TRENDS: 8 TOP TECH TRENDS AND TIPS
Tech research giant Gartner Inc. discloses top information technology trends and offers tips for managing the customer experience in a technology-driven universe.
According to David Cearley, vice president, Gartner, Inc., based in Stamford, Conn., “The top technology trends cover three themes: the merging of the real and virtual worlds, the advent of intelligence everywhere, and the technology impact of the digital business shift.”
Tip: “Go in search of ‘little elephants’—small ideas that will have a big impact.”
- Big answers, not big data. “Organizations need to manage how best to filter the amounts of data coming in. The focus needs to shift to thinking about big questions and big answers first and big data second. The value is in the answers, not the data.”
- Don’t ask for feedback. If you simply ask customers what they want, many will provide incomplete or, though not on purpose, misleading information. Some might ask for a feature that doesn’t ultimately make them buy, such as asking you to improve the ecommerce experience, and then, when you’ve done that, choosing a competitor based on price.
- Look for little elephants. Gartner research shows that making small changes, especially in the customer experience, can have a big payoff. Go in search of “little elephants”—small ideas that will have a big impact.
- Throw out the blank slate. A few well-chosen constraints drive more creativity than a blank-slate approach. Choose constraints that focus the goal (the customer must be able to complete the purchase in X time) or limit solutions (it must cost less than X).
- Be led by customer needs. The biggest error innovators make is being seduced by a technology’s potential rather than led by your customer’s actual needs.
- Don’t ignore new technologies. 3D printing is growing more than threefold: 98% this year and then doubling again in 2016. Consumer applications will demonstrate that it is “a real, viable, and cost-effective means to reduce costs through improved designs, streamlined prototyping, and short-run manufacturing.”
- Second-screen phenomenon. “Applications will evolve to support simultaneous use of multiple devices. They will use multiple screens and exploit wearables and other devices to deliver an enhanced experience.”
- Reality and security concerns. “In a digital business world, security cannot be a roadblock that stops progress. Organizations will increasingly recognize that it is not possible to provide a 100% secured environment.”
As technology becomes more and more pervasive, what have your experiences been? And how do you integrate technology with the customer and patient experience? Please tell us and join in the conversation on our Facebook page here.
Reference: www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2867917
Erinn Morgan
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