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Many vertical industries are facing accelerating pressure for fundamental transformation, including embracing digitalization in order to survive and stay competitive, according to a report from IT research firm Gartner, which included suggestions and strategic planning assumptions for chief information officers (CIOs).
The study, “Top Industries Predicts 2014: The Pressure for Fundamental Transformation Continues to Accelerate,” predicted that by 2016, poor return on equity will drive more than 60 percent of banks worldwide to process the majority of their transactions in the cloud.
By 2017, 15 percent of consumers will respond to context-aware offers based on their individual demographics and shopper profiles, and by the end of 2017, at least seven of the world’s top 10 multichannel retailers will use 3D printing technologies to generate custom stock orders.
“Transformation remains a critically important phenomenon across all industries. Many industries will face intense challenges in 2014 and beyond, and will have no choice but to radically change their established business models,” Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, said in a statement. “Last year saw many industry decision-makers focusing on adopting new technologies to improve business operations by addressing developments such as the Nexus of Forces, the convergence of social, mobile, cloud and information. Today, by contrast, leaders are significantly shifting their business models and processes.”
Harris-Ferrante said that these trends are driven in part by the challenges of consumer empowerment and market commoditization, which in many ways are greater than in the past, and are particularly difficult for traditional enterprises to address. The need to digitalize the business and be customer-centric is also crucial and requires new approaches to information delivery, communication and transactions, the report noted.
Furthermore, by year-end 2015, inadequate return on investment (ROI) will drive insurers to abandon 40 percent of their current customer-facing mobile apps. By 2018, 20 percent of the top 100 manufacturers’ revenue will come from innovations that are the result of new cross-industry value experiences.
“The pressures of consumerization continue to disrupt many enterprises, forcing them to change their traditional business processes and operational models,” Harris Ferrante said. “The necessity to adopt digital business models transcends all industry verticals, and its diverse impacts are creating business opportunities that were not possible in the past. Enterprises must respond immediately in order to build the right business and IT road map for future market demands.”
Turning to health care technology, the report predicted that by 2016, 60 percent of U.S. health insurers will know the procedure price and provider quality rating of shoppable medical services in advance, and full-genome sequencing will stimulate a new market for medical data banks, with market penetration exceeding 3 percent by 2016.