Edition 2016-2017

Look Out
Trends 2016+

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Ascent Look Out 2016+
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Contents

4 Welcome to Ascent Look Out

5 Horizon Scanning for a More Resilient Digital Journey
6 Key Transformation Challenges

Market Context
10 Focus On: Reinventing Business in the Digital Age
14 Megatrends: Socio-Cultural, Economic and Political
24 CxO Agenda

Market Views
38 Aerospace 98 Healthcare
44 Automotive 104 Homeland Security
50 Banking 110 Insurance
56 Chemicals 116 Media
62 Cities 122 Oil and Gas
68 Consumer Packaged Goods 128 Pharmaceuticals
74 Defense 134 Retail
80 Discrete Manufacturing 140 Telco
86 Education 146 Travel, Transport and Hospitality
92 Government 152 Utilities

Tech Trends
160 Technologies that will Impact your Business
Introduction

Welcome to Ascent Look Out

''As digital business empowerment takes

center stage, your business of tomorrow
will need to become radically different to
Thierry Breton your business of yesterday.''
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,
Atos

Welcome to our latest edition of
Ascent Look Out. It provides an in-depth
analysis of the emerging trends, business
needs and technologies that will drive
innovation in your industry and your own
business in 2016 and beyond.
As digital business empowerment takes
center stage, your business of tomorrow
will need to become radically different
to your business of yesterday. And our
responsibility at Atos, as trusted partner
for that digital journey, is to ignite your
imagination, sparked by our vision of a
future enabled by technology.
We will help ensure digital becomes second
nature and is fully integrated throughout
your business – from providing a seamless
customer experience through to enabling
new business models as well as secure and
agile operations.
As such, our Ascent initiatives, which
include Ascent Look Out, are designed to
share innovation and thought leadership
with our partners and clients across all
industries and the business technology
spectrum.
By blending business knowledge with
technology know-how, Ascent Look Out
systematically explores the key
transformation challenges that will face any
business seeking to make digital second
nature.
This sixth edition offers a clear, independent
and authoritative cross-sector insight,
painting a picture of your businesses in the
future, enabled by technology. It will help
you make informed strategic decisions and
take the bold steps needed to stay ahead.
After all, today’s increasingly digital world
means you must embrace the full power of
technology to fundamentally change your
business.
Delivered by our market and technology
experts across the globe, it uncovers
hundreds of insights and innovations
across 20 markets – critical trends that lie at
the intersection of technology, people and
business that make progress possible.
We hope you will enjoy the read and the
journey ahead with us, exploring the new
and stimulating opportunities that will drive
your digital transformation in 2016 and
beyond.

4 #AscentLookOut

Horizon Scanning for a
More Resilient Digital Journey
Together Atos’ Chief Commercial Officer and Group Advisor for Technology introduce the
philosophy behind Ascent Look Out: why horizon scanning is a critical element of your digital
journey, how megatrends are driving transformation challenges in your markets and how
technologies are enabling the novel opportunities and addressing the new threats raised by these
challenges.
Patrick Adiba
Chief Commercial Officer,
CEO Olympics & Major Events, Atos
We’ve now entered the age of
digital disruption
Philippe Vannier: Patrick, so how should
we introduce Ascent Look Out 2016+?
Patrick Adiba: We could start by saying
that the speed at which technology is
impacting our lives is accelerating.
PV: Indeed, it’s radically reshaping the very
nature of business, dramatically challenging
established business models across all
markets.
PA: Just look at the connected car. It will
completely disrupt both the automotive
market and adjacent businesses.
PV: Have you seen how car manufacturers
are already offering new infotainment and
maintenance services, thanks also to 5G,
the IoT, NFC and cognitive computing?
PA: It will also significantly impact the
insurance industry and our cities too. We’re
already seeing usage-based insurance
models and smart traffic management.
PV: Do you think we’ll still need drivers,
parking and insurers when the car
becomes fully autonomous? In a few years,
we’ll be asking ourselves why we ever let
humans do the driving!
PA: And we’ll also be questioning whether
we’ll still need traffic lights...
Exploring the future –
systematically
PV: In fact, new emerging technologies
mean all industries and geographies will
need to innovate – to fundamentally rethink
their business strategies, business models,
Philippe Vannier
Group Advisor for Technology, Atos
operations and routes to market.
PA: We talk about that in the ‘Focus On’
section, where we reveal five golden rules
for reinventing business in the digital age.
One is the horizon scanning that allows you
to systematically investigate tomorrow’s
trends and explore future possibilities.
PV: What’s more, horizon scanning within
an Innovation Value Web – with partners,
customers and peers – helps you unlock
novel ideas for that additional competitive
edge.
PA: Such as the partnerships with financial
institutions that are allowing oil and gas
companies to offer credit management in
gas stations?
Uncovering new opportunities
& preparing for uncertainties
PV: Ascent Look Out begins our horizon
scanning process with the megatrends: the
social, economic and political waves that
impact both our business and personal
lives.
PA: Take the demographic evolutions, for
example. Social welfare and health systems
are becoming increasingly strained while
the relative size of the working population
reduces.
PV: Today's third digital revolution, with
its rise of automation and robotics, will
help ensure healthcare services remain
sustainable as the population transforms.
PA: The CxO Agenda chapter highlights
the numerous opportunities and threats
brought about by the megatrends.
PV: Take personalization, for instance:
Introduction
healthcare providers, amongst others,
face the seemingly opposing forces
of ‘maximizing process efficiency’ and
‘personalizing user experience’.
Unlocking your potential
through innovation
PA: The next step is to work with the wider
ecosystem to come up with novel ideas
that match these opportunities and threats
with solutions built on new and emerging
technologies.
PV: Yes. Take the insight platforms
described in the Tech Trends section.
Healthcare providers are using cognitive
computing to rapidly transform increasing
volumes of data into actionable insights.
PA: Behind the scenes, powerful high
performance – soon ‘exaFLOPing’ –
computing systems perform complex
simulations and analyses. These are vital for
anticipating diseases as well as delivering
the customized dosing that offers more
effective treatment.
Exploring opportunities
beyond your own market
PV: Our readers should not only take a look
at what is happening in their own markets,
but also explore other markets too, as that
is where the truly novel ideas will emerge
from.
PA: Indeed, each market focuses
individually on the four key transformation
challenges that every organization is
facing: Customer Experience, Business
Reinvention, Operational Excellence and
Trust and Compliance.
Ascent Look Out 5
Introduction
Key Transformation Challenges
No matter how big or how small, how young or how well-established, every business and every
government organization is facing four key transformation challenges, whatever its industry
sector and geography. Ascent Look Out will help you recognize, understand and address the new
opportunities and novel threats brought by each of these key transformation challenges. We begin
by introducing Customer Experience, Business Reinvention, Operational Excellence and Trust and
Compliance.
Customer Experience
Daniel Cohen
Head of
Financial Services &
Insurance
‘‘Today’s connected individuals want
their financial services to be not only
personalized, seamless, consistent
and trusted across all channels; they
also expect them to be intelligent,
contextual and able to anticipate their
needs within their digital financial
ecosystem.’’
Business Reinvention
Bruno Fabre
Head of
Telco, Media &
Utilities
‘‘Today’s evolutions need more open
and more agile partnerships: from
utilities’ multi-sided business models
around electric vehicles in smarter
cities and Telcos helping banks and
retailers deliver an omni-channel
experience to media and utility
consumers becoming providers. ’’
6 #AscentLookOut
Discover how the rise of digital technology
has raised customer expectations for high
quality and convenient service to new
heights across all industries. Note also how
today's customers' elevated desire for that
personal touch is contrasted by a desire to
do as much as possible for themselves.
To do this, customers need constant access
to information and applications – from any
location and on any device at any time. The
technology has to deliver a consistent and
seamless service across all their favorite
channels – both physical and virtual.
As customer relationships deepen,
Customer Experience becomes
Our markets are constantly evolving.
Businesses are continually improving their
practices, not just doing things differently
to drive efficiency but realizing the potential
of technology to do completely different
things.
Business Reinvention is about
understanding the value and insights that
are so often locked up in transactional
business data. Customer insight and
market analytics are helping them identify
new channels to market and new service
opportunities.
Analytics uses data to reveal new
opportunities for growth, enable just-in-time
production models and suggest alternative
increasingly important. A happy customer
will remember the experience they had,
not what they bought, and come back time
and time again for more of the same.
And in return for that good experience,
customers are happy to become your
social advocates, reviewing your products
and services while ‘liking’ your digital pages
in their multitude of social forums. So when
potential new customers do their research,
that favorable evidence shines through
brightly. It could make all the difference to
your ongoing success.
revenue models. You will find that this
data is also key to the multi-sided business
models that are driving innovation and
collaboration across markets.
But digital is not a specific application or
technology; it’s a cultural change. The
full impact on business transformation is
only felt when the supporting business
processes allow new business models
– and co-innovation models with their
evolving stakeholders – to be defined,
implemented and managed.

Operational Excellence
Philippe Miltin
Head of
Manufacturing, Retail &
Transportation
‘‘With companies under pressure to
cut cost and deliver highly tailored
products and services, the connected
factory – where sensors embedded
in every machine are connected to
the plant’s Internet of Things – allows
management to rapidly react to
changing customer demands. ’’
Trust & Compliance
Thierry Siouffi
Head of
Public & Health
‘‘As our growing reliance on data and
increased connectivity brings new
threats to our privacy, infrastructure
and data, together cognitive
computing and high performance
computing are helping defense and
security agencies foresee, understand
and prevent attacks. ’’
Discover how highly efficient back-office
process elements are being triggered
by real-time integration with flexible,
personalized customer interaction
solutions in the new digital world. Through
Operational Excellence the challenges
of complexity are being overcome to
allow otherwise disparate entities to
deliver seamless and dynamic end-to-end
capabilities.
Meanwhile the pressure to maintain current
IT operations and reduce costs while
simultaneously transforming the business
by embracing new digital opportunities
continues across all industries.
Together with digital security, protection of
privacy and personal data and protection
against cyber-threats are now intrinsic to
every organization – and how these must
be achieved across both real and virtual
worlds. Organizations are increasingly
reliant on their customers’ personal data
and hence demonstrating security of and
control over the usage of individual’s data
is vital.
Objects are more connected and more
data is shared, increasing threats to privacy
and operational security that risk digital
business models failing and failing fast.
Trust and Compliance are essential for
Introduction
Even though the two seem interchangeable
on the surface, IT and digital have their own
specific agendas: IT requires a stable and
robust, yet flexible, infrastructure to keep
businesses running while digital demands
an agile and open business model and
internal processes able to respond at digital
speed to real-time, real-world changes.
Learn how organizations are combining
both speeds to deliver cutting-edge
services supported by a reliable foundation.
IT is robust, agile and cost effective while
enabling a truly responsive end-to-end
business model.
organizations wanting to evolve in today’s
digital world.
And with more and more critical processes
being digitized, cybercrime is already
costing business an estimate $1 trillion per
year, but neglecting it will put human lives
at risk.
Find out how the three key elements of
building trust, managing risk, ensuring
compliance are enabled in mission and
safety critical systems, infrastructure,
payments, fraud detection and more.
Ascent Look Out 7
Market Context
You might be tempted
to dive straight into the
specific challenges and
possibilities that are
relevant to your market.
Before you do, take a few
minutes to learn about how
you should reinvent your
business for the digital age,
explore the megatrends
that are driving your market
and understand the future
opportunities and threats
those megatrends might
bring.
As you do so, consider what
this new world might mean
for the CxO.

10 Focus On: Reinventing Business in the Digital Age

14 Megatrends: Socio-Cultural, Economic and Political
24 CxO Agenda
Market Context
Focus On: Reinventing Business in the
Digital Age
In previous editions of Ascent Look Out, the ‘Focus On’ section has examined Green IT, Open
Innovation, Cloud Computing, the birth of the Social Organization and Business Mobility. In this
2016+ edition we explore why and how you should reinvent your business for the digital age.
Innovation has been on the corporate
radar for many years, but has reached
new heights in recent years. The figures
speak for themselves: today’s world is
accelerating with innovation lead times
declining and Schumpeterian rates of
replacement rising. This, in turn, is causing
the tectonic plates of corporate business to
shift as never before, forcing corporations
and organizations to profoundly transform
themselves for a new age.
Innovation lead time & Schumpeterian
disruption: a concurrent-acceleration
The reasons? Multiple revolutions are
happening at the same time, each
reinforcing one another.
This current issue of Ascent Look Out
explores them all: accelerated multi-sided
globalization in a world that is definitively
Innovation lead time to attain 50 million users
Internet: 12 years
Mobile phone: 18 years
35% 45%
1973 1983
10 #AscentLookOut
becoming flat, financiarization that
augments business fluidity, sustainability
constraints exacerbated by demographic
upheavals that are forcing us to invent
new ways to leverage our world's limited
natural resources and, above all, the digital
revolution.
After having powered first business and
then people, information technologies are
now going the last mile: digitizing things.
This Copernican-scale revolution will
transform the way we interact with our
environment for ever, marking a definitive
step into the digital era.
Hiding below the surface of the
innovation iceberg
To characterize this move, the media
repeatedly focuses on the obvious: startups
rising to 'change the world' in the multiple
Social networks:
3.5 years
Smartphone:
8 years
60% 70%
1993 2003
incubators of the US, Europe and Asia. It
highlights bubbles of new players drawing
billions in venture capital funding and initial
public offerings (IPOs), hoping to find the
unicorns of tomorrow. Too often, however,
it neglects to see the profound changes
that are silently rising at the heart of core
industry players.
Indeed the third digital revolution –
explored in Atos' Ascent Journey 2018
vision, which is powered by our Scientific
Community – is not just about streamlining
productivity or communication, as the first
two were. It, at last, combines the digital
and physical worlds into a new blended
‘digical’ universe.
It’s no secret that the most publicized digital
companies are now investing in new and
diverse hardware domains – Google in
robots, Amazon in drones, Apple in cars
Apps: 0.4 year
More than 80% of Fortune 1000
corporations may be replaced
in the next 10 years
Schumpeterian rate of replacement
in Fortune 1000, each decade
2013 2023
Source: Brian Solis

or others. Startups are often portrayed as
leading the innovators that will redefine
the data economy of tomorrow. Yet, many
of the most fundamental disruptions
expected in the coming years will arise
from ‘traditional’ players striving to reinvent
themselves in the midst of Industry 4.0,
smart cities, connected stores, smart
utilities and more. Under the surface, in the
silent part of the digital iceberg, the dark
layers of the innovation sea are where the
most spectacular megatrends of tomorrow
are taking shape.
Reinventing the innovation game
What are the rules of this secret reinvention
game? How will companies successfully
transform years of assets and change
corporate culture, leveraging them for the
new world?
Through our co-innovation expertise and
vast experience studying innovation best
practices with our customers, we have
developed five golden rules:
Rule number 1: Recognizing
the pace of change
Change is hard. Oddly enough, it’s
especially hard for the companies that have
been the most successful in the past. The
underlying syndrome is well-recognized:
over-confidence, clutching at outdated
models and, above all, inertia.
All too often, enterprises delay recognizing
that they need to change. They go through
a common process: denial (‘It’s marginal'),
anger ('Why don't regulations stop that?’),
haggling (‘Which defenses can we build?’)
and depression (‘Couldn’t we partner or
buy someone?’) before final acceptance,
when it's nearly too late.
So, what is the secret to avoiding this
pitfall? The answer lies in constant horizon
scanning and questioning of the status
quo.
The early warning signs of change are
usually easy to spot, well before they
become visible on the revenue curve. They
might include customer behavior shifts,
competitiveness declines or talent drying
up, for instance. Companies need to react
at this early point in time.
What's required? Companies must
constantly question the status quo,
rewarding curiosity and allowing room
for experimentation and partnerships. In
a nutshell: they should make innovation
part of their cultural mindset – not for
innovation’s sake, but in a pragmatic way.
Today's rise of Industry 4.0, smart cities and
connected health is an excellent testimony
of this best practice.
Management plays a crucial role in making
this happen. A recent Harvard Business
Review highlighted that only 13 percent of
factors stalling growth were external. That
means, in 87 percent of cases, successful
transformation in a changing landscape
falls squarely on management’s shoulders.
Rule number 2: Not just
innovating, but reinventing
business models
It's well known that, while incremental
innovation is good, the greatest success
comes from disruptive innovation – from
total reinvention.
Digital is disruptive. It changes everything:
distance (everyone is just a microsecond
away on the Internet); time (everything
is getting closer to real time); complexity
(today's computational power can solve
more problems); cost (digitization enables
zero marginal cost) and we're entering a
predictive - or even prescriptive - world.
More importantly, digital opens up new
opportunities for completely overhauling
existing business models. Innovation is no
longer just about looking for technological
progress; it’s about considering the
possibilities it opens up and the potential
impacts.
After all, with each customer now just a
swipe away and the winner taking all in
today’s 'superstar' economy, the search
for a business model that guarantees
excellence becomes crucial. Just providing
better service is no longer enough: you
must provide the ultimate experience.
Doing more with less is no longer enough:
you must do better with less. Guaranteed
security is no longer sufficient: you must
build trust. Incremental innovation is no
longer enough: you must completely
reinvent your business models.
In a nutshell: don’t just target that extra 10
percent – target that extra 10-fold instead!
Of all the challenges we see – Customer
Experience, Business Reinvention,
Operational Excellence and Trust and
Compliance – Business Reinvention is the
Focus On
most complex, yet the most crucial. It’s not
something that can be done in ivory R&D
towers and it's not something you can ask
your customers for the answer to either.
As Henry Ford is credited to have declared
in the middle of the last century: “If we
had asked people what they wanted, they
would have said faster horses.”
As history has shown, disruptive innovation
actually comes from unexpected places:
anywhere from the interface between R&D
and the consumer to field trials and errors.
This is precisely what a connected digital
world favors.
What’s more, in today's changing
landscape, enterprises must behave ever
more like investors. They must try and they
must experiment – and they must ‘fail fast
and fail often’.
After all, retailers, banks, telecom and
media companies and others stand at the
forefront of this revolution because they
experiment. To help them do so they have
created and nurtured open innovation
ecosystems that are both internal and
external incubators for partners and even
customers. Within these ecosystems they
have created hackathons, APIs, open
innovation platforms and more…
These companies have allowed
themselves to be fully open to change and
opportunities that have come from the
outside in.
Rule number 3: Breaking long-
held beliefs
As digital redefines the world, companies
should not be afraid to rupture long-held
industry models: they should not be wary
of evolving from ‘ownership’ to ‘pay-as-
you-go’, from ‘mass market’ to ‘mass
personalization’ or from ‘customer’ to ‘co-
supplier’, for instance. Though doing that is
never easy.
An open mind is more than just expected:
it’s vital.
A recent American Management
Association study determined that only 10
percent of innovation investment at global
companies today is focused on developing
new business models. However, 40 percent
of the 27 companies born in the last
quarter century that grew their way into
the Fortune 500 in the past 10 years did so
through business model innovation.
Ascent Look Out 11
Market Context
Companies that have adopted the open-
minded approach that supports breaking
the unquestioned mantra of their industry
are therefore definitive examples of those
that will succeed. We already see it today
in the energy market with smart grid,
emerging in the transport industry with the
collaborative economy and in the service
industry with automation replacing labor.
But we're just at the beginning. If long-
held beliefs are broken we may, in fact,
find tomorrow’s landscape turns out to be
even stranger than the one we’re currently
expecting.
Rule number 4: Choosing the
right positioning
Ultimately, digital transforms value chains
and creates novel ecosystems. It's therefore
essential that you understand how best
to position your organization in an ever-
changing digital landscape.
So, which are the best paths to success?
The future is never fixed. It's difficult to
give a definitive view in a new and yet
undiscovered digital country that pioneers
are still exploring acre after acre. The map
is perpetually changing.
Yet, two dimensions stand out right
now from this terra incognita: customer
Four positioning strategies for the digital age
OMNI-CHANNEL BUSINESS
- Mastering an integrated value
Customer mastery
chain and customer relationships
SILO SUPPLIER
- Providing focused offerings,
yet dependent upon others for selling them
Ecosystems mastery
12 #AscentLookOut
ownership in a world now moving from
product centricity to customer centricity
and ecosystem openness in an open world
where ecosystem mastery is key.
Seen as a quadrant, these two axes provide
businesses with a choice of four major
categories to position themselves in for the
digital age.
Which business are you in today? Where
do you want to be tomorrow? Your choices
may be shaped, yet your competitive
strategy and focus will vary significantly,
depending on the choice you make.
It's hardly surprising that today's most
attractive position – the one strived for
by all leaders – is the ecosystem driver,
which serves as the platform for entire
ecosystems. This position requires strong
Business Reinvention strategies for both
acquiring customers and attracting
innovation partners.
But others models may also be of
interest too. You may decide to remain
a silo supplier and continue play the
commodity or niche value game. Or you
might successfully position yourself as a
modular producer and primarily play the
Operational Excellence game. Or perhaps
you would prefer to choose the omni-
channel game, focusing on Customer
Experience.
ECOSYSTEM DRIVER
- Providing a branded platform and
fostering third party innovation
MODULAR PRODUCER
- Setting the industry reference
point while adapting to the ecosystem
Whether your primary focus is on
reinventing your business model, fostering
Customer Experience or growing
Operational Excellence, building Trust and
ensuring Compliance will be mandatory –
in every case. Furthermore, all four of these
challenges must be met simultaneously
for digital success, but some have more
strategic weight than others depending on
the position you target.
So, your choice of position will determine
which of the challenges you have to face
is most strategic alongside which strategic
investments you must make.
Rule number 5: Constantly
adapting with analytics and
Artificial Intelligence solutions
Last, but not least, like never before in
economic history, digital has led us to a
world where competitive positions may
move at any time, where today's winner
could be displaced within just a few
months and where tomorrow’s innovators
may themselves be replaced even more
rapidly. In a nutshell: we’re entering an age
of perpetual reinvention.
Companies must play a continual game
of internal R&D and startup acquisitions
just to maintain their pace in a fast-moving
world. We see it every day with the
traditional industry players as much as
Source: adapted from MIT Sloan School of Management,
"Four business models for the digital era"

with the technology giants. Remember the
billions spent on the Instagram, WhatsApp
and Nest acquisitions?
So, how do you succeed in this unstable
world?
The answer lies in maintaining a constant
focus on two strategic axes:
-- Perpetually reconnecting with end
customers and fully rearticulating the
value chain around their expectations
through customer-focused strategic
thinking.
-- Constantly generating additional value by
making others work for you, leveraging
not only social and peer-to-peer from
end-users, but also supporting the
development of partner ecosystems
through collaborative innovation
platforms.
Analytics is the missing link that will enable
this constant reinvention.
The digital world has a one specific feature
that is unique in history: it's a fully quantified
world. By connecting people, process and
things, it can measure customer feedback,
process states and things’ behaviors – at
any time.
The advantage? It’s not only tracking
everything simply to deliver a better
Customer Experience and improve
Operational Excellence, but also to identify
the weak signals that announce emerging
trends and opportunities for Business
Reinvention. In essence, we’re entering a
data-driven world where the winners will
be those who will succeed in turning this
data into the intelligence that allows them
to constantly adapt and reinvent their
business models.
Focus On
Atos has seen this trend for years. It should
come as no surprise that the Atos Scientific
Community's Ascent Journey 2018 Vision
was centered on the analytics life cycle and
that Thierry Breton, Atos' Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer, predicted that "The
21st century will be the century of data, the
new resource to boost the economy, as
finance was in the previous century."
The future may be uncertain, but one thing
is clear: analytics, insight technologies
and robotics will be among the core
technologies that will make the difference,
as our CxO Agenda and Tech Trends radar
show.
Welcome to the world of reinvention
intelligence!
Ascent Look Out 13
Market Context

Megatrends: Socio-Cultural,
Economic and Political
Ascent Look Out begins our horizon scanning process with an analysis of the megatrends that will
advance the opportunities and threats in each of your markets. This section describes each of these
socio-cultural, economic and political waves, commenting on its trajectory and how it might impact
the transformation challenges you're facing.

