spotify and medium.