SOCIO-
CULT
URA
L
Neo-Luddites Contemplating the
Singularity
Generation Z

Growing Global Middle Class EC Primary impact

ON domain for trend
Demographic Evolutions Secondary impact
domain for trend
OM
IC

Growing Global Middle Class

Power of Communities

Liquid Corporations

Secular Stagnation
vs Creative Destruction

Resource Security
POL

Migration Return of the Blocs

ITICA

Global Market Volatility

Uberization
and the Uberization and
Sharing
L

the Sharing Economy Power of Communities

Economy
Addressing Global Resource Security
Climate Change
Migration

Addressing Global
Climate Change

Burning Maturing Emerging

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

14 #AscentLookOut

Addressing Global Climate Change
Concept
Evidence from the US space agency, NASA,
shows a current warming trend across
our planet: sea levels are rising, surface
temperatures continue to increase despite
solar output decline, oceans are warming,
ice sheets are shrinking, glaciers are
retreating, and extreme weather events are
becoming more common. In fact, all 10 of
our planet's warmest years occurred within
the past 12 years. According to NASA, most
of the current warming trend is very likely
human-induced and proceeding at a rate
that is unprecedented in the past 1,300
years.
Trajectory
Adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December
1997 and entered into force on 16
February 2005, the Kyoto Protocol is an
international treaty that commits its 192
state parties to reduce the greenhouse
gases emissions that are believed to be
the root of the human-induced climate
change. In December 2012 the 18th United
Nations (UN) climate summit reached an
agreement to extend the Kyoto Protocol,
which was due to expire at the end of
2012, to 2020 with a stated goal of keeping
climate change below two degrees Celsius.
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change
Conference, COP21, negotiated the Paris
Agreement, a global agreement on the
reduction of climate change. Key elements
included: endeavoring to limit global
temperatures to one and a half degrees
Celsius above pre-industrial times; reaching
zero net greenhouse gases emissions
between 2050 and 2100; and revisiting
global goals every five years beginning
2023.
Recent legislation from the European
Commission (EC) has reasserted
environmental issues on the economic
agenda. Its 20-20-20 targets include a 20
percent reduction in European Union (EU)
greenhouse gas emissions; 20 percent of
EU energy consumption from renewables;
and a 20 percent improvement in the EU's
energy efficiency by 2020. Its 2030 climate
and energy framework, meanwhile, targets
40 percent, 27 percent and 27 percent
improvements by 2030. The 2050 targets
are currently being looked into.
Meanwhile, the US National Intelligence
Center (NIC) has highlighted that climate
change will worsen the availability of some
critical natural resources. As the severity of
existing weather patterns intensifies, wet
areas will only get wetter and arid areas will
become drier. Precipitation will decline in
the Middle East and Northern Africa as well
as Western Central Asia, Southern Europe,
Southern Africa and the US Southwest.
Arctic resources may become more
accessible.
Impact
Climate change and public perception
of the causes have raised corporate
responsibility and ethical operations on the
agenda of corporate decision-makers, both
public and private. This should accelerate
sustainability and energy transition
initiatives. Digital initiatives such as smart
cities, smart grids and electric cars will
play a major role in bringing innovative
solutions and processes.
Faced, nevertheless, with the potential for
more extreme weather phenomena across
the globe as a result of climate change,
protecting assets from floods, hurricanes,
blizzards and other disasters becomes
even more critical. Major investment
funds, such as BlackRock, consider climate
change risk to be an investment issue.
Companies will need to ensure they have
disaster recovery plans in place that both
ensure data can be quickly and easily
recovered in the event of a disaster and
ensure members of staff can continue to
operate from alternative locations.
Contemplating the Singularity
Concept
With the pace of technological innovation
accelerating, especially Artificial Intelligence,
many expect that we will one day reach the
Technological Singularity – the point where
machines would be more intelligent than
humans. Furthermore, machines would be
capable of recursive self-improvement, self-
evolving their intelligence in an exponential
fashion – unlike humans, bounded by slow
biological evolution.
This concept is often associated with
'transhumanism' (or 'Posthumanism'),
a loose set of theories that foresee
technology as a means to profoundly
enhance human intellectual, physical and
psychological capacities well beyond their
natural condition, ultimately leading to
augmented or even ‘post humans’.
Trajectory
Linked to the ideas of science and progress
that have emerged since the 19th century,
human augmentation and transformation
through technology is a long-term dream
Megatrends
of futurists who have nurtured 20th century
myths, notably through science fiction and
prospective thinking.
While very prospective and promoted by
a small number of futurist thinkers, these
ideas began to get concrete traction in the
1990s. At that time pioneering thinkers,
such as Ray Kurzweil (now CTO of Google),
predicted that the technological singularity
would be reached around 2045.
These ideas have spread in recent
years, with concrete advances in
nanotechnologies, cognitive computing,
gene therapy, robotics and life science for
military (augmented soldier), healthcare
(prolonged life and cure of genetic
diseases) and business applications.
Beyond 2020, exascale, and later quantum
technologies, should begin to surpass
the power of a human brain, opening
up potentially revolutionary applications.
Pioneering companies, including Google
and multiple start-ups, have already begun
to heavily invest in disruptive technologies
with the long term goal of ‘solving death’ –
though this ambition far exceeds current
scientific capabilities.
Meanwhile, a growing number of scientists
and industry leaders – most notably Bill
Gates, Stephen Hawking and Tesla Motor’s
CEO and co-founder of PayPal Elon Musk –
are raising concerns around the technical
singularity. Concerned about machines
being able to think for themselves and
potentially becoming more powerful than
humans, they are amongst the thousands
of people who have signed an open letter
proposing proper safeguards be put
in place to research and develop such
intelligence without humans losing control.
Impact
Singularity and Transhumanism are at this
point purely prospective thinking, even if
the technology community is supporting
active research on disruptive artificial
intelligence and life sciences by some
corporations and think tanks such as the
Singularity University.
If real progresses are to be made, this may
lead to extreme opportunities. Research
may also lead to the new social, medical
and security risks highlighted by decades
of apocalyptic Sci-Fi culture. Many tech
leaders express concerns about the rapid
rise of the artificial intelligence that may
solve all our problems or, equally, threaten
us within the coming decades.
Ascent Look Out 15
Market Context
Corporations should follow these research
trends since they may profoundly
transform our world in the coming
decades. They must also show caution
around the business, legal, social and
ethical implications and risks.
Demographic Evolutions
Concept
The world is in the midst of four key
demographic trends: a rapidly growing
population; an aging population in the West
and increasingly in developing countries; a
shrinking number of young societies and
states; and growing urbanization.
Trajectory
The world’s population continues to
grow rapidly: the UN anticipates a global
population of 8.5 billion by 2030 and 9.7
billion by 2050, up from 7.3 billion as of
mid-2015. Overall, the UN expects Africa’s
population to be the fastest-growing, up
from 1.2 billion in 2015 to 1.7 billion in 2030
and 2.5 billion in 2050. But it sees European
populations declining from 738 million in
2015 to 734 million in 2030 and 707 million
in 2050.
According to NIC, 95 percent of recent
increases have been in developing
countries, nearly all in rapidly expanding
urban areas. The UN anticipates the
proportion of people living in cities will
grow, from 54 percent today to around
66 percent in 2050, with the number of
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megacities growing in parallel.
Ultimately, growth may slow down even in
emerging countries, leading to stabilization
and then, potentially, a ‘demographic winter’
with the global population plateauing
somewhere above 10 billion people, but this
is still subject to estimation. Sustainability at
this level of population remains a concern
for some prospectivists.
In 2015, the number of people aged 60 and
over was 901 million – around 12 percent
of the world’s population. This number is
expected to grow to 1.4 billion by 2030 and
2.1 billion by 2050. Currently, Europe has
the greatest percentage of its population
aged 60 or over (24 percent) but all major
areas of the world, except Africa, are
projected to have nearly a quarter or more
of their populations aged 60 or over by
2050.
In 2015, the median age of the world’s
population was just under 30, but the
UN projects this to increase to around 36
by 2050 and 42 by 2100. Median age is
lowest in regions with low fertility: it was
42 in Europe in 2015, where it's expect to
reach 46 in 2050 and 47 in 2100. In less
developed region, median age was 20 in
2015 and projected to reach 26 by 2050
and 36 years by 2100.
Impact
Services must be aligned with aging
populations in developed countries.
Meanwhile, new business models will be
crucial to driving inclusive growth initiatives
in emergent economies such as in Africa,
the Middle-East and India where the
population explosion may create social
unrest if resources and employment don't
catch up.
Social welfare and health systems, on the
other hand, are becoming increasingly
strained as the relative size of the working
population reduces. Today's third digital
revolution, with its rise of automation
and robotics, will help ensure services in
diverse domains such as smart healthcare
and smart cities remain sustainable as the
population transforms.
Generation Z
Concept
Generation Z, generally acknowledged to
be those born after 1995, will come of age
in the 2020s. Also called "echo boomers", as
they echo the silent generation who were
born just before the Second World War,
Generation Z was raised during the recent
economic downturn.
Emotive, yet lucid, and in search of
stability alongside flexibility, they were
brought into a fast-changing, uncertain
and economically depressed world. As
teenagers, they saw their parents worry
about keeping their jobs, making ends
meet and keeping a roof over their heads.
Their focus is inherently global, with mass

media bringing growing global issues
(including unemployment, climate change,
terrorism and humanitarian) to their regular
attention.
Full digital natives, they have been
surrounded by social media, mobile
applications, personalized online services
and Cloud Computing since childhood.
To them, virtual reality, nanocomputing,
3D printing, driverless cars and other
innovations are simply the next step
forward.
Trajectory
According to various models including the
Strauss-Howe theory, generations evolved
through the recent modern history in four-
phase cycles. The first phase of the current
cycle is characterized by the baby boomer
generation (1945-1960) "prophets" who
were moved by freedom and individualism,
initiating the protest movements of
the 1960s. These are followed by the
pragmatic, adventurous and sometimes
cynical Generation X (1961-1981) "nomads",
characterized by the financiarization of
the 1980s, which saw financial institutions
and markets increase in size and influence.
And then the more disengaged Generation
Y (born 1982-1995) "heroes" who were
raised during the early phase of the
digital revolution and the beginning of the
economic crises in the Western world.
Over-protected as children, Generation
Z "artists" tend to be risk-averse. They
distinguish themselves from the preceding
Generation Y by their increased desire for
security and stability in a fast-changing
world where social and professional
positions are progressively less stable. As
such, they tend to be conformists, since
conformism provides a more secure path
to success.
However, their search for security
is combined with a strong need for
personal fulfilment and independence.
In an economy marked by the rise of
freelancers, it’s not surprising that they
value their careers, seeking security,
contentment and passion. They might
have multiple employments, sometimes
in multiple countries, to ensure they won't
find themselves in a risky position in an
economic bust.
When it comes to digital, it's not just
Generation Z whose lives are influenced
by today’s increasingly connected
and monitored world. With emerging
technologies allowing us to permanently
quantify our individual performance – our
health, our fitness, our finances and more
– a clearer picture of our digital selves is
emerging, based on our consumption of
digital services.
Impact
Each generation tends to mark its epoch
in opposition to the previous one, as
consumers, entrepreneurs and employees.
As consumers, Generation Z are marked
by a "what I want, when I want" culture, in
an epoch focusing on access rather than
property, services rather than products and
where alternatives are just a swipe away.
Meanwhile, employers looking to retain
Generation Z talents should offer this lucid
generation, whose blind fidelity is not a
given, flexibility and fulfillment. Meeting
high expectations and understanding how
to leverage empathy to build trust will be
key. As consumers, they're less susceptible
to manipulation. Organizations that fall
below their standards will simply find their
potential Generation Z customers look
elsewhere.
Global Market Volatility
Concept
Market volatility refers to the swings from
boom to bust. Globalization, securitization
(the process of transforming illiquid
assets into a security), private and public
debt along with the rise of supporting
digital technologies have all contributed
significantly to the fast financial growth of
these last decades. This, in turn, contributed
to economic growth, but also increased
market volatility risks.
Over recent years we have seen massive
swings in the stock markets, going up and
down in magnitudes that seemed hardly
thinkable before. These risks has been
increased by the rise of High-Frequency
Trading, massive quantitative easing
policies from central banks and the rise of
shadow banking equivalent to global gross
domestic product (GDP).
Trajectory
Investment banks, mortgage companies,
hedge funds and other non-bank financial
intermediaries saw their finance activities
that were not subject to regulation –
"shadow banking" – grow dramatically post
2000, playing a significant role in the 2008
financial crisis. Despite regulations being
enforced across the banking sector post
crisis, shadow banking is estimated by
the Financial Stability Board (a regulatory
Megatrends
task force of top 20 economies) to have
continued to grow from $25 trillion in 2008
to $75 trillion in 2013. This equates to 25
percent of worldwide financial assets, half
of the traditional banking system and is
equivalent to the global gross domestic
product (GDP), raising concerns about
possible systemic effects of a next crisis.
Volatility has also increased with the
rise of High-Frequency Trading (HFT),
which developed after the US Securities
and Exchange Commission authorized
electronic exchanges in 1998. Automated,
algorithm-driven and enabled by
technology, HFT is executed in milli-, or
even micro-, seconds. Consultancy Tabb
Group estimated HFT to make up 56
percent of equity trades by value in the US
and 38 percent in Europe in 2010.
At that time, potential volatility due to HFT
orders had already been experienced on
several occasions with some equities losing
most of their value in a few minutes as a
side effect of the concurrent algorithmic
chain reaction. Even if it was corrected
afterwards by human operators, this
showed its potential to create or increase
market panic. Today, HFT is estimated to
account for 75 percent of all equity order
volumes in the US, 40 percent in Europe
and 10 percent in Asia, with potential for
rapid growth.
Together globalization and financiarization
– where financial institutions and markets
increase in size and influence – mean
we now live in an uncertain world where
volatility risks are high. The US National
Intelligence Council (NIC) believes the
international economy will continue to
be characterized by various regional and
national economies moving at significantly
different speeds, exacerbating global
imbalances and straining governments and
the international system. The key question
in their mind is whether the divergences
and increased volatility will result in a global
breakdown and collapse or whether the
development of multiple growth centers
will lead to resiliency.
Impact
Geopolitical tensions, potential social crises
in high-demographic emerging countries,
private or sovereign debt crises, along
with the impact of disruptive technology
advances, could lead to new financial black
swans. Governments and corporations
alike must therefore leverage prospects for
growth, but be prepared for an uncertain
and volatile world. They will need to
Ascent Look Out 17
Market Context
be more flexible and forward-looking,
reinventing their business models, building
ones that are better able to resist that
volatility.
At the same time real-time stock market
analysis will help them become more agile
in today’s fast-moving world. Enabled by
advanced analytics and high performance
computing, this analysis will help them
identify and react to stock market
fluctuations more swiftly.
Growing Global Middle Class
Concept
The World Bank hopes to see an "end
to poverty" by around 2030. This shift
encompasses two strong trends: a
significant rise of the middle class in
emerging markets accompanied by a
significant drop in poverty, which has
fallen to around 10 percent of the world
population. The Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD)
defines middle class as those making
between $10 and $100 a day, adjusted for
the purchasing power of each currency,
while the World Bank defines the threshold
under which an individual is considered to
be living in poverty as $1.90 or less a day,
taking into account country-level data on
living standards.
Counteracting this is the corresponding
relative loss of purchasing power of the
middle class in Western countries, as a
consequence of global rebalancing. This is
leading to social unrest in the West, made
worse by the widening gap between rich
and poor.
This widening gap has been confirmed by
Credit Suisse Global, estimating that half
of global wealth – amounting to $250.1
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trillion – is now held by just one percent of
the population. Despite only accounting
for less than one percent of the population,
millionaires own around 45 percent of
global wealth. The geographical imbalance
is particularly evident in North America and
Europe, which together contain 18 percent
of the global adult population, but account
for 67 percent of total household wealth.
At the other end of the scale, in Africa and
India the population share exceeds the
wealth share by a factor of more than ten.
Trajectory
OECD estimates that the world’s middle
class will swell from two billion to almost
five billion by 2030, with growth coming
from developing countries while the middle
class is squeezed in developed countries.
With increased wealth comes increased
spending power. Today, people in
developing countries make up a greater
percent of the world’s consumer spending
than ever before, with that trend set to
continue to rise. Spending by middle-class
Asian consumers, for example, could
rise nine percent a year through 2030,
according to the Asian Development Bank.
Conversely, the spending power of the
shrinking and struggling Western middle
classes has plateaued, expected to only
rise slightly over the next couple of
decades. This is due to a complexity of
factors, including aging populations and
an increase in single-parent households
alongside automation, offshoring, and
competition from workers of low-cost
countries.
Credit Suisse Global expects wealth growth
to pick up by the end of the decade,
reaching $345 trillion by mid-2020, 38
percent higher than in 2015. It projects
the number of millionaires to grow to
49.3 million adults. In 2020, emerging
markets will likely account for 9.1 percent
of millionaire wealth, one percent above
current levels.
Impact
Reduction of extreme poverty opens new
opportunities for low-cost products and
services in emerging economies. Targeting
new mass markets (such as the unbanked)
could prove very profitable. The billions of
newly affluent middle-class households,
with their increased spending power, are
also reshaping global markets, offering
renewed opportunity for growth in Asia,
Middle-East, Africa and Latin America.
Enhanced efficiency and improved
productivity will be critical to offering the
products and services they require at a
relevant price.
However, the shrinking Western middle
class means the share of adults living in
both upper- and lower-income households
is rising in developed countries. This
requires suppliers to change their classical
product segmentation to focus on upper
and low-cost segments, at the expense
of mid-range solutions – a phenomenon
known as the "consumer hourglass
economy". This also opens opportunities
for reinventing business with new models,
such as "as a service" or the "sharing
economy", targeting this changing balance
of wealth.
Liquid Corporations
Concept
Liquid corporations take the concept of
"boundaryless" organizations popularized in
the 1990s to a new level. In a volatile world
were billions of connected customers,

things, partner, competitors and regulation
bodies evolve in real time, massive use
of outsourcing, crowdsourcing and open
innovation strategies enable organizations
to dynamically adapt to new market
realities.
Trajectory
The increased pace of innovation and
chaotic markets changes are putting
immense pressure on corporation
strategies: 45 percent of Fortune 1000
companies were replaced between 1983
and 1993, rising to 70 percent between
2003 and 2013.
While creative destruction is accelerating,
monolithic organizations inherited from
the past are increasingly evolving toward
complex, open ecosystems. Enabled
by digital, they take best practices from
start-ups, the technology giants and open
communities.
Focused on customer requirements,
procurement, operations and delivery
are dynamically executed across an
open network of suppliers and partners,
blurring traditional silos between providers,
operations and customers. The rise of
fabless corporations, outsourcing, BPO, the
gig economy and crowdsourcing is a clear
sign of this happening. Some estimate that,
by 2020, 40 percent of US employees may
be freelancers, for instance.
Impact
Ultimately, a liquid organization is not
a stable, fixed structure; it federates an
ecosystem that can adapt to market
changes in near real time. Organizations
should take advantage of these trends
toward a networked economy to gain
agility and flexibility.
A dynamic ecosystem of providers
spawned across suppliers and continents
may function at the expense of
accountability. This increases the risk
of compliance issues, business failures
and loss of customer trust as such,
organizations wanting to implement ‘liquid
corporation principles’ will need to set up
strong governance processes.
Migration: Sedentary versus Nomadic
Concept
Economic and demographic inequalities
between low- and high-income countries
have driven migration patterns around
the globe for many years. People from
Asia, Africa and Latin America have been
moving to Europe, Northern America and
Oceania for almost half a century, fleeing
conflict or seeking better education and
opportunities.
Growth prospects in the US and in Europe,
where workforce levels are declining, will
depend on these immigration flows, but
immigration may also lead to multi-cultural
tensions.
Trajectory
According to the UN, between 1950 and
2015, the major areas of Europe, Northern
America and Oceania have been overall net
receivers of international migrants, while
Africa, Asia and Latin and the Caribbean
have been net senders.
From 2000 to 2015, high-income countries
received an average of 4.1 million net
migrants annually from lower- and
middle-income countries. But migration is
accelerating, particularly towards Europe
with conflicts in the Middle East and very
strong growth in Africa driving people out
of their homelands. Furthermore, some
prospects foresee unpredictable spikes in
migration driven by climate change-related
events.
The UN expects high-income countries
to receive 91 million immigrants between
2020 and 2050, while total births in these
countries may exceed deaths by 20 million.
Thus, net migration may account for 82
per cent of population growth in the high-
income countries.
As aging high-income countries struggle
with fewer people of working age, the
vacuum may be filled by immigrants from
low-income countries. These opportunities
are balanced by risks that call for
accelerated inclusive growth and education
initiatives.
Impact
Transnational migration flows shape
societies’ character. Households in the West
are increasingly multi-ethnic. However,
co-existence of ethnically different
populations might lead to nationalistic
and ‘communalistic’ (where people see
themselves as part of their ethnic, cultural
or religious group rather than part of the
wider community) tendencies. Countries
must decide how they should react to
increasing migration. Tighter regulation and
border controls may be needed.
With large migrations comes the need
for strong social and education initiatives.
Megatrends
Technology can also pay a key part.
Efficient and effective processes are vital for
eliminating uncertainty and ensuring new
arrivals are quickly settled into their new
home.
Neo-Luddites
Concept
The rise of technology creates expectations
and fears. In the 19th century, a social
movement of British artisans, the Luddites,
violently opposed technological advances
in the textile industry. Considering their
skills as property to be protected, they
argued that machines undermined the
labor skills that were a crucial part of the
economy.
Similar new technophobic groups are
emerging today. These "neo-luddites"
believe modern large corporations with
their modern technologies threaten their
way of life and their livelihoods. As such,
they have developed radical resistance to
technology.
Their "neo-luddism" is mostly founded on
loose, radical anti-system movements.
It covers a wide variety of beliefs: from
groups preaching economic decrease and
return to the soil to technophobic groups
(including anti-nuclear, anti-GM and anti-
nanotechnologies).
Trajectory
Neo-luddites are currently a very small
minority. However, the coming hyper-
connected world that may lead to threats
on privacy and the rise of automation and
robotics that may pose a significant threat
to employment may drive an increase
in their numbers. Some estimate that as
many as 60 percent of current jobs may
be automated by 2022, with extreme
scenarios pointing to a risk of 90 percent
unemployment by 2030.
In the previous industrial revolutions,
Schumpeter’s "gale of creative destruction"
has always succeeded in replacing
extinguished jobs with new ones. The 19th
century Luddite artisan movement, for
instance, progressively vanished with the
rise of the new industrial economy and its
employment opportunities.
However, the speed and scale of the
current transition is complicated to project.
Nevertheless, it creates the risk of revolt
again the high rises in unemployment and
radical inequalities of wealth that are usual
in massive destructive creation eras such
as the one we are experiencing today with
the third digital revolution.
Ascent Look Out 19
Market Context
Impact
The economic impact of today's third
digital revolution creates both opportunities
and social risks that must be carefully
managed at international, state and even
corporation social responsibility level.
Governments and corporations alike
should concentrate on inclusive growth
initiatives to increase jobs and social care,
helping build the trust amongst the general
population that is crucial to mitigating any
risk. At the same time, they must protect
the privacy of individual’s data while
increasing transparency and inclusivity, for
instance.
Technology, on the other hand, provides
many opportunities to not only promote
an inclusive society, but also enable
sustainable growth that is good for the
environment. Some technologies ensure
physically disadvantages individuals have
access to information and services, for
instance; others optimize our use of natural
resources.
Power of Communities
Concept
Increased personal and social mobility
decreases the likelihood of multiple
generations of the same family living in
the same geographical area. It also leads
to a rise in single person households, with
young professionals, in particular, more
likely to move around and live alone,
away from their traditional (family) and
geographical networks.
As a consequence of this, and possibly
as a backlash against the trend towards
individualization, new ways of community
building are emerging. Much of this
activity occurs on the internet. This
digital connectivity is leading to a rise in
‘"communalism" (where people seems
themselves as part of their ethnic, religious
or cultural group rather than the wider
community) and social activism driven by
the power of communities.
Trajectory
In the industrialized nations, the apparent
loss of physical communities is seen as a
key cause of social disintegration and of the
emergence of antisocial behavior. In our
virtual worlds, communities are growing.
Worldwide, there are over 1.49 billion
monthly active Facebook users.
Focus is shifting away from the individual
toward the community and common
welfare. People are making use of their
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collective intelligence, building networks
and organizing their community activities
by themselves. There's increased
awareness around and participation
in charities and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) thanks to social
networks.
Co-operation is also an important behavior
trend for the more digitally-connected
generations Y and Z, as are connections
and relationships (community), social or
personal justice and authenticity. These
groups tend to be more socially aware than
their predecessors.
Impact
Public and private sector organizations
must put the power of communities at
the heart of their digital strategies to build
trust with the people they serve. It could
be through the facilitation of peer-to-peer
and social exchanges through or around
their services or products. It could also
be through open innovation serving as a
platform to let communities form and grow,
ultimately extending solutions and services
thanks to social and third party dynamics.
Either way, they must not only listen, but
also react and contribute, leveraging the
voice of the community to steer them in a
constructive direction.
Resource Security (Energy, Water, Food)
Concept
The world’s resources are under ever-
increasing strain owing to an increase in
the global population and the consumption
patterns of an expanding middle class. This
strain is only being exacerbated by climate
change and environmental changes due to
that population growth, urbanization and
human related activities.
Trajectory
The US National Intelligence Center (NIC)
projects that demand for food, water and
energy will grow by approximately 35, 40,
and 50 percent respectively by 2030.
The energy sector, in particular, is shifting to
a low-carbon path that supports economic
growth and energy access. In line with the
Paris Agreement drafted at the 2015 United
Nations Climate Change Conference, COP
21, the International Energy Agency has
underlined a number of measures that
could lead to a peak in global energy-
related greenhouse gas emissions while
supporting economic growth and providing
energy to more people. These measures
include: increasing energy efficiency
in the industry, buildings and transport
sectors; progressively reducing the use
of the least-efficient coal-fired power
plants and banning their construction;
increasing investment in renewable energy
technologies in the power sector from
$270 billion in 2014 to $400 billion in 2030;
gradual phasing out of fossil-fuel subsidies
to end-users by 2030; reducing methane
emissions in oil and gas production.
Impact
Proactive efforts will be required by
policymakers in combination with private
sector partners to avoid a future dominated
by natural resource scarcity. Strong
technology innovation will also play a vital
role in optimizing resources in the next
15 to 20 years. This will not only include
genetically modified crops, precision
agriculture, water irrigation techniques,
solar energy, advanced bio-based fuels and
enhanced oil and natural gas extraction via
fracturing; but also the smart technologies
that will help optimize resource (oil, gas
and water) usage through simulation and
analytics.
Furthermore, simulation and analytics
will also be core to improving resource
(oil and gas) exploration and developing
the next generation of sustainable
technologies that include genetic
engineering, nanotechnologies, nuclear
fusion and others. In addition, new services
will not only give the consumer a better
understanding of how they're using
resources, but companies can also leverage
them to encourage good consumer
behaviors aimed at reducing the strain on
those resources.
Return of the Blocs
Concept
Throughout history, wars and economic
depressions (or recessions) have led to
increases in protectionism, while peace
and prosperity have tended to encourage
free trade. Current economic geopolitical
tensions may mark a return of trade blocs:
trade alliances across countries that have
common ambitions. Furthermore, the
current currency war taking place amongst
the central banks is significantly increasing
risks for cross-border trade and investment.
Trajectory
The passage of GATT (General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade), from the post Second
World War era until the early 1990s, saw
many protectionist trade barriers fall. The
fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s

led to hope for the return of free trade.
In 1995, such trade protection was
formalized with the creation of the World
Trade Organization (WTO). Since then,
numerous free exchanges zones have been
created or are being negotiated. Examples
include the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), a trilateral rules-based
trade bloc in North America involving
Canada, the United States and Mexico;
the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that
makes it easier for American companies
to sell Made-In-America products across 11
other countries; and the Transatlantic Free
Trade Area (TAFTA) proposal for creating
a transatlantic free trade area covering
Europe and North America.
The return of conflicts and geopolitical
tensions with Russia, China, Latin America
and Islamic countries over recent years
has seen numerous import and export
restrictions put in place. These restrictions
work by means of tariffs, subsidies, import
quotas or handicaps placed on imports.
They can also include tariffs being imposed
on products not produced in a sustainable
fashion, or as stimulus packages for the
development of clean technologies.
Impact
The return to the blocs may touch IT in
particular since IT is seen as an increasingly
strategic sector, touching all verticals. In this
domain, there's a rising will from several
large countries and unions (including
China, Europe and Brazil) to develop
their own industries, especially in high-
performance computing, cloud, software
and security. The PRISM case has notably
driven many countries to grow regulations
to protect technologies and data better
through local trusted suppliers and local
data management.
Secular Stagnation (versus Creative
Destruction)
Concept
Global economic activity remained
subdued in 2015, according to the
International Monetary Fund (IMF). Growth
in emerging markets and developing
economies declined for the fifth
consecutive year, while a modest recovery
continued in advanced economies. While
some believe this stagnation is simply a
conjectural hangover effect of the 2001
and 2008 crises, others warn economies
risk becoming trapped in an extended
and structural period of slow growth in
productivity, income and job creation.
Prospects of accelerated innovation,
however, may sustain the alternative
scenario of a new era of growth, similar to
that which followed the invention of steam
and electricity. The rise of the Internet of
Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0, along with
nanotechnologies, biotechnologies and
cognitive sciences, may bring the boost
economies need to avoid the pessimistic
scenario.
Trajectory
The economic stagnation of the past
decades is attributed by economists to
various factors. They notably include
demographics (aging population in
developed countries) and macro-economic
issues (including an excess of savings over
investment, debt overhang and supply-side
headwinds). A slowdown in technology
innovation is also mentioned among the
key factors, with recent years’ immaterial
innovation creating less nominal growth
and productivity improvement than in
previous decades.
Megatrends
However, based on long-term economic
cycles, economists inspired by Kondratieff
and Schumpeter theories also recognize
recent deflation, bankruptcies, banking
crisis, credit crisis and more as the "winter"
season of the 1970-2010 economic cycle
powered by the first generations of
information technologies.
Ongoing innovations created by the
third digital revolution, combining digital
with nanotechnologies, biotechnologies
and cognitive sciences, may provide a
significant contribution to solving this
issue, possibly leading to a new growth
era culminating around 2030. In the short
term, the next wave of IT/OT convergence,
along with Industry 4.0, smart cities and
other technology-enabled transformations,
could rapidly bring a whole new boost to
productivity and the economy. Together
they could help answer two major
opportunities on the horizon: the silver
economy in the West and the growing
demand for low-cost solutions and services
from emerging countries' popular and
middle classes.
Impact
Whatever the causes, low growth prospects
will create concerns in the short term.
More than ever, corporations must prepare
for a sluggish and competitive world.
Leveraging innovation driven by new
digital opportunities is not only a matter
of competitive survival; it’s critical for any
company wanting to position itself at the
core of future growth opportunities.
With digital automation and robotics
decoupling productivity growth with
jobs and income, the possible social
impact of automation must, however, be
carefully watched for by policy makers and
corporations alike. After all, the success
Ascent Look Out 21
Market Context

of an economy depends as much on competitive way of living, leaving many

demand as it does on supply. Building
social trust through inclusive growth and
work reinvention, in a digital world where
40 percent of jobs could be automated by
2020 and where humans will have to work
side by side with robots, will be one of the
major challenges for the years to come.
Uberization and the Sharing Economy
Concept
Amongst the many new business models
created by the digital revolution, the
sharing economy has become the symbol
of disruption. It's sometimes evoked
through the name of one of its major
players, Uber, to signify the rise in adoption
of the business model embraced by that
company – hence uberization.
Also referred to as the "collaborative", "peer-
to-peer" or "access" economy, the sharing
economy model sees privately owned
or managed goods or services shared or
rented out via peer-to-peer marketplaces. It
enables anyone to easily become their own
entrepreneur, monetizing their assets and
their labor.
sellers making less than the minimum
wage.
Impact
The sharing economy model has been
praised for its capacity to create a good
user experience and reduce costs though
digital disintermediation, with its dynamic
supply and pricing lowering the high fixed
and marginal cost of traditional businesses.
Uber, in particular, is a wake-up call to all
industries on the importance of customer
centricity and platform model thinking in
their digital transformation strategy.
Being "uberized" is now among the core
risks perceived by many organizations with
the rise of digital. Nevertheless, the sharing
economy is just one of the numerous
business models enabled by digital. While
it has impressed minds by its capacity to
completely transform and reinvent whole
ecosystems of buyers and sellers – and
by the social, economic and regulatory
implications of these changes – corporates
would be wise to also evaluate other novel
possibilities.

Trajectory However, the system’s future cannot

In just five years, Uber has grown from be anticipated until it's structured and
a small start-up to a company large governed. In the meantime, companies
enough to threaten the whole taxi and should identify the relevant aspects of their
transport industry in more than 300 corporate strategy – especially risk hedging.
large cities across the globe. Over that
period, its valuation has also grown – to an
astounding value of $50 billion.

The economic downturn led to customers

seeking the best price while becoming
eager to leverage their own goods and
services for additional revenue. Well
beyond Uber, this kind of model is also
being developed across diverse sectors,
by for-profit, non-profit, barter and co-
operative structures, where corporations,
governments and individuals all actively
participate as buyers, sellers, lenders or
borrowers. Examples can be found in
hospitality (Airbnb), finance (Kickstarter),
logistics (Cargomatic) and many other
markets.

The sharing economy model has been

criticized for its disruptive social effect on
whole industries and for the high share
(20 to 30 percent commission) that
marketplaces take from the revenue. While
the sharing economy tends to attract
not only amateurs but also professional
operators, it's also reputed to create
an unpredictable, unsecure and very

22 #AscentLookOut
 Megatrends

Megatrends: Socio-Cultural, Economic and Political

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Ex stom

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Addressing Global
Climate Change Neo-Luddites

Demographic Evolutions Power of Communities

Generation Z Resource Security

Global Market Volatility Return of the Blocs

Growing Global Middle Secular Stagnation vs

Class Creative Destruction

Contemplating the
Liquid Corporations
singularity

Uberization and the

Migration
Sharing Economy

Ascent Look Out 23

Market Context
CxO Agenda
As you start your digital journey, understanding how your challenges might evolve will help you
to be more resilient, more prepared for the uncertainties that lie ahead. Equally importantly, it will
sharpen your understanding of how technology can help you overcome the obstacles and take
advantage of the possibilities along the way.
Key Market Challenges
A few years from now and many firms will
have made great strides along their digital
journey. We take a look at what this new
world looks like and means for the CxO.
The future of
Customer
Experience
Organizations have been delivering
massively-customized products and
highly-tailored services for some time.
But customer expectations are changing:
they are focused on the outcome and
experience rather than the underlying
product or service. As companies turn
their attention to meeting those desires,
their customer contracts have become
smart contracts, reflecting those expected
outcomes rather than the underlying
capabilities that deliver them.
Meeting increasing, as well as changing,
customer expectations requires faster
decision-making, shorter innovation cycles
and a broader mix of skills. Increased
access to real-time information has
enhanced decision-making, while partners
and a wider ecosystem have helped to
accelerate innovation and fill any skills gaps.
Innovations have already brought down
the boundaries between the real and
physical worlds, naturally blending these
two quite diverse environments across
life’s journeys. Within the office, factory,
warehouse, vehicle, home, store, bank, train
station – or virtually anywhere else for that
matter – people are consuming vocational
and social information and services on their
digital devices in sync with the real world.
The technology giants are continuing
to set the bar for convenience and
usability in that new boundaryless
world. Organizations – both young and
old – that fell too far below that bar have
long since fallen by the wayside. Highly-
tailored information and services are now
24 #AscentLookOut
accessible in whatever format the customer
wants, when the customer needs it.
Chemical company customers, for instance,
can access all the safety and handling
information hands free by speaking the
product name into their smart device, then
access an expert with an appropriate voice
command.
As digital information and services expand,
customers need an intelligent personal
assistant to help them manage their
increasingly complex digital lives. For
organizations, customer experience then
becomes about engagement with these
smart software agents rather than direct
engagement with the physical person.
Marketing has become more complex in
a world where the customer is not only
harder to reach, but also no longer as loyal
as it once was.
Meanwhile, technology has become
progressively more capable of anticipating
each individual’s needs and desires. Some
say it may soon come to know them better
than they even know themselves; it won’t
need to ask if they are happy or in need of
support – it will know whether they are.
A note of caution: We believe the CxO
should be careful not to expect too much
from anticipating customer needs, desires
and behaviors based on analysis and
artificial intelligence. They will need to
balance automated decision-making with
offering the customer the freedom of
choice.
The future of
Business
Reinvention
Not so long ago, retailers simply sold things,
manufacturers made things, banks looked
after our money and healthcare providers
looked after our wellbeing. But times have
changed. The rise of the technology giants
and the emergence of agile new digital
players together now threaten markets
that were previously held tight by legacy
players: Google has built cars while digital-
only banks have taken significant market
share, for instance.
To counteract these threats, traditional
companies are reinventing themselves,
developing new business models. And
while much of their early reinvention
focused on the B2C space, new players
entering their markets later turned their
attention to the B2B space.
To combat these even bigger threats,
traditional players embarked on even more
transformational changes.
They have, in essence, transformed
themselves into technology companies,
opening up entirely new revenue streams
based on high margin services.
Manufacturers are offering services that
help keep equipment up and running,
while vehicle companies are offering both
business customers and consumers pay-
as-you-drive services backup up by usage
based insurance. And now that 3D printing
has become affordable, companies are
buying product blueprints off the web and
manufacturing items themselves wherever
they need them.
These services rely on the increasing
volumes of insightful data now available:
from their customers, sensors and
partners. Organizations are continuing
to broaden their sources of insight and
leveraging cognitive computing to compile
intelligence from that data. The intelligence
gleaned is driving strategic and investment
decisions at board level. These need to be
made faster than ever before in response
to customers’ ever-changing desires.
The most valuable services often emerge
out of an ecosystem of partners operating
across diverse industries. More open ways
of working together are vital; without them,
companies will struggle to explore new

possibilities freely and come up with novel
innovations. In fact, many innovations
require organizations to share insight
across the ecosystem – but only with
the owner’s approval. While each player
individually is leveraging that to add
value its own service, the ecosystem also
works together to deliver a seamless and
consistence experience across the entire
service.
A note of caution: With all this
transformation taking place, we believe
organizations should be careful not to
neglect properly planning the phase out
and maintenance of their legacy business
along with its supporting processes and
tools. In the fight back against the new agile
market entrants, adapting the historical
business is key to staying ahead of the new
players.
The future of
Operational
Excellence
Today’s manufacturing plants, warehouses,
stores, cities and transport systems are
more flexible, more agile and responsive,
than ever before. They are also more
efficient in delivering products that are
massively customized and services that are
highly tailored.
Internally, sales, marketing, research and
production have become more closely
linked while externally the entire supply
chain collaborates more effectively than
ever before. With operations streamlined,
organizations can handle more information,
operate faster and respond more rapidly.
Companies have moved from working
on timescales based on months or years
to ones based on days and weeks, giving
the business more confidence in a fast-
changing world.
To make this happen, virtually every
‘thing’ around us has evolved to be able
to produce and/or consume information.
In the factory or processing plant; on the
bus, train or plane; around the oil rig, city,
airport, hospital or school; virtually every
environment and every piece of equipment
has been transformed into a cyber-
physical device. Each has digital sensors
that monitor every aspect of its behavior
and well-being, sharing that information
with its wider ecosystem in real time. How
many parts were produced in the last five
seconds? How many people are on board?
Is my oil level getting low? Is their flooding
on the line?
Increasingly smart and specialized in a
specific task, individual things are part of
a highly-connected ecosystem – a smart
cyber-physical system that comprises
smart autonomous machines and devices.
Each is able act autonomously, to not only
maintain an environment that maximizes
productivity, but also to respond the
changing needs of its wider ecosystem.
It acts in real time based on a combination
of its own data and data shared by the
wider ecosystem. IT systems help with
managing and processing the growing
volumes of data; they also connect the
ecosystem to the wider world – to human
operators along with CRM, PLM and other
systems.
After all, new levels of automation
have led to supply chains becoming
increasingly disaggregated and dynamic.
Intelligent robotic manufacturing systems,
for example, rely on information from
partner systems to predict demand
more accurately and adjust behaviors
accordingly.
A note of caution: We believe that, as
systems become smarter and able to solve
more complicated problems, organizations
need to take care they don’t build systems
that are over sophisticated, so highly
complex that one small problem can
cause a string of unforeseen failures. A
comprehensive, yet understandable, end-
to-end view of operations is still required so
organizations can make rapid and smart
decisions based on that insight.
The future of
Trust and
Compliance
Partner ecosystems have become broader
and value chains longer. Only by building
trust amongst suppliers and partners
are companies able to work together
more openly, while protecting their own
intellectual property.
However, the longer value chain – along
with additional complexities in manufacture
and the supply chain – is opening up
additional security and safety challenges.
Ensuring the supplier of the supplier or the
CxO Agenda
partner of the partner, for instance, doesn’t
act inappropriately is crucial for protecting
a company’s reputation.
Meanwhile, sensors on smart, connected
machines, vehicles and devices are
producing greater volumes of data every
second of the day, data that is vital for
ensuring operations run smoothly. These
growing data volumes give fraudsters and
terrorists more opportunities than ever
before: terrorists threatening to disrupt
essential utilities, hackers holding customer
information to ransom, blackmailers
compromising patient data and fraudsters
stealing assets and identities.
Businesses of all types and sizes are
leveraging technology to store their data
more securely. To combat cybercrimes,
their security focus has turned from
blocking threats after they hit to detecting
and eliminating them before impact.
Real-time monitoring and analysis are key.
Only by identifying the tiny early clues
that something is amiss can organizations
prevent a threat before it takes hold.
After all, people have become more aware
of privacy and the importance of knowing
how their data is stored, shared and used.
They expect traceability and control to be
maintained whenever their personal data
is shared along the value chain. The more
informed and in charge they are, the more
willing they are to share their information.
They happily opt in and out of the growing
number of services and information feeds,
eliminating those that provide little value.
This increasingly complex world is matched
by tighter regulations and more intense
scrutiny. Companies are becoming used
to being constantly monitored. With
transparency and accountability high on
the agenda, they’re not only leveraging
technology to quickly adapt to new
requirements as they emerge; they’re
leveraging increasing volumes of data to
ensure the information required is readily
available.
A note of caution: Regulators will face
increasingly smart players, who use new
computing techniques and available data
to find novel ways to by-pass laws or take
risks, anticipating the potential losses they
would face in legal pursuits. We believe
CxOs should avoid making decisions based
on legal advice grounded in AI anticipating
that the probability of getting caught is
minimal.
Ascent Look Out 25
Market Context

Time of impact
2016 Look today at how solutions could
address these needs.
2017 Consider potential solutions by
running pilots, for example.
2018 Understand now. Consider potential
implications and how these could be
addressed.
2019+ Follow for now. Watch how it's
evolving.

Business impact
Transformational Likely to require
transformational changes within
organizations.
High Will have a high impact at work and in
people's home lives.
Medium Will impact organizations'
processes & services or affect users' &
consumers' lives.
Low More likely to require minor
improvements than radical changes.

Maturity
Emerging Mainly seen in academia and a
small number of specialized markets.
Adolescent Discussed more widely by
analysts and thought leaders.
Early adopter Clients are starting to look
for solutions.
Mainstream There's a clear need and
many clients are implementing solutions.

26 #AscentLookOut
 CxO Agenda

TRANSFORM
ATIO
NAL

HI
GH
Maturity

Mainstream
Early adoption
Adolescent
Ambient Computing Emerging

ME
DI
Omics

UM
Personalization
Economy of
Data

API Economy
Innovation
Servitization Value Webs MOOCs Protecting Digital
Property
Cyber-Physical
Systems
Gig Economy
Bi-Modal Neurobusiness
Industry 4.0 Businesses

LOW
Omni-Channel
DevOps

Horizon Analytics for

Scanning Social
Amplified Intelligence
Cybersecurity
Techniques

2016 2017 2018 2019+

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key focus areas also have increasing expectations about

Ambient Computing
Concept
On today's digital networks, everything
is now just a microsecond away. This has
a strong impact on business as well as
individual lives.
Always connected, anytime and anywhere,
we're confident the technology we rely
on will be there when we need it. This is
just the beginning: with the rise of the
wearables and the Internet of Everything,
we enter an ambient computing world
where information technologies become
invisible yet surround all aspects of life with
personalized services, communication and
anytime, anywhere insights.
Impact
We've not only become increasingly reliant
on technology in our everyday lives; we
our technological experience. As we
share and collaborate naturally, all we care
about is simplicity and a compelling and
seamless experience as we move across
our multitude of connected devices that
span the real and virtual worlds. Mobile,
cloud, and the Internet of Everything must
therefore be at the heart of digital strategies
for a seamless customer experience.
Ultimately, success lies in delivering a
unified experience (even though it may
involve several enterprises from diverse
sectors) and finding the best way to
deliver the perfect personalized and timely
experience: the right personalized insights
and services at the right moment. This will
require increasing collaboration between
verticals and probably the reinvention of
many business and service ecosystems.
The smart city experience of tomorrow,
for instance, may encompass seamless
infotainment, transportation, utility,
healthcare and security services.
While new technologies can enhance lives
and streamline the way we do business,
unfortunately there are individuals and
entities who will attempt to exploit them to
do harm. But this is not the only danger: no
electricity to power our devices would not
only impact our personal lives, but society
and the economy as a whole. Strong
protection against cybercrime is critical.
Amplified Intelligence
Concept
With data volumes growing and analytics
advancing, our lives are becoming
increasingly dependent on the objective
intelligence provided by machines. There
are instances, however, where peoples’
more subjective experience and know-
how plays an equally important role in
answering vital questions.

Ascent Look Out 27

Market Context
Amplified intelligence augments machine-
generated data-driven insights with the
human intelligence that is able to direct
analysis in new ways, proposing alternative
possibilities that only the know-how of the
human mind can provide. Equally amplified
intelligence sees machine-generated,
data-driven intelligence augmented by the
human life experience needed to ensure
the right – but not always entirely logical –
decision is reached.
Impact
Take a machine analyzing trends in human
behaviors online, for example. A trend
might show people suddenly switching
to a specific payment option without any
insight into why. Only a person would
realize that this trend is likely driven by
extensive media coverage of extensive
cybersecurity threats relating to some of
the other payment options. In another
instance you wouldn’t leave a final decision
on which children are most vulnerable and
need the most help entirely to a computer,
but machine-generated intelligence will
provide some of the vital insight needed to
ensure the right decision is made.
Often organizations can only answer the
what, where and why of atypical scenarios
impacted by human behaviors by
combining machine-generated data-driven
intelligence with wider human
experience and understanding.
28 #AscentLookOut
Understanding where and how machine-
generated and human intelligence
complements each other – and how best
to leverage that combination – will become
increasingly important as our reliance on
machine-driven data analytics grows.
Amplified intelligence will therefore support
improving customer experience and
excellence in operations, bringing answers
in domains not within our current reach.
However, the CxO should take care to not
lose control of the decision-making process.
Analytics for Social
Concept
Customer behavior – both positive and
negative – is largely influenced by social
relationships. As such, corporations and
governments alike must put the social
voice at the heart of their digital strategies
to build the trust that is vital to their
success. They must not only listen, but also
react, leveraging the voice of the social
community to steer them in the right
direction.
The emerging discipline of social network
analysis brings to light the complex
patterns of connection, influence and
reciprocity that are the main factors in
customer behavior. Meanwhile, social
media analysis, with its social media
monitoring and sentiment analysis, helps
companies derive intelligence from
customer conversations on digital media.
Impact
As companies raise their game in
customer experience, understanding the
social equation across diverse customers
segments is crucial. Together social
network analysis and social media analysis
can help reveal the key influencers who
could, in turn, be leveraged as brand
advocates.
That said, the primary purpose of social
media analysis is to understand customer
needs, desires, behaviors and concerns
whether at an individual level or across
specific customer segments. It can, for
example, help identify growing customer
dismay so that it can be addressed before
impacting a brand’s reputation. Equally, it
can help reduce churn by allowing brands
to react quickly to disgruntled customers,
delighting them with unexpected surprises
that will buy their enduring loyalty.
Organizations must, however, take into
account how their customers feel. People
don’t always like being listened to. To
successfully leverage social insight to
enhance their services, organizations
across both the private and public sector
will need to ensure critical customer
relationships aren’t impacted – and local
and international regulations around
privacy are respected.

API Economy
Concept
In a digital, networked economy, success
comes not only from innovating by
yourself, but also from fostering the
development of partner ecosystems.
Application programming interfaces (APIs)
help organizations do that by allowing
them to safely ‘expose’ the functionality of
their internal applications or services to the
outside world in a limited fashion, either for
free or for a fee. IT capability is effectively
virtualized, decoupling application or
service implementations from their
consumers. These then become building
blocks for third parties that create their own
unique services – mobile apps for instance
– by integrating multiple services together.
Companies are increasingly generating
revenues by exposing their IT capability
through APIs. The API economy reflects
how APIs are now positively affecting an
organization's profitability.
Impact
As ‘every company becomes a technology
company’, this mechanism becomes
increasingly critical. Organizations will
increasingly publish APIs to extend their
products and services and interface with
partners and customers in new ways.
New business models and new market
offerings are already being created based
on companies opening up their internal IT
systems to the external world.
While Salesforce.com, Amazon, Facebook,
Twitter and Google have all opened up
new revenue streams in this way, Netflix
has used its APIs to extend its service to
more than 200 different devices – including
television, gaming devices and remote
controls – and all major mobile platforms in
less than two years.
According to analysts, while APIs started
in media and high tech, they have now
moved into financial services, government
and retail. Most future API use will come
from digital business applications and the
Internet of Things.
Bi-Modal Businesses (getting into the
new while keeping the legacy)
Concept
With so much transformation taking place,
organizations also need to consider what
they should do with their legacies. Should
they shut down parts of their business?
Should they reinvent them?
Throughout their digital journey, companies
will want to ensure legacy systems that
they do decide to consolidate or transition
to a new platform are decommissioned
seamlessly and any legacy that remains
continues to run at peak performance. In
effect a two-speed business will emerge:
accelerating innovation to keep pace
with today’s fast-moving world while
meticulously planning the maintenance or
potential phase out of the legacy business
– along with its supporting processes and
tools.
Banks and stores, for instance, need
to ensure their bricks-and-mortar
environments continue to operate
optimally while they transform to a
new omni-channel model that also
encompasses online and mobile. For this
they will need to ensure they don’t take
their eyes off their legacy network.
Impact
Companies may be seeking a hybrid
environment where their legacy
dynamically enhances their new IT
environment. From a legacy systems
perspective, this may mean ensuring
interoperability between new and
legacy environments, deploying legacy
applications on alternative (modern)
platforms or cloud-enabling legacy services.
Equally, planning and communicating
the phase out of legacy business is key.
There may well be resistance internally, but
communicating the options and benefits
will help. Externally, marketing departments
and competitive pricing will help accelerate
customers’ move from the legacy to the
new business.
Cyber-Physical Systems
Concept
As web pioneer Marc Andreessen famously
prophesized: “Software is eating the
world”. Devices and production assets are
becoming smarter. Their function is no
longer solely defined by their mechanical
parameters, but also by their software,
processing and communication capabilities.
They are becoming unified cyber-physical
devices.
Bringing these devices together in an
intelligent way creates a complex cyber-
physical system (CPS). CPSs are defined as
‘systems of collaborating computational
elements controlling physical entities’.
Essentially, within CPSs, physical entities
are fully controlled by IT. A device's
CxO Agenda
functionality is defined by software as well
as its physical features.
When applied to the world of production,
the CPS becomes the smart factory where
manufacturing units leverage relevant
information to behave autonomously.
Impact
Currently used throughout industry in
aerospace, automotive, infrastructure,
energy, transport and other areas, CPS are
increasingly critical to manufacturers and
the factory ecosystem. Smart factories
open up new business models based on
the convergence of physical devices and IT.
CPS are already impacting the way
factories are constructed and run and
playing an ever-increasing role in the way
smart products, connected machines and
augmented operators work together.
Cybersecurity
Concept
Cybercrime is estimated to already
cost more than $1 trillion a year. And
while cybercrime has now emerged
as an industry, digital warfare is a key
factor in nations’ military and economic
success. Attacks may come from activists,
disgruntled employees, mafias, terrorist
organizations, government agencies or
even competitors (industrial espionage).
Mobile and boundaryless networks
are now a core route to exposure and
systemic vulnerabilities have been
weaponized. Every industry is at risk:
increasing automation makes electrical
grids and telecommunication systems
more vulnerable; military activities that
use computers or satellites are at risk of
disruption; transportation infrastructures
are vulnerable to breakdown; security
breaches in financial institutions have
already gone far beyond stolen credit card
numbers and fraudulent transactions on
the stock markets.
While cloud and mobility are now widely
adopted across the enterprise, new
paradigms such as the Internet of Things
(IoT) and smart machines are forcing
companies to rethink protection.
Impact
To fight new risks, cybersecurity requires
a multitude of techniques coupled with
holistic convergence between information,
physical and operational security across the
whole digital chain. Application shielding,
Ascent Look Out 29
Market Context
for example, shields applications in secure
zones with trusted (corporate) information
brokers acting as a central verification
service between individual zones.
Organizations also need to take a more
proactive approach to cybersecurity, using
probes to look for evidence of specific
suspicious behaviors, for instance, to help
anticipate threats. Millions of events can
now be analyzed in real time thanks to
high performance computing. And after
a potential incident is detected, forensic
analysis can help identify where the attack
started, who is behind it and how it was
carried out.
Today's advanced prescriptive security
techniques utilize a variety of analytical
and machine learning techniques to
study recent and historical intelligence.
They allow companies to do more than
simply foresee future threats; they analyze
possible responses, prescribing the optimal
approach for eliminating threats before
they happen.
The impact of applying proper
cybersecurity techniques is not only
significant in lowering exposure and
accelerating curation of potential damages;
it can also enhance operations by building
trusted agile infrastructures, reward
business innovation thought better IP
protection, grow customer experience with
trusted services and perfect compliance to
privacy regulations. While trust has always
been a core business asset, business-
driven cyber protection can turn risks into
business value.
30 #AscentLookOut
DevOps: Aligning Software Development
with Digital Operations
Concept
In today’s fast-paced world, organizations
need to be able to respond quickly to ever-
changing customer demands. At the same
time, IT systems are becoming increasingly
complex and need to be integrated
with a higher degree of reliability and
availability. As such, duplicating production
environments for testing has become
difficult.
Meanwhile, developers are often unable
to understand the trade-offs between
performance, scale and reliability.
Operations teams, on the other hand,
often become involved far too late in the
development cycle and are limited to
keeping production services stable.
Emerged out of applying Agile and Lean
approaches to operations, notably with
the cloud, the DevOps (an abbreviation of
Development and Operations, illustrating
that they are now linked) approach to
building new and changing existing
services removes the traditional hurdle
between the development of software and
putting it into operations. DevOps includes
best practices such as continuous delivery,
continuous integration, automated testing
and application monitoring.
Impact
Implementing DevOps requires significant
changes to existing processes and
governance within the organization.
Development and operations teams can
then work closely together, supported by
established well-engineered repeatable
processes that intrinsically consider
change, replacement and evolution.
Fully integrated tools and lean processes
ensure development and operations are
totally aligned and fully in sync, decreasing
IT operational costs while improving
software quality and accelerating time-to-
market.
Operations are improved and changes can
be implemented faster since they no longer
need to wait for long development cycles
followed by long testing processes. This
brings increased agility to the organization.
Automation eliminates slow, costly and
error-prone manual processes while
advanced release management methods
and automated operations build reliable
self-healing systems. Standards and
standard components reduce complexity
and enable easier and faster build-to-order
services.
But, in fact, this thing we see in IT is just
the tip of the iceberg. DevOps will reach far
beyond the IT department. It will help with
streamlining processes and workflows. It
will help the business develop a culture of
continual experimentation and learning,
and react more quickly to ever-changing
market conditions.
Economy of Data
Concept
The massive growth in personal
smartphone usage and increasing
prevalence of connected devices are
leading to an explosion in data generation.
The Economy of Data (EoD) sees new
business models derived from this data, not
simply for reselling data, but for creating
completely new market offerings.
As highlighted by Atos ‘Ascent Journey
2018’, an EoD organization is one that
understands that data can provide more
than mere insight into market trends. When

multiple sources of data are combined
and refined, they can unlock access to
new markets and revenue streams. Such
an organization will target potential users
and providers of data to form a multi-sided
market, building partner, customer and
supplier ecosystems and establishing
shared data asset platforms to be used by
the participating players.
Impact
At a basic level, value creation within the
platform comes from the act of sharing
data that offers benefit to multiple parties
(the direct approach). Data may be
exchanged in its raw state or refined and
combined with additional Open Data
sources. Participating parties extract the
value for their business context.
At a more sophisticated level, data
semantics can be used to exploit data fed
back from participants engaging in the
direct approach to extract further value and
meaning. This new insight and value is then
shared through the platform (the indirect
approach).
An EoD system can drive business benefit
by offering access to a larger market,
increasing profitability by sharing market
operating costs between participating
members and enabling higher prices
through the perceived increased value
of services enriched by the shared data
insights.
Gig Economy
Concept
The new on-demand economy goes
beyond simply matching buyers with
sellers, passengers with taxis, tourists
with accommodation. The gig economy
matches workers with gigs (or jobs), on-
demand. In the basic model, gig workers
enter a formal agreement to provide
services with the on-demand company.
Prospective clients can then request their
services via a smartphone or web page – in
the same way a passenger would request
a taxi from Uber – and the worker is
compensated for the tasks they perform.
Recent surveys have shown that gig
workers represent a growing segment of
the labor market. Some estimate that, by
2020, 40 percent of US employees may be
freelancers, for instance.
Impact
As delivery models become more abstract
and flexible to allow services to react to
changing market demands and transient
opportunities, CxOs can take advantage of
the gig economy to help align capacity and
capability with their ever-changing talent
requirements.
In fact, the gig economy will be vital for
enabling the liquid corporation. After all, a
large pool of flexible, highly-skilled workers
available almost on-demand makes for
an incredibly scalable workforce. You
could even think of it as a ‘swarm of skills’
responding both reactively and proactively
to emerging demands.
Embracing a remote workforce by
eliminating restrictions based on
geographies will be key to gaining greater
access to this flexible, highly-available
talent pool. Virtual communication and
collaboration tools will make it easier for
dispersed teams located across the globe
to work together.
Horizon Scanning
Concept
The third digital revolution is driving
continual change. Social, mobile, IoT,
analytics, cloud, smart technologies,
Industry 4.0, bioinformatics and more
are forcing business to evolve at an
unprecedented speed and scale. Exploring
what the future might look like helps
companies to be more resilient, to be
prepared for the uncertainties that lie
ahead.
Horizon scanning allows organizations to
systematically and continuously analyze
evidence about future trends, emphasizing
new technology and its effects. It's a
technique for detecting early signs of
potentially important developments
through a systematic examination of
potential opportunities and threats. Small
groups of experts share their perspectives
and knowledge with each other, consider
how emerging trends and developments
might potentially influence the future of
their organization – its strategy, products,
services and more.
The Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD)
notes that horizon scanning helps
develop the big picture behind the
issues to be examined. Often based
on desk research and involving a wide
variety of sources (including prospective
research communities, think tanks, public
organizations and NGOs), it comments that
horizon scanning can also be undertaken
by small groups of experts at the forefront
CxO Agenda
of the area of concern: sharing their
perspectives and knowledge with each
other so as to 'scan' how new phenomena
might influence the future.
Horizon scanning may be complimented
by other future-oriented methodologies
such as trend impact analysis and scenario
building, or the Delphi method, which
builds consensus among experts on
predictions concerning a specific issue by
following a structured and iterative process
of brainstorming.
Impact
An awareness of what the future might
look like is the first step on the innovation
journey that will guide companies to
achieving their strategic goals. In contrast
to processes focused on predicting the
future, horizon scanning encourages
participants to develop new insights
by thinking out of the box. Looking at
technologies in new ways may reveal ideas
that never come to fruition, but equally it
may uncover ideas that drive substantial
competitive advantage. After all, initial ideas
that often seem far-fetched can lead to the
most disruptive innovations.
Horizon scanning allows organizations
to stay one step ahead by providing the
insight needed to develop strategies that
anticipate future developments. CxOs
should ensure their organizations have
the strong horizon scanning capabilities
needed to ensure their portfolio strategy
is aligned with evolving demand. Internal
or outsourced, these capabilities will
need to leverage suitable digital tools and
processes.
Industry 4.0
Concept
Technology-wise, Industry 4.0 is a melting
pot that combines the Internet of Things
(IoT), advanced Big Data analytics,
new generations of human-machine
interfaces and reliable layers of ubiquitous
connectivity. It helps organizations manage
the flood of information from smart
machines, connected workers and the
products themselves.
Initiated in Germany to reflect the fourth
industrial revolution, this European term is
increasingly being adopted across America
and Asia, in synergy with the 'Industrial
Internet' concept.
Impact
Industry 4.0 addresses growing demands
for digital production, providing greater
Ascent Look Out 31
Market Context
flexibility, transparency, knowledge and
the pervasive use of smart production
facilities. Traditional layered shop-floor MES,
PLM and ERP systems that see top-level
business processes separated from shop
floor processes are transformed into a
smart connected production environment.
The interconnection of machines,
components, products, people and
processes is bringing disruptive changes at
all levels and functions. Smart actors extend
from ‘top-floor to shop-floor’ and even to
the customer of the product. Smart supply
chains are restructured dynamically for
optimal performance, with some physical
links even removed.
The fully autonomous operations allow
on-demand operations to configure
production lines directly, according to
specific design parameters. Individual
digital blueprints accompanying
component parts interactively direct both
machine and human manufacturing
resources. Prescriptive maintenance uses
data collected from shop-floor monitoring
to determine a minimum downtime
maintenance strategy.
Two-way communication between
machines and workers on the shop-floor
via smart devices, tablets or even wearable
technology ensures continuous interaction.
Procedures such as maintenance,
reconfiguring, refitting or calibration
become extremely agile, responding to
actual production needs in near real time.
In sectors where automation and
connectivity are already mature, realization
of Industry 4.0 concepts is more imminent.
Where production is outsourced, adoption
could extend decades into the future.
Industry 4.0 will bring significant
improvement in operations, but will
require the reinvention of all aspects of
production, product and market strategies.
We can expect to see a number of different
approaches adopted across and within
different industries, with some undoubtedly
more successful than others. The courage
to change business doctrines and cultures
and the ability to learn from mistakes and
adapt on the way, will ultimately determine
success and select the winners.
Innovation Value Webs
Concept
Innovation is rising up the corporate
agenda. One way to keep ahead is to
develop an innovation model that enables
32 #AscentLookOut
more efficient and effective interactions
beyond conventional organization
boundaries – whether internal or external.
Innovation value webs facilitate open
innovation both within the social enterprise
and beyond its borders.
In fact, organizations are increasingly
moving away from the traditional R&D
intensive ways of working. They are
embracing corporate ‘intrapreneurialism’
(entrepreneurialism, but within the
organization), establishing in-house
corporate venture capital capabilities
and building collaborative relationships
internally across organization siloes and
externally with third parties. These include
start-ups, SMEs, universities, suppliers, lead
producers, competitors, interest groups
and customers. The new relationships and
interactions that result are highly dynamic.
They encourage new insights, improve
creativity and enable rapid assembly of the
solution components required.
Impact
As this new business ecosystem of actors
exchanges objects of economic value
toward a shared goal of profit generation,
a new view on how things get done
emerges. Relationships move from simple
collaboration to active cooperation.
Organizations that embrace innovation
value webs will drive up their innovation
productivity and ultimately increase their
competitive advantage.
Social business tools help organizations
and employees develop and participate in
a new marketplace of ideas. But success
demands more than new technology
alone. Firms need to redesign the way
they innovate, with implications for their
business model, their alliance management
processes and their operating model, as
well as for their IT. Hackathons are one
such example of these processes.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
Concept
Multiple for-profit and not-for-profit
education providers (such as Coursera,
edX and Udacity) are now offering Massive
Open Online Courses (MOOCs) through the
internet, adding quizzes, projects and more
to YouTube lectures and picking up millions
of users along the way for participating
universities and colleges. As a lecturer talks,
his output is recorded and posted online. It
can be complemented by interactive user
forums to support community interactions
among students, professors, and teaching
assistants.
Impact
MOOCs have the potential to scale up
to enable millions of students to attend
a single course consecutively. They
not only democratize education, even
from some of the most prestigious
universities in the US, Europe and Asia,
but also facilitate education in emerging
economies. Currently mostly targeted at
the undergraduate market, they are also
beginning to offer professional training.
In an enterprise context, MOOC can be
seen as the road to the future employee
education system.
As MOOCs models refine, technologies
such as augmented reality may be
leveraged to combine work with education.
An employee could receive customized
information via a wearable device, enabling
progressive training that complements a
specific role.
Though MOOCs seem to be booming,
some issues still remain. While large
foundations and venture firms fund MOOC
initiatives, potentially replacing millions of
teachers, questions remain on privacy, the
ownership and accuracy of information
and the risk of propaganda. Stronger
international certifications may be needed
in the future to regulate this new field of
education.
Neurobusiness
Concept
Neurobusiness leverages neuroscience
capabilities to improve business decisions
and interact with people and communities
more effectively. Closely associated with
digital marketing research on how to reach
consumers and influence purchasing
better, it uses psychology, social sciences,
wearables and brain-computer interfaces,
such as electroencephalography headsets,
to track emotions and guide sentiments.
This, in turn, may allow organizations to
influence attitudes, actions and behavior.
Impact
Interest in neurobusiness is growing. The
technology is just emerging and it may
take three to four years for brain-computer
interfaces to hit the mainstream, but
potential applications are large.
Insight derived through neurobusiness
techniques will give marketing
departments a whole new perspective on
customers’ beliefs, behaviors and desires. In
turn, this intelligence will help organizations
surprise and delight their customers, who

are increasingly focused on the experience
and outcome rather than the product or
service. It may also help companies retain
customer interest in a product or service
at a time when customers are becoming
more fickle and less loyal – and less
susceptible to manipulation – than ever.
Internally, neurobusiness techniques may
have a role to play in helping organizations
keep their staff engaged and loyal, while
also encouraging the creativity that is vital
for driving innovation. These techniques
may give employers looking to retain
Generation Z talents, for instance, a better
understanding of how they can deliver
the flexibility and fulfillment this lucid
generation needs.
Furthermore, neurobusiness may also
help improve productivity, particularly in
stressful or demanding roles.
CxOs would do well to build – or hire –
some in-house neurobusiness expertise,
though they should be vigilant to potential
ethical and privacy issues.
Omics: Advanced Biocomputing
Technologies
Concept
Omics refers to the collective technologies
that explore the behaviors of the molecules
that make up cells, such as genes, proteins,
cellular carbohydrates and cellular lipids.
Genomics, for example, explores the roles,
relationships and actions of genes.
Omics techniques have exploded in the last
decade, powered by the completion of the
human genome project. These techniques
are now routinely being applied to a wide
range of important topics in life sciences
(including microbiology, agriculture,
veterinary sciences and medicine) allowing
scientists to get a full understanding of the
molecular processes that govern living
beings.
Meanwhile, biocomputing – the growing
capability of leveraging high performance
computing and simulation to solve
problems in biology, biochemistry and
genetics – has become a cornerstone of
life sciences in the recent years. It may
well contribute to what may be the next
technology revolution, combining digital,
biotechnology, nanotechnologies and
cognitive sciences.
Impact
Omics technologies reduce time and cost
of laboratory tasks, shifting the bulk of the
workload downstream from the laboratory
(wet lab) to the data analysis processes (in
silico lab). Already helping pharmaceutical
companies reduce the cost and time of
inventing, experimenting and releasing new
drugs, for instance, they promise radical
advances in healthcare, with multiple
startups and large groups heavily investing
in omics-powered personalized medicine.
Omics also has a wider role to play: it is
helping farmers increase their crop yields
and it may one day help life insurers
better understand risk or CPG companies
understand more about nutrition. New
business models may emerge based on
new insight into our individual health
risks or how our individual bodies react to
different foods, for instance.
Omni-channel
Concept
Today’s multitude of devices – from
wearable devices to our smartphones,
tablets, laptops, desktops and TVs –
CxO Agenda
together form an intelligent computing and
communication ecosystem that enhances
the real world we live in. As we transverse
from a real bricks-and-mortar world to a
virtual online one, we expect a consistent
and uninterrupted end-to-end experience
regardless of where we are and how we
are connected. We expect an omni-channel
experience.
After all, the lines between our offline
and online worlds have blurred over the
past few years. It doesn’t matter how we
communicate with friends and family
– we seamlessly switch between face-to-
face, telephone, SMS and social media
interactions. The challenge for the retailers,
banks, government departments and other
organizations is to enable correspondingly
flexible interactions.
Impact
The goal is to deliver the best service
anytime anywhere, the way customers
want it – whether purely digital (web,
mobile apps, kiosks, connected device
for instance), physical (such as store or
call center) or hybrid (connected store
and help desk, for example). It requires
all touchpoints to be unified to provide
a seamless personalized experience
that delights across all channels. The
omni-channel customer experience can,
therefore, only be fully realized once core
business operations within disaggregated
service supply chains are aligned and
optimized.
To achieve a true omni-channel experience,
organizations also require a single source
of information about the end user that is
accessible to all points of contact: from the
store, branch and office to the call center
and online website, social media site or
Ascent Look Out 33
Market Context
chat. However, assurances may need to be
given that all stored personal data will not
be accumulated or used without explicit
contractual agreement.
The omni-channel experience helps
organizations engage with their customers
more intimately and individually than ever
before, ensuring customer engagement,
loyalty and advocacy. CxO should review
their IT strategies and ensure their
enterprises are well-positioned to build an
omni-channel experience since existing IT
systems might limit this ambition. Bi-modal
IT can offer a means to reaching this goal.
Personalization
Concept
While the Ford industrial era developed
the concept of mass production,
digital brings in a new promise: mass
personalization. The seemingly opposing
forces of ‘maximizing process efficiency’
and ‘personalizing user experience’
present a complex business challenge.
Understanding how to make them work
together rather than against each other is
critical. This requires operations and supply
chains to be optimized for both B2B and
B2C interactions.
Enriching personalized experiences also
requires a balance between individual
choice, regulatory compliance and trust.
There will be a point at which customers
consider sharing the source data used to
shape a personalized B2C interaction is an
unacceptable invasion of privacy, limiting
trust and therefore adoption.
Impact
The personalization of products, services
and interactions in general can be a key
factor in driving customer experience,
improving satisfaction, ensuring loyalty
and attracting new business through
advocacy. Tech-savvy digital natives,
for instance, demand richer connection
and engagement through seamless,
personalized experiences across virtual and
physical channels.
With the advent of data analytics, end
user behaviors can be determined in far
greater detail. This enables organizations to
personalize and target specific interactions
through tailored services, driving service
monetization where access to a service
will be in exchange for the use of personal
data, giving companies the opportunity to
reinvent parts of their services.
34 #AscentLookOut
Wearables, for instance, could provide
real-time biometric information about
consumers, indicating emotional and
physical responses to interactions. This
will provide valuable input into the
monetization process, including a whole
new level of dynamic, ultra-personalized,
embedded advertising.
Protecting Digital Property
Concept
Digital Rights Management (DRM) may
have been around for more than 20 years,
but today it has more recently taken on
a new significance. As products such as
music, games and videos are increasingly
distributed through online digital platforms,
DRM plays a vital role in ensuring creative
outputs are not copied or stolen.
However, DRM will require the supporting
economy to be further developed to avoid
a slowdown of exchanges.
Impact
Soon, as we face the third digital revolution,
DRM will be extended into digital
manufacturing where it will play a key role
in protecting intellectual property. With
3D printing, for instance, as the number
of products created on 3D printers grows
and manufacturers turn their focus from
manufacturing physical products to
producing digital product designs that
consumers can download and use to
‘manufacture’ the products themselves at
home, DRM aims to help manufacturers
retain product IP.
Servitization
Concept
Services are increasingly being employed
as profitable and stable revenue streams
to enhance product businesses. Leading
firms are adopting an ‘as a service’
business model, offering customized
solutions to clients. Leveraging the cloud
and the Internet of Things, these business
models can help grow high-end and very
differentiated personalized offerings when
manufacturing is no longer a differentiating
process. This process, where services make
up a larger part of a product company, is
known as servitization.
An early example was the change
in the aircraft engine industry when
manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce, who
coined the term ‘power-by-the-hour’, started
to sell air power as a service rather than
engines, maintenance and spares.
Today companies across a wide range of
industries are developing services as a
way to expand their offering, target new
customer segments or differentiate their
commoditizing business. Retailers are
looking at offering consumers services
linked to the goods they sell, automotive
companies are offering tires-as-a-service on
a pay-per-use basis and manufacturers are
offering preventive diagnostic services.
Impact
After all, services are broadly seen as
attractive business: providing additional
high margin revenues on top of the
product business; representing a relatively
stable business that can act as a damper
against volatile product business; and
enabling a deeper connection with the end
customer and, with it, insight into customer
needs and desires.
Developing a product business toward a
service business typically involves four
maturity stages:
-- Product manufacturer: sell products and
charge for basic break-fix services.
-- Value added manufacturer: sell products
and service to enhance the product
performance.
-- Full service provider: replace products
by (managed) services and enhance
customers’ operational performance.
-- Integrated solution provider: take over
(parts of) customers operations.
As servitization transforms entire product
industries from ‘technology-push and
product oriented' business to ‘customer-pull
and service’ business, players will need to
adapt their business models to keep pace.
Furthermore, the as-a-service economy
very often finds heightened success when
it bridges multiple actors with differing
agendas within multi-sided markets.
 CxO Agenda

CxO Agenda: Opportunities and Threats

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Ambient Computing Horizon Scanning

Amplified Intelligence Industry 4.0

Analytics for Social Innovation Value Webs

API Economy MOOCs

Bi-Modal Businesses Neurobusiness

Cyber-Physical Systems Omics

Cybersecurity
Omni-Channel
Techniques

DevOps Personalization

Economy of Data Protecting Digital

Property

Gig Economy Servitization

Ascent Look Out 35

Market Views
As you start your digital
journey, understanding
how the transformation
challenges might evolve
in your market will help
you to be more resilient.
Equally, the Market
Views will sharpen your
understanding of how
technology can help you
overcome the obstacles
and take advantage of the
possibilities along the way.
But don’t just take a look at
what is happening in your
own market – explore other
markets too. After all, that is
where the truly novel ideas
will emerge from.

38 Aerospace 98 Healthcare
44 Automotive 104 Homeland Security
50 Banking 110 Insurance
56 Chemicals 116 Media
62 Cities 122 Oil and Gas
68 Consumer Packaged Goods 128 Pharmaceuticals
74 Defense 134 Retail
80 Discrete Manufacturing 140 Telco
86 Education 146 Travel, Transport and Hospitality
92 Government 152 Utilities
Market views

Aerospace

Delivering a fully connected passenger Air traveler numbers to grow 5%

journey annually for next 20 years
Fully leveraging IT to increase reactivity Commercial production to increase
and services 20% annually by 2025
Moving to a digital world to address 3D printing market to grow at a CAGR
main challenges of 20.47%
Industry eager to find fuel alternatives Passenger numbers in airports to
and cut emissions reach 7.3bn by 2034

Key Market Challenges

Customer
Experience
In today’s increasing connected world,
airline passengers expect a fast, reliable
connectivity, even at 30,000 feet.
Business travelers want to keep working;
families want access to information
and entertainment. They want their
personalized connectivity, entertainment
and meals already prepared for them when
they board the aircraft.
The connected aircraft also enriches the
in-flight experience for pilots and cabin
crew. Access to digital documentation,
email facilities, telemedicine and credit
card authorization systems increases
productivity. Access to systems for
rescheduling onward connections, for
instance, allows them to serve passengers
better.
Today’s armed forces personnel expect
this same productive in-flight or on-board
experience in their military lives. As such,
defense organizations, with their squeezed
budgets, are replacing the expensive
rigid, difficult-to-use and un-interoperable
systems currently in operation with modern
technologies. Familiar smartphones, tablets
and other civilian technologies also make
solutions more cost efficient, faster to
develop, easier to use and less dependent
on specific suppliers. Innovations need
specific adaptions, particularly for security,
and their suitability needs to be proven
under manoeuver conditions.
Meanwhile, civilian passengers expect
services on the ground to be as efficient as
those in the air. They also expect to be kept
digitally engaged throughout that journey,
particularly during times of disruption when
they want to be empowered to choose
alternative travel arrangements. As such,
some airlines are differentiating themselves
by offering enhanced accessibility services.
The passage through the airport should
be streamlined and rapid. Security and
immigration checks should be smooth
and non-intrusive, giving passengers
a feeling of security – but without long
delays. Passengers’ dialogue with the
airline, airport and other partners should be
efficient, personalized and consistent from
the moment they book their seat through
their train, airport and flight experience to
arriving at their final destination.
This seamless passenger experience
needs airports, airlines and other providers
to connect their systems and share
pertinent customer data. Passengers with
disabilities, for example, only expect to
share that information once to get the
assistance they need throughout their
journey. Equally, diverse military solutions
will need to share interfaces, specifications
and user requirements to ease integration
and ensure a similarly seamless user
experience.
Business
Reinvention
The connected craft can share in-flight
or on-board data on the health of critical
components and systems (including
avionics) with operations teams and
manufacturers in real time. Manufactures
of both civilian and military craft are
leveraging insight shared by the connected
craft to open up new revenue streams.
Services that anticipate failure or enable
spare parts to be manufactured on
site significantly shorten maintenance
times and thus operational expenditure.
Consequently, maintenance, repair and
operations (MRO) services are poised for
profitable growth.
In addition, intelligence borne out of
data on how passengers behave on
board allows them to open up new
high-margin revenue streams. Relevant
targeted passenger services – including
exclusive infotainment, communications or
concierge services that enrich the on-board
experience and allow passengers to plan
time their stays – boost sales and build a
deeper, more meaningful, relationship with
passengers.
Unlike many other industries, regulation
has shielded aerospace somewhat from
the new entrants. The aerospace industry
should, nevertheless, be wary of the
technology giants whose understanding of
individuals’ needs, habits and preferences
allows them to challenge established
players across many industries. To ensure
they stay ahead, industry players should
focus on building deeper relationships with
passengers to address their needs and
expectations. Future legislative changes,
however, could lead to an industry shake-
up. An airborne Uber is not beyond the
realms of future possibility.
Companies will struggle to innovate
without building partnerships that extend
their capabilities: alliances between craft
manufacturers and technology providers
will open up new possibilities and ensure
they're adopted safely and securely;

38 #AscentLookOut

‘‘Aerospace is facing huge challenges in line with its significant growth:
increased services to passengers during their journey, manufacturing
production ramp up with increasingly demanding airlines and reducing
the CO2 footprint. Aligned with the digital transformation of this
Stéphane
Janichewski
ecosystem, IT is part of the solution.’’
Head of Defense &
Aerospace Market
alliances with media, telco and payment
services companies will open up new
multi-sided business models that enhance
infotainment services; alliances between
airlines, airports and other transport
operators will open up other new revenue
streams. With new multi-sided business
models, companies consume relevant
data from third-party partners and build
innovative services by combining this
intelligence with their own customer
insight.
Military organizations expect to be shielded
from the complex ecosystem of partners
needed to deliver today’s immense
integration projects; they simply want to
purchase an end-to-end solution. Having
one prime contract simplifies engagement
and accountability. Some defense
manufacturers are evolving into integrators
to meet this need.
Operational
Excellence
Craft manufacturers and operators have to
balance building a high-quality and fitting
product with minimizing operational cost.
Cost is influenced by a multitude of factors:
from product price, maintenance cost
and fuel consumption to operations and
logistics, operational risk and passenger
numbers.
Craft must be tailored to meet very specific
requirements. For civilian aircraft, each
airline requires its own customization,
increasing complexity in the product, its
manufacture and the supply chain. For
military craft, a single equipment program
must incorporate complex multi-force
and multi-usage requirements that also
need to be tailored to suit the missions
of each specific country. Designs need
to be modular to accommodate diverse
configurations yet complaint with any
existing systems in operation.
The sophisticated end product requires
deep integration between mechanical,
electrical and software components.
Tight collaboration between design,
development, production and aftersales,
along with tight integration across the
supply chain, is vital for accelerating lead
times and ensuring safe and efficient
operations amidst increased complexity.
As manufacturers extend their network of
partners and suppliers around the globe,
a shared and common understanding
of that data is critical to ensuring all
stakeholders interpret the product design
correctly. Upstream standardization and
commoditization will help.
Meanwhile, both end product and
component manufacturers need flexibility
to cope with erratic production cycles:
ramping production up or down within
a short period of time. Civilian backlogs
are currently full, meaning manufacturers
must focus on ensuring they have enough
capacity to meet their commitments. IT will
help them in this by transforming them into
a more efficient organization.
In defense, declining home markets
in the US, Europe and China are being
more than matched by growing exports
driven by the growth of threats in
countries that do not have strong defense
manufacturing capabilities. Manufacturers
must be prepared to suddenly accelerate
Aerospace
manufacture to meet new potentially
multi-billion dollar orders for small numbers
of high-value, very customized items.
International sales require home state
approval for weapon or dual-use exports.
Equally, the target country might have
specific import requirements that need to
be considered, such as offset agreements
or joint ventures.
The sophisticated craft built today will be
operating for anything between 20 and
40 years. Numerous upgrade recalls will
be needed as the industry adopts new
technological advances. Manufacturers’
ability to manage the craft evolution
efficiently – and ensure components
don’t become obsolete – will be crucial to
managing cost over the product’s lifetime.
Defense craft, in particular, may encounter
and need to be maintained in extreme
combat conditions on the battle field.
Trust and
Compliance
As airlines, defense suppliers and
manufacturers extend their capabilities
and services, safety and security is always
at the forefront of any new innovation.
Today’s growing reliance on data and
increase in connectivity bring with
them a greater diversity of threats and
amplified responsibilities. Companies must
protect new services and capabilities
from the increasingly diverse virtual and
physical threats that need to be foreseen,
understood and prevented. After all, the
craft can be considered a complex IT
system, which has to be protected against
cyberattacks. When docked it has many
Ascent Look Out 39
Aerospace
connections with other systems, all of
which are sources of vulnerability.
Companies are facing additional security
and safety challenges driven by additional
complexity in manufacture and the
supply chain. Risks include spies hacking
into drawing data when it’s transferred
across the extended enterprise network
and ensuring the supplier of the supplier
doesn’t allow a defect in a small part that
could damage the craft. Adopting IT that
has safety and security already built in will
help.
As well as guaranteeing the chain
of production, supply and logistics,
scrutinizing all suppliers and ensuring
compliance with all legal requirements,
defense manufacturers must additionally
safeguard the chain of confidentiality and
ensure their product is not used against its
own country or allies.
Trust must be built amongst suppliers
and partners too. The broad ecosystem
requires companies to work together more
openly and a modern IT environment that
enables safe, secure, effective and efficient
collaboration and communications.
Passengers expect to be protected
too. Cockpits need to be secured, yet
40 #AscentLookOut
accessible; potential terrorists prevented be optimized, eliminating the need for
from even boarding the plane; and flights aircraft to circle above airports, saving
tracked across the skies with black boxes time, fuel and reducing CO2 emissions.
recording exactly what is happening in the New procedures, supported by new
increasingly connected aircraft. Passenger technologies, provide the best trajectories
data must be protected too and companies for fuel and time efficiency and associated
must balance compliance with data atmospheric emissions while also reducing
protection regulations with knowing exactly noise. Shorter but steeper landing
who is on the plane to mitigate the risk of approaches means aircraft can fly at cruise
terrorism. altitude for longer.
Regulatory requirements are increasing
and the aerospace industry is being
closely scrutinized for safety and
environmental issues, including noise
pollution and reducing CO2 emissions from
manufacturing. Climate change targets
demand organizations reduce carbon
emissions.
The European Union Clean Sky
aeronautical research program aims to
develop breakthrough technologies to
significantly increase the environmental
performances of air transport. Clean Sky 2
will deliver break-through technologies for
incorporation into the next generations of
aircraft from 2025 onwards.
The connected craft can help too. In
transoceanic flights, for example, data
showing an accurate position of the plane
allows aircraft arrivals and landings to
 Aerospace

Quantum
cryptography Mainstream
Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging

Semantic
technologies

Distributed Prescriptive
analytics analytics Self-adaptive security
Cyber-physical Augmented
Industry 4.0 systems reality Innovation value webs
technologies
High performance
computing IP networks
Advanced data 3D printing
Internet of Things visualization
Context-rich
systems Virtual assistants
Streaming
analytics Wearable
computing
DevOps Cloud Service Integration

Autonomous vehicles
Near field
communication
2016 2017 2018 2019+
© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers allows aircraft manufacturers to simulate

the behavior of complete structures
Cloud Service Integration
Vital systems are managed within the cloud
exposed to all kind of complex processes. and delivered ‘as a service’ wherever and
3D printing
whenever they're needed. As the need
3D printing technologies manufacture light
Augmented reality for cloud-based functions grows, Cloud
weight components. They're extremely
Smart glasses use augmented reality Service Integration connects processes
useful for MRO departments who can now
technologies to display this information in seamlessly.
quickly print any parts needed wherever
a worker’s line of sight. Virgin Atlantic even
the aircraft is situated around the globe.
trialed the technology with staff. They used Context-rich systems
This additive layer manufacturing (ALM)
the devices to provide real-time information The user experience is integrated across
not only reduces waste but also allows the
to passengers, including details about local every channel of interaction – online,
manufacture of both very complex shapes
weather, and to translate information into mobile, social, wearables and more –
that are almost impossible to build using
foreign languages. to ensure a seamless and consistent
any other technology and extremely light
experience across all service, purchase
structures and components that drastically
Autonomous vehicles and information paths. Behind the
reduce the aircraft’s fuel consumption
Engineers are using unmanned aerial scenes context-rich systems consolidate
during its entire lifecycle.
vehicles (UAVs) to visually inspect aircraft intelligence from diverse systems to
during manufacture and maintenance. proactively anticipate each user’s individual
Advanced data visualization These ‘drones’ have relieved engineers needs. They automatically adjust content
Craft and component manufacturers are from hazardous inspection activities and based on a user’s device-type and input
leveraging simulation to optimize design saved aerospace companies a great deal of capabilities, for example.
and production, and reduce manufacturing time and expense.
cost. Extensive virtual testing enabled by
immersive 3D visualization technologies

Ascent Look Out 41

Aerospace
Cyber-physical systems
Around the manufacturing plant,
sophisticated cyber-physical systems
(CPS) monitor and control the physical
environment to improve performance and
safety. Localized sensing helps identify
issues with machinery performance
and reliability, while communication
technologies send machines instructions
for the next bespoke assembly.
DevOps
Agile – or even DevOps – development
methodologies allow users to see – and
influence – innovative solutions before
they’re even finished to ensure usability.
Distributed analytics
Behind the scenes streaming analytics
supported by high performance computing
analyzes millions of events in real time
looking for evidence of suspicious behavior,
with distributed analytics then supporting
vital forensic analysis after a security
incident is detected.
High performance computing
Advanced simulations rely on a growing
volume and diversity of data – data
that is shared within the extended
enterprise network between aircraft
manufacturers and their supply chain. Big
Data and advanced analytics powered
by high performance computing allow
manufacturers to process this vast amount
of data and ensure it provides invaluable
insight in a timely manner. Analytics will
boost virtual testing, for example, by
enabling a simulation solution that covers
every stage of the craft’s lifecycle.
Industry 4.0 technologies
On the shop floor, the smart factory is
helping manufactures respond to an
increasingly complex and fast-paced
production environment. Industry 4.0
technologies seamlessly connect the
physical shop floor to the virtual IT systems
that support meaningful decision-making
and drive operational and strategic
flexibility.
Innovation Value Webs
With so many new possibilities emerging,
Innovation Value Webs are helping
aircraft manufacturers and airlines facilitate
open innovation beyond the enterprise
borders, enhancing collaboration and
communication across the wider partner
ecosystem. The new social business
tools that lie at their core encourage the
participation required to develop the new
marketplace of ideas.
42 #AscentLookOut
Internet of Things
Now part of the Internet of Things (IoT),
the connected craft is also contributing
to a wider picture of the environment.
Information gathered is combined with
intelligence gleaned from social media,
meteorologists and a wealth of other
sources to create a holistic view on our
weather patterns, the impact of climate
change or the battlefield.
IP networks
Communications based on satellite
technology allow pilots, passengers and
crew to access information, entertainment
and other resources safely in-flight or
on-board. Connectivity within the craft
includes the wireless integration of the
growing number of consumer devices.
Military aircraft might even soon leverage
the IP networks that are increasingly being
deployed in civilian aircraft. Sophisticated
combat systems, for instance, might benefit
from the video streaming that could
enhance situational awareness.
Near field communication
Passengers, pilots and crew can connect
their own personal laptops, tablets,
smartphones and other mobile devices
within the aircraft using Bluetooth and near
field communication (NFC) technologies
to receive passenger-oriented services
such as infotainment and social media
information.
NFC also enables the mobile wallet that
proves a simple, effective and secure
personal payment solution in-flight and
allows passengers to receive coupons and
interact with NFC-enabled advertising.
Prescriptive analytics
Potential issues are identified early and the
right actions are executed early thanks to
the prescriptive analytics that analyzes
airplane diagnostics in real time then
suggests maintenance options and their
likely outcomes. This improvement in
the maintenance, repair and operations
(MRO) chain increases aircraft availability
and enhances customer experience by
reducing delays due to unexpected failures
in the aircraft’s systems.
Quantum cryptography
Quantum cryptography will help ensure
the security of high end transmissions
and assure secured interoperability and
collaboration for highly sensitive data.
Self-adaptive security
As craft become more connected and
the threat of cybercrime increases. A new
generation of cybersecurity techniques is
being applied. Self-adaptive security helps
craft manufacturers and operations teams
on the ground look for evidence of specific
suspicious behaviors to anticipate threats.
Manufactures and airlines manage their
data and services securely in their private
clouds. Dynamic access control enabled by
self-adaptive security ensures staff, partners,
passengers and personnel have access to
the information and systems they need to
access, but only when they need it.
Semantic technologies
Semantic technologies enable the
integration of the diverse formats of data
that come from disparate connected
sources. They ensure analytics systems can
understand the meaning of the data they
process, whatever its format.
Streaming analytics
Embedded sensors within the inner
workings of the aircraft constantly stream
billions of pieces of information back to
its maker and airline crew on the ground.
Streaming analytics allows them to
analyze diagnostics and geo-location
information on the fly in real time. Inside
a military aircraft it enables electronic
intelligence systems to analyze radar in
real time to provide additional situational
awareness.
Virtual assistants
On-board or in-flight a virtual assistant
provides information on the destination,
arrivals and onward travel, and on the
products and services offered in-flight.
Interactive assistance improves customer
service by freeing up personnel to address
more specific questions and attend to
those passengers with more specific needs.
Wearable computing
Engineers porting wearables such as
smart glasses can, for example, view a new
design before even building a prototype.
Workers and maintenance engineers in the
production plant use them to gain hands
free access to the specific requirements for
the aircraft they’re currently assembling or
machine they’re currently fixing. Embedded
cameras relay pictures back to base to
record activities or tap into the insight of a
specialist engineer – who could be located
remotely, anywhere around the globe.
 Aerospace

Key Enablers in Aerospace

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3D printing Innovation Value Webs

Advanced data Internet of Things

visualization

Augmented reality IP networks

Near field
Autonomous vehicles
communication

Cloud Service
Prescriptive analytics
Integration

Context-rich systems Quantum cryptography

Cyber-physical systems Self-adaptive security

DevOps Semantic technologies

Distributed analytics Streaming analytics

High performance
Virtual assistants
computing

Industry 4.0 Wearable computing

technologies

Ascent Look Out 43

Market views

Automotive

Cars becoming autonomous

1.2 billion cars on the road computers on wheels

A car has, on average, 30,000 parts Non-automotive providing

automotive services
Up to 95% of retired automobiles are
Urbanization driving shared mobility
recycled
Electronics & software are 35% of auto
cost
P 95% of a car’s lifetime is spent parked

Key Market Challenges

Customer anywhere, at any time and on any device, Business

Experience
The age of constant connectivity and
easy access to information is redefining
the automotive sector. Social- and mobile-
empowered individuals expect more
from the vehicles and services they buy:
they expect them to be sophisticated
and tailored to their individual needs and
desires, yet robust and easy-to-use.
They also expect their automotive
experience to be equally stimulating
and personalized whether online, in the
dealership, in the service center or in
their vehicle. If brands don’t provide a
seamless experience that excites them at
every opportunity – from online search
through visiting the showroom and the
test drive to the driving experience and
post-sales services – they will simply turn
their attention elsewhere. Technology
giants, such as Apple, have responded by
developing solutions such as CarPlay to
help their automotive partners provide a
seamless modern experience outside and
inside their vehicles. These solutions, at
the same time, challenge vehicle makers’
ownership of their customers and market
position.
Automotive companies are increasing
their use of technology to better
understand the specific cultural, economic
and performance expectations of their
customers. The intelligence derived from
information customers share on social
media, within online customer portals
and from within their vehicles allows
organizations to engage with them more
individually than ever before – from
but particularly when they’re in the
dealership, service center or their vehicle.
This enhanced engagement is vital for
cultivating loyalty. After all, if the customer
experience is not managed properly along
the entire customer and vehicle lifecycle
and the vehicle maker or dealer is not close
to the customer when they’re thinking
about purchasing their next vehicle,
there’s a 60 to 70 percent chance that the
customer will look elsewhere.
This increased intelligence, coupled with
the connected vehicle, has unlocked some
great new opportunities for companies
to enhance their customers’ journey
experience and open up additional new
higher-value sources of revenue. OnStar,
just to mention one provider, makes finding
the way more convenient and safe through
its intimate knowledge of the driver and
his location. While these digital services
are improving customer retention in the
dealer network, digitization is also opening
the way for new sales channels that either
change the dealer’s value proposition or
leave them completely out of the loop.
Autonomous vehicles are fast becoming a
reality. They have the potential to transform
the lives of all of us but, in particular, those
with disabilities who are currently reliant on
others to get around. The success of these
vehicles depends, to some extent, on their
ability to provide a safe and comfortable
journey experience amidst increasingly
complex road situations. For this they will
have to rely not only on their own sensors,
but also on those of other vehicles. They
may even need to cooperate with each
other and the infrastructure rather than
make decisions solely on their own.
Reinvention
The connected vehicle also opens up
the opportunity for enhanced diagnostic
services, which remotely monitor the
vehicle in real time and resolve any issues
before they even arise. A leading tire
manufacture, for example, is providing
tires as-a-service on a pay-per-use basis for
commercial customers. Diagnostic data
about the vehicle and its tires is collected
along with information about vehicle usage.
This is then turned into a value-added
service for the fleet operator – a business
model beyond pure sales – that improves
fuel efficiency and helps to eliminate tire
failures.
Increasing urbanization and environmental
awareness and regulation are also opening
up opportunities for today‘s vehicle makers.
Services that enhance mobility within the
city by reducing pollution and congestion
or by making it easier to find a parking
spot, for example, are important for city
dwellers. Carpooling, where city dwellers
ditch their vehicles and instead purchase
mobility-as-a-service, offers another new
opportunity, while also posing a threat from
new players such as BlaBlaCar. Vehicle
makers are increasingly cashing in on this
alternative source of transport, offering
carpooling solutions in large cities instead
of only selling vehicles.
Carpooling business models are
particularly relevant for full electrical
vehicles (FEVs) in urban areas. Services,
which might be provided by fleet operators,
would impact the distribution grid: the
grid, on one hand, is the source of energy

44 #AscentLookOut

‘‘Vehicle and equipment makers are looking to unlock the full potential
of the unique intelligence gleaned from customers, dealerships and
connected vehicles by sharing relevant data with third-party partners.’’
Thilo Stieber
Vice President
Portfolio &
Innovation,
Manufacturing,
Retail & Transport
needed to re-charge their fleets; on the
other, fleet operators can help balance
the grid by providing distributed energy
storage devices. New legal frameworks
and technological approaches must be
developed to ensure the impact of the
integration of huge numbers of FEVs is low
and to ensure re-charging requirements are
fully understood.
New players, including electric vehicle
manufactures such as Tesla and Google
with its self-driving car, are driving
innovation in the industry. Disruptions
– from Google, Uber, Tesla and Zipcar,
for instance – are coming primarily from
software, internet and Big Data application
companies outside the traditional
automotive ecosystem. For traditional
players, alliances outside of the traditional
ecosystem of partners – collaborations with
software and electronics companies such
as Apple and Bosch – are critical for driving
novel innovations. Global co-creation
communities such as Local Motors might
also provide some unique inspiration.
Vehicle and equipment makers are looking
to unlock the full potential of the unique
intelligence gleaned from customers,
dealerships and connected vehicles by
sharing relevant data with third-party
partners, such as insurance companies.
This shared data could, for example,
provide the insight insurance companies
need to offer lower premiums to safe
drivers. Vehicle makers would receive a
referral fee for sharing that data.
In another example, data collected from
agricultural vehicles such as seeders,
harvesters, spreaders and sprayers, is
being sold onto farmers and the seed
manufacturer to help them make crops
more resistant to disease, increasing
the yield of the farmers. Data privacy
requirements are, naturally, respected.
Once simply a host for foreign players,
China’s role within the automotive market is
also transforming. Chinese vehicle makers
are evolving from mass manufacturers to
creative innovators while increasing their
footprint on the global stage. As a result,
European vehicle makers are rethinking
their positioning for many markets.
Operational
Excellence
Vehicle makers are increasingly building
factories closer to where end user demand
is to help them meet local regulatory
requirements, such as the local content
regulations reflected in high customs
import fees. Vehicle makers overcome
these regulations and lack of trained
workforce needed to build entire cars by
implementing Semi & Complete Knock-
Down (SDK & CDK) approaches.
In China, vehicle makers are forced to enter
into joint ventures with local vehicle makers
to gain access to the fast growing Chinese
market – an approach which needs to be
managed properly to ensure a proper IPR
management. It's also helping them tailor
products to local desires and minimize
customs charges. Automotive parts
suppliers are, in turn, increasingly aligning
their production footprint with their key
customers.
Both global- and local-sourcing schemes
are enabling the more global and more
Automotive
flexible production network that allows
automotive companies to respond
more rapidly to the changing business
environment. It does, however, require an
intelligent global supply chain network
management with enhanced risk
management.
Shorter product lifecycles, higher
integration of electronics and increased
customization has increased complexity
in the product, its manufacture and the
supply chain. The increasing complexity
of components and the use of more
advanced technologies for sensors and
actuators, wireless communication,
and multicore processors pose a major
challenge for building next-generation
vehicle control systems, for example. Both
the supplier and integrator need new
systems science that enables reliable and
cost-effective integration of independently
developed system components. The
proliferation of the digital design and
development process, which now also
includes the production lifecycle and
aftersales, will allow vehicle makers to make
much better trade-offs.
Automotive makers are increasingly
leveraging manufacturing intelligence
to optimize production in response to
individual customer requirements. Fully
autonomous production chains reconfigure
automatically for each individual product
according to its individual design
parameters. Initiatives such as Industry 4.0
are aiming to provide the technological
foundation to enable automotive
companies to provide these personalized
products in an efficient way.
The connected vehicle will help vehicle
makers address one of the top challenges
Ascent Look Out 45
Automotive
of current times. The ability to make remote
updates will not only reduce recall costs, it
will help them improve the product over
its life time as a basis for an enhanced
customer experience and foundation for
product and business innovation.
Trust and
Compliance
Trust and compliance represents the
foundation for customer experience and
business reinvention.
Growing environmental awareness and
stricter regulations, for example around
CO2 emissions, have elevated the demand
for more fuel efficient vehicles. New lighter
weight carbon-fiber materials increase the
overall efficiency of new vehicle models
while giving designers greater freedom.
Meanwhile, innovations through ADAS
(Advanced Driver Assistance Systems)
electronics allow a safer driving experience.
The pan European eCall regulation, for
example, requires SIM cards in all new
EU vehicles models from April 2018
and, as such, is envisaged as an enabler
for the connected vehicle and local
regulations, such as the Russian ERA-
46 #AscentLookOut
GLONASS regulation, are on their way. Both
regulations will see vehicles automatically
dial emergency services in the event of
a serious accident – even if the driver is
unconscious.
Other new innovations, such as the
autonomous vehicle, are opening up some
still grey areas when it comes to regulation
and liability. For example, can the sole
passenger in an autonomous vehicle –
bearing in mind it has no driver – legally
be intoxicated? Insurers have already
started to analyze the liability situation in
each country because of different local
liability concepts. Independent of any
legal challenges, the race to become the
first vehicle manufacturer to offer a fully
autonomous vehicle driving is already on.
Whilst advancing at an incredible speed,
the automotive industry may also be losing
the consumer’s trust. Electronics are driving
up prices, shorting product lifecycles and
increasing complexity. Whilst the ‘smart’
on board software has also lead to higher
defect rates for new vehicle models,
the Volkswagen ‘diesel-gate’ emissions
scandal has inconvenienced millions of
customers with recalls and higher running
costs, damaging the entire brand with a
significant impact on sales.
As vehicles become smarter and more
connected, manufacturers must also shield
customer data and essential resources
from the threat of cyber-crime. A team
of researchers conducted an experiment
that simulated a Jeep being hacked by
an invisible, virtual force. Vents blew out
cold air, the radio switched channel and
the wipers came on before the hackers
revealed themselves on the vehicle’s digital
display.
Cyber security and the protection it
offers against criminals, hackers and even
terrorists are fundamental to maintaining
customer trust. After all, customers will only
offer the data that is critical to new service-
based business models to companies they
trust. Companies must also ensure they
comply with data protection regulations
and policies – from the factory all the
way to the dealership until the end of the
product lifecycle.
 Automotive

Autonomous vehicles

Mainstream
5G networks Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging

Machine learning

Cloud Service Integration

Streaming
analytics Virtual assistants
Cyber-physical Advanced data visualization
3D printing systems
High performance
computing Prescriptive analytics

Wearable
computing Distributed
analytics
Gamification
Internet of
Things Embedded Self-adaptive security
sensors
Augmented
Machine-to- reality
machine Sentiment Haptic technologies
Gesture recognition
Near field analytics
communication
2016 2017 2018 2019+
© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers As both consumers and producers of

3D printing
After tailoring their vehicle interior to
maximize personal comfort or exterior to
give it a unique look and feel 3D printing
technologies build a vehicle that meets
their exact requirements. As early adopters
of rapid prototyping, the automotive
industry undoubtedly has more 3D printing
or additive manufacturing applications
than most other sectors. Initially used
for creating light weight body panels, 3D
printing is also extremely useful for parts
departments. 3D printers quickly print the
parts they need so they can get on with
fixing a fault without any delay.
5G networks
Leap forward a couple of years and
electric connected vehicles with their 4G/
LTE networking and on-board diagnostics
would be a familiar sight on our roads.
information, these smart vehicles will soon
benefit from the improved network speed
and availability offered by 5G networks.
With 5G (or even 4G) technology available
in the vehicle, vehicles can connect to the
internet independently of the driver or
passenger mobile phone to utilize in-vehicle
apps.
Advanced data visualization
Using high-end 3D visualization
technologies early in the design and
engineering phases streamlines product
development and launch processes by
leveraging lifelike digital models. Digital
content generated during the design and
development stages could be reused
for marketing needs. Vehicle buyers use
this technology to help them customize
their own vehicle design. Immersive 3D
visualization technology provides them
with a 360° view of their personalized
vehicle. But vehicle buyers want to
experience how the vehicle they're buying
feels too.
Augmented reality
Augmented reality has been enhancing
safety and comfort for some time. A
‘heads-up’ augmented windscreen
display highlights pedestrians and other
potential hazards, forward collision and
lane departure warnings, speed limit
and navigation information, and correct
following distance and speed information,
for example. Augmented reality glasses
provide directions to the parked vehicle,
nearby points-of-interests or empty parking
spaces and receive projections from rear
cameras to assist in parking.
Autonomous vehicles
The autonomous vehicle is a classic
example of a cyber-physical system where
computing and communication systems
interact with large physical systems.
Advanced computing capabilities used

Ascent Look Out 47

Automotive
information provided by embedded
sensors to guide the vehicle safely along
the highway.
Cloud Service Integration
The extended services offered by
vehicle makers are provided through
the cloud. A service combines historical
data collected from a vehicle with a
weather service and a GIS service using
Cloud Service Integration to optimize a
vehicle’s performance and minimize fuel
consumption on a specific road surface in
specific weather conditions, for example.
Cyber-physical systems
Around the manufacturing plant,
sophisticated cyber-physical systems
(CPS) monitor and control the physical
environment to improve performance and
safety. Localized sensing helps identify
issues with machinery performance
and reliability, while communication
technologies send machines instructions
for the next bespoke assembly.
Distributed analytics
Behind the scenes streaming analytics and
HPC analyze millions of events in real time,
with distributed analytics in combination
with HPC supporting vital forensic analysis
after an incident is detected.
Embedded sensors
Embedded sensors within the inner
workings of the vehicle constantly stream
billions of pieces of information back to
its maker and data subscribers. This vast
amount of data needs to be managed and
processed to provide invaluable insight.
Gamification
Learner drivers are leveraging gamification
(application of game playing elements
to other activities) to experience real life
driving scenarios. It provides the real life
simulations that enable them to learn to
manage diverse situations on real roads.
Gesture recognition
Inside the vehicle gesture recognition
plays an important role in ensuring safety
in the connected vehicle. For example, a
driver can use gestures to signal to the
satnav to locate the nearest gas station or
charging point. Hand-gesture based user
interfaces (UIs) in vehicles can lower visual
and cognitive distraction, and can improve
safety and comfort.
Haptic technologies
Wearable haptic technologies allow buyers
to open the door, feel how the controls
48 #AscentLookOut
function and even experience a trip in
their new purchase before it even starts its
journey on the manufacturing line. Haptics
– along with gamification technologies –
can also be found in dealerships where
it allows potential buyers to experience
vehicle models not on show. Sensors
integrated with haptics gives drivers the
warnings they need to avoid mistakes and
accidents. Haptics also help in opening
up new human machine interface (HMI)
options for the driver, increasing driver
comfort, as well as an enhanced console
and dashboard feedback.
High performance computing
Big Data and advanced analytics powered
by high performance computing (HPC)
allow manufacturers to combine their own
data with data from external cloud-based
environments, for example to combine
their internal vehicle information with data
on government emission limits.
Internet of Things
Part of the Internet of Things (IoT), vehicles
are contributing to a picture of traffic flow
and weather maps. Information coming
from them is combined with intelligence
gleaned from social media, meteorologists
and a wealth of other sources to create
an intelligent traffic system that warns
all drivers of adverse traffic or weather
conditions. The IoT also combines the
connected vehicle with, for example, the
connected home from where in-vehicle
heating or air conditioning and more can
be controlled.
Machine learning
Machine learning ensures the vehicle
takes advantage of new situations to
enhance safety and performance. These
technologies are also being used in the
specific engine components to improve
performance and reduce emissions.
Machine-to-machine
Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-
infrastructure communication based on
machine-to-machine (M2M) technology
allow vehicles – and their passengers
– to interact with each other and the
surrounding environment. A vehicle might
automatically alert the vehicle behind that
it's about to park up or receive a warning
from traffic lights that they're about to
turn red, for instance. Equally passengers
travelling together but in separate vehicles
can keep in contact, so they know exactly
where each other is and when they’re
about to make a turning.
Near field communication
Connectivity within the vehicle includes
the wireless integration of the growing
number of consumer devices. Drivers
and passengers can connect their own
personal laptops, tablets, smartphones and
other mobile devices with the vehicle using
Bluetooth and near field communication
(NFC) technologies to receive consumer-
oriented services such as infotainment,
navigation and telematics.
NFC also facilitates driver identification
for personalization, allowing drivers and
passengers to unlock their doors, adjust
their seating position and even pay for
tolls and parking. Engine control unit (ECU)
parameters are optimized to the individual
driver’s profile to increase the energy
efficiency of the vehicle.
Prescriptive analytics
Potential issues are identified early and
the right suggestions are executed thanks
to the predictive analytics that analyze
vehicle diagnostics in real time and the
prescriptive analytics that suggest
maintenance options and their likely
outcomes. Vehicle makers use these
suggestions within the extended services
they offer vehicle owners, who can select
which options they want to take. These
services ensure any potential problems are
identified and fixed before they escalate.
Self-adaptive security
As the threat of cybercrime increases,
self-adaptive security looks for evidence
of specific suspicious behaviors to help
vehicle makers anticipate threats.
Vehicle makers manage their data and
services securely in their private clouds.
Dynamic access control ensures owners
and employees have access to the
information and systems they need to
access, but only when they need it.
Sentiment analytics
Vehicle makers have been employing
social media and social network analytics
to understand general customer needs for
some time. This allows them to sharpen
their insight on trends in color or feature
preferences, for example, and gather
intelligence on how customers view their
brand. An advanced view of negative
sentiment provided by sentiment analytics
ensures that they're prepared before any
potentially reputation-damaging waves hit.
 Automotive

Streaming analytics
Vehicle makers are using streaming
analytics to analyze geo-location
information on the fly in real time. This
allows them to offer fleet owners a service
that provides a comprehensive, up-to-the-
minute view on the location of all their
assets and enables insurance premium and
‘Pay as you Drive’ calculations.
Virtual assistants
There are so many options available and so
many choices to make when customizing
a vehicle. Buyers want to know which
type of steering wheel would best suit
their driving style, the difference between
the diverse pedal types and more. Virtual
assistants that can make themselves
available anywhere and at any time help to
provide the answers. They’re even popping
up in dealerships, helping to excite potential
buyers around new features and models.
Wearable computing
This technology is enhancing design
and manufacturing processes. Engineers
sporting wearables view a new design
before even building a prototype. Workers
and maintenance engineers in the
production plant use digital glasses to gain
access to specific requirements for the
vehicle they’re currently assembling or
machine they’re currently fixing hands-free.
In addition, wearable wristbands worn by
drivers and passengers can communicate
with the vehicle they’re in.

Key Enablers in Automotive

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High performance
3D printing computing

5G networks Internet of Things

Advanced data
Machine learning
visualization

Augmented reality Machine-to-machine

Near field
Autonomous vehicles
communication

Cloud Service
Prescriptive analytics
Integration

Cyber-physical systems Self-adaptive security

Distributed analytics Sentiment analytics

Embedded sensors Streaming analytics

Gamification Virtual assistants

Gesture recognition Wearable computing

Haptic technologies

Ascent Look Out 49

Market views

Banking

$
FinTechs disaggregating banking value Machine learning will disrupt 40% of
chain banking roles
Banks offering banking and non- FinTechs investing $12 billion in
banking products banking tech innovations
Programmable APIs key to embedding Business model shifted to customer
new products 360° personalized banking
11 top investment banks in Blockchain
Cyber insecurity a threat to business
proof of concept

Key Market Challenges

Customer concierge services that help with

Experience
People today are accustomed to
instant, accessible, intuitive, informative
and engaging experiences on their
smartphones – and they expect banks
to deliver similarly user-centric services.
This means that consumers want to be
able to pay everywhere and anytime for
any purpose. In other words, they expect
payment services to fit their personal
lifestyle. With a growing percentage of
Retail banking payment transactions
across developed countries initiated from
such devices, banks cannot ignore their
customers’ expectations.
Though banks were quick to launch
their banking apps for their clients'
smartphones, they were slow to deliver the
innovative services needed to tailor their
payment services to fit their clients’ needs.
Other players (mostly from the Fintech
community, but also Google and Apple)
now dominate that market. Users are not
far from asking Siri or Google Now about
their bank account balance. They only
need to declare their bank accounts – just
like any other messaging account – in their
smartphones to make it happen.
Customers also expect their banking
services to bring tangible benefit to the
way they organize their lives. Customers
with impairments, in particular, appreciate
simple and straightforward solutions that
raise their productivity and satisfaction.
In response, banks are starting to offer
new value-added services on top of
bank accounts, such as personal lifestyle
everything from organizing loans to
booking theatre tickets or counselling. To
deliver these highly personalized services
effectively, banks need customers to share
personal information above and beyond
transactional and credit profiles.
As mobile transactions rise, Retail banks
are cutting branch numbers. In the
UK, for example, branch numbers are
expected to drop from 8,000 in 2015
to 5,200 by 2020, and 3,400 by 2025.
Banks are, however, investing in making
their remaining branches more appealing
and part of a true omni-channel banking
experience, delivering key added value
that smartphones are hard pressed to
replace. These future branch models will
include flagship branches, manned advice
centers, convenience service centers, full
service branches and fully automated
remote branches. Face-to-face interaction
will continue for complex or sensitive issues
such as investment advice, bankruptcy and
bereavement, with in-home consultations
reemerging and bank tellers becoming
personal financial consultants.
SME, Commercial and Corporate banking
and Financial Markets, meanwhile, are
increasingly leveraging communications
technologies to enrich their remote
interactions with customers. Customers
expect to be able to interact seamlessly
across different devices and between the
real and virtual worlds. Interactions will
remain relatively specialized in each sub-
vertical – particularly Financial Markets.
For Commercial and Corporate banking,
the days where relationship managers
had to search through a multitude of
independent desktop apps to find the
information they needed will soon be gone.
Proprietary information is now being put to
good use; the vital intelligence derived from
it now available at their fingertips, through
specialist treasury apps, for example.
This plays into the trend that sees
treasurers’ role shift from ‘control’ to
‘predict’, driven by increased efforts from
corporates to repatriate cash through
centralization of the corporate’s financial
activities. Regulations such as SEPA and
Basel III are key enablers for this trend
and technology has risen to the challenge
through virtual account solutions. As
centralization makes treasury easier, the
treasurer has his hands free to think about
the future.
Business
Reinvention
The political and regulatory agenda is
encouraging new entrants and increasing
competition. Designed to make cross-
border payments more efficient and open
up the payments market to new entrants,
the European Commission’s second
Payment Services Directive (PSD2), for
example, will require banks to implement
secure APIs to make account transactions
and data available to third parties (Access
to the Account or XS2A). Retail banks that
don’t digitize rapidly may miss out on
transactional income as payments pass
by unseen; those that invest aggressively
in digital transformation can open new
revenue streams by becoming the
reference aggregator or end-to-end service
provider for payments, account information
and value-added services.

50 #AscentLookOut

Kuldip Chiheru Michael Davison
Global Financial Industry Principal,
Services - Strategic Financial Services
GTM Head
Simultaneously, new digital-only players
are already disrupting the Retail banking
market. These challenger banks are
expected to take 15 percent of prime
personal and business accounts. One of
their key success factors is their more
convenient digital interfaces – such as
‘push of a button’ account opening and
management, possibly even across regions.
As for non-bank competition, these Fintech
players are native digital innovators and
will push banks to their limits in an attempt
to keep up with their pace. We have yet to
see how traditional banks will react to the
competition. They can choose to compete,
collaborate or buy, but the XS2A regulation
means dismissing them is no longer an
option.
Incumbents still have very old-style
service provision philosophies, with some
exceptions, but if they're to thrive they may
have to change how business is conducted,
how innovation is conducted and what
types of service they offer their customers.
As they strive to transform their business
models and keep pace with new players,
open innovation labs are providing the
ideal environment for banks to create new
digital services. New ideas and concepts
from new partners accelerate banks’ ability
to respond to the demands of now. Open
innovation labs allow banks to bring all the
digital skills they need under one roof in
exchange for facilities, a network or even
some financial investment.
Banks might even consider creating new
offerings that reflect alternative credit
products – such as crowdfunding, peer-to-
peer, private equity and digital currency
– or develop new strategic lines of business
focused on personal concierge services,
for example. These value-added services
€
Banking
‘‘With all their ‘know your customer’ procedures
and digital banking efforts, Retail banks are ideally
placed to provide the trusted digital identity
frameworks that are vital to the digital economy.’’
would be developed as entirely new vertical banking and credit risk management, will
technology stacks. grow as strategic lines of business for new
entrants.
With all their ‘know your customer’
procedures and digital banking efforts,
Retail banks are also ideally placed Operational
to provide the trusted digital identity Excellence
frameworks that are vital to the digital
economy. Instead of storing their
customers’ personal and financial data
With no legacy infrastructure, new
with the risks that this data might be
challenger banks are more agile and
stolen, companies and governments
have significantly lower operating costs.
alike would contact the bank to get that
Digital-only banks, for example, expect a
data. This would see banks compete with
cost-to-income ratio of below 30 percent
the technology players, but they may be
– substantially lower than traditional retail
helped by local regulations that would
banks’ 40 to 60 percent. Inefficiencies
prefer relying on local trusted partners.
mean the cost of regulation, for example,
Banks in the Nordics already play a key role
is now equivalent to between three and
in digital identity management.
five percent of return on equity. Capital
provision regulations in particular have
Connected data ecosystems will enable
made some lines of business unprofitable.
other new personalized products
and services. The connected home,
Retail and Corporate banking are
for example, will allow banks to offer
leveraging digital technologies to make
customers loans without the customer
straight through transaction processing
having to fill in long forms: the home
and exception processing more efficient.
ecosystem provides all the details the
Digital is also helping to make account
bank needs about the applicant and the
opening faster, more secure and more
property. Banks have already taken a step
responsive. Digitized account servicing,
in this direction by forming a consortium
meanwhile, increases transparency and
to share ‘know your customer’ risk-scoring
reduces cost by providing customers with
data using the SWIFT payments network.
all the tools and information they need to
Such consortia are vital for ensuring such
manage their own accounts.
data comes only from secure and reliable
sources.
Transactional digital services companies
are prime targets for acquisition. Retail
Future banking business models around
banks are employing high volume services
investment and capital will be focused
such as international, forex, digital currency
on the front office and include product
instruments and others, while initially
development and customer acquisition,
retaining equivalent legacy capabilities.
with industrial-scale partners or utilities
Banks are also selectively acquiring or
providing back office non-core processes.
investing in payment services providers.
Major bank’s utility services, including
customer on-boarding, transactional
Ascent Look Out 51
Banking
The European Payment Service Directive
dictated that transfers should not take
longer than one business day at a time
when banks were trying to optimize
holding cash. Recent low, or even negative,
interest rates are a disincentive for parking
money or bank-to-bank investments. Banks
are instead using the cash for providing
industry or consumer credits.
Around the globe, in the UK payment
processing schemes (including BACS,
CHAPS and Faster Payments) have been
ring-fenced and reconstituted as public
limited companies following Payment
System Regulator (PSR) regulatory
intervention. In Continental Europe, local
schemes owned by banks are fighting for
their survival against international payment
schemes, primarily Visa and MasterCard. In
China and Brazil, dominant local schemes
(China Union Pay, Claro) are partly or
completely owned by the state. In Africa
and some parts of Asia, new payment
schemes based on mobile money are
emerging.
Corporate banks are aiming to automate
90 percent of credit and saving operations
with straight through processing, with the
remaining 10 percent covering complex
exceptions. In Investment banking
operations, Securities Management is being
progressively digitized.
The emergence of Blockchain-based
business process proof of concepts for
complex multi-lateral financial market
transactions point to a radical consolidation
in the clearing and settlement value chain
bringing the benefits of real-time clearing
and settlement, all at a fraction of current
cost. However, scalability issues remain to
be solved at present.
Trust and
Compliance
Financial institutions have seen regulatory
standards, risk management and
compliance tightened significantly, with
52 #AscentLookOut
the volume and granularity of regulatory do shape up and deliver very high levels
reporting increased. Billions of euros of security, data protection and, above all,
in fines have already been applied by professional integrity will be rewarded with
regulators and government agencies. In continued loyalty from existing customers
response, financial institutions have shut and an influx of disgruntled customers
down or sold high risk business activities, from other financial institutions.
increased compliance staff numbers,
punished malpractice and communicated Some banks are even abandoning
the importance of professional values and strong authentication; reverting back
behavior. to usernames and passwords rather
than one-time passwords or multi-factor
Some banks have responded positively authentication when the purpose of
to the increased regulation, seeing it as authentication allows it. In the background
a source of competitive advantage. By profiling tools provide additional security
creating a single view of the truth, for measures that bind a device profile to a
example, they can respond to regulators, username.
the CEO and business units in real time,
reducing costs and using data as an Public pressure demanding transparency,
asset for better marketing, new product sustainability and ecologic commitment
development and reduced capital from banks will increase, leading them to
requirements. integrate these concerns in their processes
and review their investment and financing
Simultaneously, banks also have to deal strategies.
with a security environment that has
turned markedly more hostile and shows
every sign of continuing to be so. Today
criminals are targeting banks as much as
they're targeting consumers directly. There
are more and more attacks aiming at ATMs,
for example. Some countries have suffered
enormous breaches with high volumes
of credit cards stolen, such as the recent
attack on Experian. To guard against the
reputational damage seen with every major
data breach, banks are developing a highly
collaborative security communications
infrastructure aimed at countering and
neutralizing organized cybercrime and
interference from rogue state-sponsored
cyber warfare.
It follows that personal, commercial,
corporate and institutional customers
demand the very highest security
standards and practice from their banks to
protect sensitive personal and commercial
data. Security should be at the level of the
bank’s systems in their communication
with customer’s personal digital devices.
Banks that don’t shape up will lose their
client’s trust and, consequently, a lot of
business and they can also expect to be
subject to punitive damages. Banks that
 €
Banking

Mainstream
Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging

Cloud Service Integration

Blockchain Virtual
smart contracts assistants
Edge computing

Internet of Programmable open APIs Advanced data

Things visualization
Machine learning

Advanced Next Gen digital personal financial management

quantitative analytics Augmented reality
High performance computing Web-scale computing
Semantic technologies
Streaming analytics Wearable
computing Distributed
Hybrid cloud Digital Wallet analytics
Context-rich systems
DevOps Software-defined technologies

Self-adaptive security
Beacons Robotics
Sentiment analytics
2016 2017 2018 2019+
© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers hands of the corporate treasurer, who is

Advanced data visualization
Kiosks found within the next generation
of branches incorporate interactive videos
and remote digital branches brought
to life by immersive 3D visualization
technologies. The images produced by
360° cameras help the support team
engage with the customer, who may be
looking to buy product and services as well
as seek help or access concierge services.
Advanced quantitative analytics
Advanced quantitative analytics are
redefining relationships in Commercial
and Corporate banking. Delivered to
relationship managers' desktops, 3D
visualization technologies provide an
end-to-end view of financial data, from
where the manager can drill down to
find the detailed information they require.
These advanced tools are also now in the
employing them to optimize cash flow
(amongst other things) in real time within
a dynamic environment of ever-changing
rates.
Augmented reality
Smart glasses – with their augmented
reality capabilities – keep customers
connected and informed wherever they
are. By blurring real and virtual world they
allow customers to engage with their
bank and access bank services within
the context of their current environment,
talking face-to-face with an intelligent avatar
sat alongside them in their living room, for
example.
Beacons
In the branch beacons allow an appropriate
member of the bank branch staff to
discreetly see when a priority customer
walks into the bank and identify any
accessibility needs that customer may
have.
Blockchain
Blockchain will be the driver for innovation
in new, permissioned private, public-ledger
asset products that intrinsically embed
enhanced security. In addition, it might
significantly transform the way regulation
and auditing is performed. Open ledger
businesses are likely to develop faster
in the peer-to-peer payments areas with
transactions being more bi-lateral and
simpler.
Cloud Service Integration
Wholesale and Retail banks are migrating
to the cloud on a large scale for all their
non-financial support functions, including
marketing, customer management, human
resources and risk, to reduce capital
requirement and increase agility. Cloud
Service Integration is playing a key role

Ascent Look Out 53

Banking
in helping banks combine operational
processes and technology platforms.
Combining business processes in the cloud
not only helps cut cost for payments, loans,
credit checking and more, it also enables
the next generation of automation that
improves efficiency and cuts cost further
still.
Context-rich systems
The customer expects their dialog with the
bank to be relevant and engaging. Context-
rich systems evolve the conversation
based on anything from the customer’s
current products and any chancing
circumstances discussed during the
dialogue to local or even seasonal trends.
These systems consolidate intelligence
from diverse systems to proactively
anticipate each user’s individual needs.
DevOps
Combining software-defined technologies
with DevOps development processes
will allow banks to swiftly embrace next-
generation platforms and delivery options
– and progressively move to web-scale
computing – without abandoning current
infrastructure investments.
Digital wallets
Embedded in customers' smartphones,
digital wallets are becoming increasingly
popular. Their contactless technology
allows banks to offer their customers an
extremely convenient payment solution.
Distributed analytics
Distributed analytics in combination with
high performance computing supports vital
forensic analysis after any cybersecurity
incident, helping to quickly identify where
the attack started, who is behind it and how
it was carried out.
Edge computing
Banks are increasingly taking advantage
of a viable ecosystem of compute, storage
and networking services made available
through edge computing. Processing
critical data near to its source brings
affordable scale to their computationally-
intensive analytics.
High performance computing
Corporate and Investment banks are
leveraging high performance computing
and deep predictive analytics of massive
datasets to optimize performance. While
structurally little has changed, quantitative
skills have become even more highly
prized as interpreting the analysis becomes
both more critical and more complex.
54 #AscentLookOut
Hybrid cloud
Hybrid cloud has grown in popularity with
banks finding its flexibility, cost, capacity,
security and performance appealing.
They're starting to invest in ever larger
scale migrations to cloud programs, which
we anticipate will dominate the next five to
seven years.
Internet of Things
Wearable devices are just one example of
the vast array of data sources that together
make up the Internet of Things (IoT). By
combining data from these sensors with
data stored in customer and product
databases, insight from social media and
other sources, IoT provides banks with an
opportunity to understand their customers
more deeply than ever before. That
better understanding of each customer’s
behaviors and desires means they can
respond to customer needs more rapidly.
Machine learning
Assisted Personal Financial management
will soon, for the first time, be within reach
of the ordinary personal banking customer.
Applications on smartphones and
wearables that provide the intelligent, user-
centric dialogue they need to help them
work through their financial challenges
– however great or small – will become
available as early as 2016, be widespread
by 2018 and mature by 2020. Behind them
advanced machine learning algorithms
such as deep learning interpret their
needs and aspirations. More sophisticated
Fraud and Financial Crime solutions are
using machine learning approaches to
detect fraud events with a higher degree
of accuracy and enable action to be taken
more rapidly to limit losses.
Next-Generation personal financial
management
Leading Personal Financial Management
(PFM) solutions now go beyond simply
aggregating, analyzing and presenting data
on a customer’s personal financial product
holdings. In the EU, PSD2 will accelerate
adoption of PFM solutions in 2016-18.
Programmable open APIs
Banks’ legacy IT estates are too complex
and expensive to replace in total. Paths
to modernization therefore now include
deploying Application Programming
Interfaces (APIs) to enable data to be
made available for many different purposes
in a standardized manner, reducing
development time and cost and enabling
improved operational agility.
Robotics
Cognitive machine learning, natural
language processing and robotics
also automate middle office contract
administration and customer, with
intervention from highly skilled humans
only required for complex exception
management. The Bank of Tokyo-
Mitsubishi UFJ introduced its first robot
member of staff at its flagship Tokyo outlet:
a humanoid customer service robot to
respond to customer questions.
Self-adaptive security
Banks are taking a proactive security
approach to preventing cyberattacks.
Trusted probes are being deployed
within secure environments to look for
evidence of specific suspicious behaviors.
Self-adaptive security helps institutions
anticipate threats. Behind the scenes
streaming analytics and high performance
computing analyze millions of events in
real time.
Semantic technologies
Enterprise-strength semantic technologies
are helping banks to integrate the silos of
financial and operational risk management,
internal audit, fraud, forensics, training
and compliance management. Behind
the scenes the semantic technologies
are enabling these intelligent systems to
understand the relationships within and
across data. Banks and payment services
providers are less likely to suffer at the
hands of fraudsters, hackers and, as a
consequence, their regulators.
Sentiment analytics
Social media is one of the streams
feeding into the data lakes in which
financial institutions can find the key
information needed to build personalized
products and services for their customers.
Sentiment analytics are helping them
manage their reputation and adapts their
communications.
Software-defined technologies
Flexible software-defined technologies
have transformed operations at many
levels. For example, IT infrastructure, such
as data centers and network resources and
security can be optimized and delivered as
a service. These virtualized environments
have accelerated time for market for new
offerings and new business models.
Streaming analytics
Wealth managers and investments banks
are also extending their leadership in the
analytics space, particularly around real-
 €
Banking

time streaming analytics. The spread of
this type of high performance computing
to trading is already leading to an increase
in margins.
Virtual assistants
Banks are leveraging virtual assistants
to enable customers to have intelligent
dialogue with the solution; understand and
assess options available to them; obtain
in-context information from trusted third
party sources in real time and facilitate
productive discussions with appropriately
qualified customer advisors.
Wearable computing
The explosion of sensory data from
personal wearables, amongst other things,
is driving the creation of new value chains.
These very personal devices do more
than simply open up new insight into
customers; they provide a new channel for
banks to engage with customers in exciting
ways. For instance, banks engaging with
customers through their health tracker
might reward them for improving their
fitness levels.
Web-scale computing
Banks are progressing toward web-
scale computing with its highly scalable,
inexpensive open source-based hardware,
integrated computer resources and
self-healing capabilities. Its operational
simplicity allows departments to be more
agile while optimizing investments.

Key Enablers in Banking

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Advanced data
visualization Internet of Things

Advanced quantitative
analytics Machine learning

Next Gen digital personal

Augmented reality
financial management

Programmable open
Beacons
APIs

Blockchain Robotics

Cloud Service
Self-adaptive security
Integration

Context-rich systems Semantic technologies

DevOps Sentiment analytics

Digital wallets Software-defined

technologies

Distributed analytics Streaming analytics

Edge computing Virtual assistants

High performance
Wearable computing
computing

Hybrid cloud Web-scale computing

Ascent Look Out 55

Market views

Chemicals

Future growth mainly from developing Global markets to grow 20% in next 20
markets years

Raw material costs are volatile Asian players will own 2/3 of the
market by 2030
Growing health & environmental Nearly 60% more EU regulations than
concerns in 2008
Chemical plants vulnerable to cyber- Average chemical company spends
attacks 8% of sales on investments

Key Market Challenges

Customer
Experience
In today’s increasingly competitive
landscape, chemical companies of all types
will benefit from a better understanding of
the needs, desires and behaviors of their
diverse customers: both B2C and B2B, and
including wholesalers, distributors and
downstream manufacturers.
Take, for example, the specialty flavor,
perfume and food additive chemical
companies that aim to delight the senses of
the end user. To do this they must connect
directly with the consumer to understand
how molecular level changes result in taste
or visual sensations.
Companies that already touch the
consumer directly – for example paint
manufacturers – would benefit from
deepening those relationships. After all,
new opportunities in the B2B2C space are
increasing their competitive advantage and
boosting their share of revenue.
Some companies are even establishing
themselves as a brand for end customers.
Their modern virtual and physical stores
offer a rich, personalized shopping
experience that engages and excites the
consumer around the brand.
These consumers expect a seamless and
integrated experience across all channels,
whether for pricing, return policies, stock
availability or anything else. Ensuring a
virtual brand experience aligned with the
in-store brand experience and standardized
across their online presence is important
for building trust, which – in turn – helps
increase loyalty and repeat business.
Customer experience, on the other hand,
is not conventionally a driver for traditional
bulk chemicals such as salt or chlorine
since the properties of these products
cannot be changed. Here, delivering a
great (primarily B2B) customer experience
is about delivering a great service against
the lowest possible price. This is particularly
true when it comes to providing timely
access to specifics around the chemical
product: its properties and approved usage,
safe handling, potential hazards and more.
This information helps researchers and
decision-makers identify materials that
might improve how their own products
are manufactured or even facilitate the
development of new products.
Business
Reinvention
When commoditization erodes profitability,
bulk chemical companies customarily
focus on building market leadership
through acquisitions and tightening
their core business through divestments.
Specialty chemicals companies, on the
other hand, invest significantly (more than
the three percent industry average) in R&D
to develop new products and to better
rationalize an often complex portfolio of
products that is costly to maintain on a
global scale.
Globalization, meanwhile, continues to
drive restructuring in mature markets,
where business models, organizational
structures and information systems are
evolving to align with the new structures. In
developing markets, meanwhile, companies
are investing in new plants and research
facilities close to the local market. Very
strong competitor knowledge is essential
for enabling an agile business response to
challenges in both mature and emerging
markets.
Some companies are operating a variety
of business models around the globe, with
each model specifically tailored to its own
specific market. Choice of model is critical
in each region as it impacts future growth
potential and profitability. In some regions
their business model may be aligned to
low-cost products that cater for the mass
market while in others it may be aligned to
specialist products, for example.
China is still the largest growing bulk
chemicals market in the world. A slowdown
in the market, however, has led to
overcapacity, making for a tough market
over the next few years. But despite an
ailing economy and slowing manufacturing
industry – and the tragic loss of life
following the explosion of a chemical
warehouse in Tianjin – Western companies
continue to see China as the key market in
Asia.
In a globalized world, where the pace of
change is ever increasing, reducing product
innovation time-to-market is critical to
sustaining profitability. Companies cannot
afford to waste money and resources on
innovations that are not going to fly; they
need a rapid return on their investments.
This requires tighter management of new
product ideation, with stronger moderation
early in the product lifecycle to simplify
process complexity and separate the wheat
from the chaff.

56 #AscentLookOut

‘‘Some companies are even establishing themselves as a brand for
end customers. Their modern virtual and physical stores offer a rich,
personalized shopping experience that engages and excites the
consumer around the brand.’’
Marcus Muehling
Vice President Global
Market Leader
Chemicals, Metals &
Mining
As chemical companies increase the
amount of data they hold on their
customers, they will explore how they
could leverage these ever-growing volumes
to open up new revenue streams. Insight
borne out of the data will help them tailor
their new services to provide optimal value
to their customers and buy their loyalty.
They might leverage their knowledge on
the approved usage, safe handling and
potential hazards of their chemical to offer
services that support hazardous materials
handling, for example.
Operational
Excellence
Bulk chemical companies traditionally
invest in larger and more efficient
manufacturing to drive down the cost of
production when margins begin to shrink.
As well as driving innovation to enable
more efficient and flexible manufacturing,
leading companies are driving down
that cost by establishing trust and a
common language for sharing best
practice effectively between their global
manufacturing plants.
The average chemical company spends
eight percent of sales on investments such
as new plants in the continual struggle
to reduce the cost of production. The
challenge is to safely design a much larger
factory that will perform to specification.
Mergers and demergers have resulted
in a wealth of legacy systems. These
need supply chains and technologies to
be integrated or rationalized. Transport
management, energy expenditure, capacity
bottle-necks are all possible targets.
Chemical companies are benefitting from
integrating key areas of their business,
including product and service innovation,
manufacturing operations excellence,
global supply chain management and
customer loyalty and brand equity.
Integrated Manufacturing solutions that
enable smooth integration across the entire
value chain (from shop floor to top floor)
will soon combine production planning
(ERP) and Manufacturing Execution
Systems (MES).
These solutions will become the key
enabler in companies’ everyday toolkit.
Until recently only the largest enterprises
have been actively striving to reach this
goal. While it does appear on the agendas
of smaller and more specialist chemical
companies, they have yet to give it their full
attention.
As companies rationalize their physical
assets – including manufacturing facilities
and vehicles – to reduce cost, proactive
maintenance programs that leverage
predictive maintenance and prescriptive
analytics are reducing outages and
maximizing the value derived from assets.
Potential issues are identified early so
remedial action can be taken before they
impact production.
Remote asset monitoring is also playing a
role in lowering cost. Chemical companies
can ensure assets are safe and operating
at peak performance without dispatching
senior personnel on costly excursions
across the globe.
Chemicals
Trust and
Compliance
Regulatory pressure and consumer
expectations are making compliance
and transparency a mandatory ‘license-
to-operate’ requirement for chemical
companies. They’re also driving
improvements in a number of areas
including health and safety, traceability
and carbon footprint. Near real-time
traceability over the entire supply chain, for
example, is critical for accelerating chemical
companies’ reaction to any unanticipated
event.
Both product and production facilities must
comply with the local regulations in each
country, which may include environmental
restrictions, health and security, waste
elimination and toxicity issues. These must
be complied with both when production is
centralized and the product is distributed
globally and when production facilities
are local – when it becomes difficult to
standardize in terms of raw material,
machines and processes.
Vital for helping build trust with consumers,
sustainability and carbon emissions have
become increasingly important in the
chemicals industry. Until recently, only
Western companies have been actively
striving to reduce emissions. Sustainability
is now rising up the agenda of BRIC
companies.
As well as increasing energy-efficiency
within processes, chemical companies
are increasingly turning to cleaner
technologies and recycling to help reduce
their emissions. By reducing their overall
Ascent Look Out 57
Chemicals

energy and raw material utilization and risk of it being lost or destroyed by mistake
waste generation, they're combining their increases – especially in mergers and
desire to be sustainable with their desire to acquisitions.
increase margins.

Proven data privacy protection tops

process manufacturing companies’ IT
agenda. But managing large amounts
of data securely is difficult – particularly
in the wake of mergers and demergers,
which have left a wealth of diverse legacy
systems.

Security governance may be virtually

impossible when there are multiple diverse
security policies in operation. This is
made all the more difficult when chemical
companies move into markets around
the globe where corruption is a reality.
To prevent data leaks, companies need
to implement data security consistently
across the company, rationalizing security
policies.

Data and information management is

particularly important when you consider
that the life of information in the chemical
industry is long. Details of why key
decisions were taken or research projects
dropped or adopted needs to keep in case
of legal cases decades into the future when
values are different. As more information
is kept digitally rather than on paper, the

58 #AscentLookOut

Prescriptive analytics
Internet of
Things
Innovation
Industry 4.0 Value Webs
technologies
Streaming
analytics
Wearable
computing
Robotics
Mobile and social
media apps
Sentiment analytics
2016
Key Enablers
3D printing
With plants located around the world, 3D
printing technologies reduce downtime
and shipping costs. Bespoke spare parts
can be quickly printed out whenever and
wherever they're required.
Advanced data visualization
Plant managers and shop-floor specialists
rely on the real-time intelligence provided
by streaming analytics to connect the dots
between what’s happening on the floor
and ever-changing operational, strategic
or customer requirements. To accelerate
decision-making, 3D visualization
technologies help workers interpret the
intelligence in next to no time.
Augmented reality
An increasing number of specialty chemical
companies will adopt a wide variety of
Cloud Service Integration
Advanced data visualization
Distributed analytics
Edge
High performance computing
computing
3D printing Self-adaptive security
Pattern-matching
technologies Intelligence amplification
Augmented reality
2017 2018
customer-facing technologies to engage
customers more deeply, while enhancing
customer service. Specialist paint stores
have deployed digital walls based on
augmented reality technologies. These
allow customers to mix their own colors
before ordering them.
Cloud Service Integration
Cloud computing is improving agility
across many parts of the business: from
idea and product lifecycle management
to manufacturing and supply chain
management. With more and more
systems now provided as a hosted service,
Cloud Service Integration reduces time to
market for new innovations by connecting
cloud-based services.
Cloud-based federated identity services
simplify the extension of identity and
access management across hosted
systems, particularly diverse systems
brought together by company mergers
Chemicals
Mainstream
Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging
2019+
© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.
and acquisitions. In the future trusted
information brokers will act as a central
verification service to avoid the need for
individual registration and authentication of
each cloud service.
Distributed analytics
In specialty companies, the drive to
understand end effects is long established.
The understanding of perception of taste,
smell and visual impact, for example, is
improved by more data and analytics.
Distributed analytics offers companies a
great opportunity to derive intelligence on
consumer preference from across multiple
diverse sources faster and more efficiently.
Edge computing
Now that product and manufacturing IT
systems no longer need to be located
within the plant, remote or temporary
plants can be deployed rapidly. Companies
are then employing edge computing to
quickly ramp up compute, storage and
Ascent Look Out 59
Chemicals

networking services locally whenever they
need them – ensuring computationally-
intensive smart factory initiatives are
scalable.
High performance computing
Computational chemistry suggests
possible options when developing
new materials that require specific
performance and properties, safety and
toxicity characteristics. Behind the scenes
advanced analytics combined with high
performance computing rapidly analyzes
millions of possibilities.
Industry 4.0 technologies
On the factory floor, Industry 4.0
technologies (including the Internet of
Things) are enabling the creation of smart
factories where plant management is
smarter and more virtual. They're not only
improving agility, but also helping workers
– from senior management to machine
operators – to make better decisions. Geo-
location technologies and radio frequency
identification (RFID) tags, sensors allow
machinery to perceive the world around
them.
Innovation Value Webs
Open innovation allows the chemical
industry to gain value from their wider
partner ecosystem, including the
collaborative joint ventures that are now
embracing diverse industries. Innovation
value webs with their new social business
tools are facilitating open and nonlinear
innovation processes amongst this wider
ecosystem.
Intelligence amplification
Decision-making has also been greatly
enhanced through intelligence
amplification, which requires workers to
interpret and react to the broader context
of intelligence derived through advanced
analytics and machine learning.
brings the smart factory to life. Senior
management can automatically tap into
social media, for example, to understand
current customer preferences and
behaviors; then communicate these needs
to the shop floor where production is
aligned just-in-time.
Mobile and social media app
Chemical companies have moved toward
offering end customers a full range of
services around their products, such as
decorating services or gardening expertise.
Mobile and social media apps supporting
products sold to the end consumer help
companies gather deeper intelligence on
individual customers. An app that provides
information on different types of weed
provides insight on which types of weed
killer an individual customer might be
looking for when they identify themselves
in either a physical or online store.
Pattern-matching technologies
Intelligence derived from the vast volumes
of data now available allows chemical
companies to make informed decisions
around what customers want. Pattern-
matching technologies help them discover
the patterns and trends across their many
products and their end effects that may
bring new opportunities to innovate and
gain competitive advantage.
Prescriptive analytics
Intelligent systems then employ
prescriptive analytics to determine
configuration or maintenance
requirements, prescribing a course of
action that will both ensure optimal
production levels and identify failing parts
that need to be serviced or replaced long
before they threaten to cause downtime.
This type of condition-based maintenance
helps companies save on labor and service
costs, reduce unscheduled downtime and
improve operational efficiency.
information, systems and locations they
need to access, but only when they need it.
Sentiment analytics
Specialty chemical companies have moved
up the value chain to where they're now
closer to the end customer. Social media
and network analytics is helping them
understand general customer behaviors,
trends and desires. Its sentiment analytics
allows them to not only quickly identify
new trends, but also respond to any
potentially reputation-damaging comments
before they cause any harm.
Streaming analytics
Industrial data analytics include the
streaming analytics that are helping
companies to optimize production
operations and planning along the value
chain.
Wearable computing
Across the plant technicians access
information hands-free through modern
wearables, such as glasses, that have been
made safe from the risk of explosions.
Augmented reality relays vital information
– such as step-by-step instructions on
maintenance or configuration requirements
– from the cloud to the paperless worker’s
line of sight. Embedded cameras relay
pictures to the cloud, allowing specialist
engineers to offer their expert support from
remote locations.

Computer-generated analytics might, Robotics

for example, highlight an increase in the
demand for black and white photographic
inks. Only a human would realize if this
were a just a temporary rise, for example
one connected to an international
photography competition.
Advanced robotics are boosting
productivity and reducing labor cost. A
new breed of robots work as assistants
in a shared workspace, taking dangerous
or precision tasks away from human
operators.

Internet of Things Self-adaptive security

As the number of connected assets
and devices rises, so does the number
of connected systems and people. The
Internet of Things (IoT) providing the
real-time connections between processes,
applications, machines and people that
Cybersecurity and the protection of
intellectual property around both products
and processes is a growing concern.
The dynamic access control provided by
self-adaptive security ensures employees
and partners only have access to the

60 #AscentLookOut
 Chemicals

Key Enablers in Chemicals

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Co ust &
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Bu

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Tr

Tr
3D printing Internet of Things

Advanced data Mobile and social media

visualization apps

Pattern-matching
Augmented reality
technologies
Cloud Service
Prescriptive analytics
Integration

Distributed analytics Robotics

Edge computing Self-adaptive security

High performance
Sentiment analytics
computing

Industry 4.0 Streaming analytics

technologies

Innovation Value Webs Wearable computing

Intelligence
amplification

Ascent Look Out 61

Market views

Cities

Cities are becoming smarter Large cities contribute 85% of the GDP

Quality of citizen life is improving 2% annual growth in urban

populations
There's no one size fits all approach to More than 88 smart cities across the
cities world by 2025
Annual investment in smart cities in
World's population growing, now $
excess of $1bn
greater than 7 billion

Key Market Challenges

Customer expect city services to be on par with

Experience
Across the globe, cities are growing at
an unprecedented speed. According to
The World Health Organization, urban
populations already accounted for 54
percent of the global populations in 2014
and will continue to grow at around two
percent each year over the coming years.
Our growing cities are facing dramatic
social, economic and environmental
challenges. Increasing diversity, for
example, is intensifying pressure as
cities strive to increase integration while
sustaining individual communities’ cultural
identities. Aging populations, on the other
hand, are altering the workforce balance
and heightening the care burden.
To flourish, growing cities must attract
investment, generate employment,
promote sustainability, appeal to visitors
and offer their citizens a better quality of
life – along with the effective leadership
needed to make it all happen. As the world’s
business communities search for the best
new locations, cities are responding by
enhancing their services and educational
institutes. While their primary focus is
on ensuring public safety, cities are also
enhancing health and leisure facilities and
addressing the traffic jams, overcrowding
and pollution to attract the suitably skilled
workforce that businesses need.
Cities and local governments are adapting
their services to meet the growing
expectations of today’s digitally-aware
businesses and citizens. Surrounded by
technology throughout the day, they
those offered by the commercial world:
personalized, empowering, high-quality and
convenient services that are accessible any
time, any place and on any device.
Forward-thinking cities and local
governments are investing in new services
that ensure businesses and citizens
are better informed, better connected
and able to take control of managing
their own situation. Examples include a
single card that not only gives access
to all city-wide services but also support
secure identification and communication
alongside electronic tickets, an electronic
purse and electronic signatures. These
service improvements not only increase
satisfaction in the short term; they’re the
first steps in long-term improvements that
will create a more rewarding experience.
Business
Reinvention
Cities are undergoing a period of intense
transformation, evolving into the Smart
Cities that allow city authorities to manage
their municipal services more efficiently
and to create a city that is livable for all. A
great opportunity for Europe; Smart Cities
are also an engine of growth.
The concept of a Smart City will itself be
revised, transforming the city into a digital
platform that enables the development of
innovative services that have the potential
to transform the economy – fostering
growth and creating of new jobs.
Business models are evolving to allow cities
to take advantage of new opportunities
and counteract new threats as they
emerge. What will the growth of online
retail mean for commercial centers such
as ‘Oxford Street’ in London, for example?
How long will these high rent, retail spaces
remain viable? And as driverless cars
become available, services such as buses
or trains will become more cost effective
to run and far less dangerous, while traffic
management will be revolutionized.
Models based around multi-sided markets,
for example, create significant value for
government, businesses and citizens alike.
Delivered by the city’s partners – including
partners that provide waste, maintenance
and parking services – they offer innovative,
streamlined and personalized services
while increasing efficiency and cutting cost.
At the heart of these models, local
governments must share relevant data
with third-party partners, while bearing
in mind privacy rights. These partners,
in turn, build viable services based on
insight into citizens’ needs, desires and
behaviors derived from that shared data in
combination with their own intelligence.
This multi-sided approach offers citizens
an opportunity to select the services they
need and pay for their use as long as they
need them. Other services, those that are
generally required, are paid for by the city.
Investment in these services is based on
their return against long-term tangible
goals such as CO2 reduction, improved air
quality or enhanced safety.

62 #AscentLookOut

‘‘Smart Cities will transform the city into a digital platform that enables
the development of innovative services. These have the potential to
transform the economy – fostering growth and creating of new jobs.’’
Albert H. Seubers
Head of Global Strategy
IT in Cities
Operational
Excellence
City politics may reinvent themselves
every four years or so, but below the
political façade sustainable changes are
taking place on an operational level. These
changes are helping local governments
continually improve how they provide their
services.
Citizens expect their governments to be
as efficient as possible, while their own
service level expectations continue to rise.
Under increased pressure to ‘do more with
less’, government organizations and cities
are continually searching for ways to drive
efficiencies in their operations. This might
include lowering maintenance efforts or
automating core processes.
But the current lack of standards is
impeding the development of Smart Cities.
Without standards, solutions enabling the
more efficient management of municipal
services – including water management
and traffic management – cannot be
developed once for multiple cities. After all,
for these solutions to flourish and reach
the critical mass necessary to be profitable,
they need to be exported to other cities.
Open standards are needed for creating
an interoperable market and accelerating
innovation.
A more open approach to innovation
is already generating new sources
of income for both cities and their
partners, supporting web entrepreneurs
as they develop and showcase their
bright innovative ideas. The diversity
of city stakeholders, levels of regional
Cities
development and local regulations make
cities an ideal environment for telecom
Connected city data, on the other hand,
delivers the single, holistic view of the
operators, ICT solution integrators and status of the city that will enable policy
other providers of key city services (such makers and government officials to
as electricity, water and infrastructures) to understand the impact of any decision they
innovate. make. City governments are empowered
to make the right decisions at the right
Open platforms are needed to ensure these time and better positioned to build the
ecosystems flourish. Cities must collaborate comprehensive business cases required
with the standard bodies that play an for effective investment, ensuring limited
important role in spreading the reference budgets are stretched to their full potential.
architecture needed to ensure the
interoperability and portability of solutions.
Trust and
Local governments and cities must get Compliance
any new services right first time. It doesn’t
matter whether they’re delivered in-house
or by third-party partners, there’s no room
The services cities provide are critical to
for failure. Services, old as well as new, must
every single citizen: from fire police and
run 24/7. Long service interruptions and
emergency services to schools, libraries
wasted budgets will have an immediate
and waste management. To keep these
impact on citizens’ trust and satisfaction.
services safe, city governments must
protect them from an increasingly diverse
But the city and citizen data that underpins
array of virtual and physical threats. These
new services is increasingly complex:
need to be anticipated, appreciated and
some is owned by the government;
thwarted.
other by third-parties, such as transport
operators and garbage collection providers.
But it's not just services that need to be
Departmental information silos, at the
protected from increasingly diverse threats;
very least, are now being joined up using
citizens, businesses and visitors expect to
approaches that deliver a step-change in
be protected too. The aftermath of tragic
service speed and efficiency while cutting
events such as 9/11, the Madrid bombings,
service cost.
the UK bus bombing, Paris and Brussels
highlighted the importance of ensuring
Connected citizen data helps governments
people feel secure. Cities cannot flourish
derive the intelligence they need to truly
if they cannot attract investment, appeal
understand citizens’ behaviors and satisfy
to visitors and offer their citizens a better
their needs and desires. At a more granular
quality of life.
level, without a single holistic view of the
citizen and their family, local governments
Citizens also expect their data to
will struggle to deliver consistent, high
be protected. There's no room for
quality and personalized citizen services
compromise. After all, trust is vital for
across the numerous departments each
ensuring citizens connect with city
citizen engages with.
Ascent Look Out 63
Cities

governments for the benefit of the whole.

Citizens’ data must only be employed to
provide better services and to support
targeted governance and enforcement.

As citizen data is increasingly shared across

departments and the wider ecosystem of
partners, cities and local governments must
ensure access is only granted to those
individuals who need it to perform their
duties. Information shared with third-parties
should be anonymized or pseudonymized
where appropriate.

Cities must also open up the information

they collect, creating the transparency that
will build trust. Citizens expect to be able
to check and correct that information and
benefit from sharing it.

Looking at the future, sustainability needs

to be high on every city’s agenda. Cities
must employ the growing volumes of
data available to understand how new
designs might impact CO2 levels and
drive up temperatures. But for tomorrow’s
smarter cities sustainability is not just
about protecting resources and the
environment, it's also about economic and
social sustainability – about protecting
investments and enhancing the lives and
well-being of citizens.

64 #AscentLookOut
 Cities

Mainstream
5G networks Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging

Internet of
Things Edge computing
Prescriptive analytics
Streaming
analytics Distributed
analytics 3D printing
Context-rich systems
Virtual assistants
Wireless power
Open Data/Economy
of Data Cyber-physical systems
API economy
Federated Augmented reality
identity
Peer-to-peer platforms
Mobile and social Sentiment analytics Autonomous
media apps vehicles
Wearable Near field
computing communication

2016 2017 2018 2019+

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers development of innovative services with

3D printing
City maintenance teams are taking
advantage of 3D printing to give them
timely access to any spare parts needed to
repair the city’s assets.
5G networks
Once Telco operators have rolled out
low power, extended range 5G networks
across cities, users will be able to take
advantage of economical unlimited data
bundles to access the information and
services provided by both the city and its
commercial partners whenever they need
them.
API economy
The IoT combined with advanced analytics
and Open Data policies led to a period
of intense transformation of cities into
smart cities: a digital platform enabling the
the potential to transform the economy.
Smart cities are also engines of growth,
providing a platform that combines Open
Data and the API economy (application
programming interface economy) upon
which new innovative applications can be
created.
Adaptors are being created for the data
sources and sensor technologies that the
city already has in place. These adaptors
allow the data to be injected into a broker
that offers standard APIs to allow anyone to
consume real-time data.
Augmented reality
Hands-free access to vital information
is provided through modern wearable
devices, improving productivity and safety.
Augmented reality provides step-by-step
instructions on equipment maintenance or
performance histories.
Autonomous vehicles
Around the city, unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) – or drones as they're sometimes
called – help not only with monitoring
neighborhoods for the presence of
pollutants, pests or disease carrying
insects, for example, but also with domestic
policing, environmental surveys and the
delivery of goods, among other things.
In addition, drones provide an early
indication of the scale and potential impact
of any unexpected incidents, sending
photos of the scene and information on
the quality of the surrounding atmosphere
back to a command center. However,
in cities where firearm weapons are not
properly regulated, drones are susceptible
to attack.
Context-rich systems
Behind the scenes, context-rich systems
combine intelligence from diverse systems
to proactively anticipate each visitor’s

Ascent Look Out 65

Cities
specific needs, allowing the assistant
to suggest how they might spend their
time based on their likes and dislikes, the
weather and events happening in the city,
amongst other things.
Cyber-physical systems
Throughout the city, networked embedded
computers are evolving into cyber-
physical systems (CPS) that monitor and
control the physical environment. These
smart systems are becoming ubiquitous in
the city infrastructure – its street lighting,
transport networks, parking systems and
much more. Public transport buses, for
example, are collecting valuable data and
making it available in real-time while smart
billboards are not only interactive but also
ensure the visually impaired or hard of
hearing can access the information they
need.
Distributed analytics
Analytics running across distributed
platforms give cities an end-to-end view
across their infrastructure, their citizens,
their visitors and more. When analytics
initially identify a potential issue with a
scholar through data from school, for
example, distributed analytics can help
social teams build a more complete picture
by adding in intelligence gleaned about
their health from medical records or about
their wider family from citizen data. This
additional insight helps ensure vulnerable
youngsters receive the help they need,
when they need it most.
Edge computing
Cities are increasingly taking advantage of
a viable ecosystem of compute, storage
and networking services made available
through edge computing. Real-time,
high performance analytics running at
the edge bring affordable scale to the
computationally-intensive smart initiatives
and modern citizen services. Cities are able
to optimize value from the huge data sets
now available.
Federated identity
Electronic identification (e-ID) ensures
individuals can access the government and
commercial online resources they need –
securely on any device and through any
channel. These identities may also be used
to protect access to government buildings
and assets. Cloud-based federated identity
services simplify the extension of identity
and access management beyond public
sector boundaries, into private-sector
business workflows.
66 #AscentLookOut
Internet of Things
Data from the Smart City is combined
with data stored in city databases, insight
from social media and other sources.
This Internet of Things (IoT) allows cities
to monitor the environmental or public
infrastructure more closely, respond to
emergency more rapidly, manage assets
and fleets more efficiently and ensure traffic
safety, amongst other things.
Mobile and social media apps
Mobile and social media apps are
encouraging citizens to become more
actively engaged in the running of their city
by allowing tasks to be distributed at a local
level. One app might coordinate citizen
volunteers in the event of an emergency;
another might encourage them to take
responsibility for the cleanliness of their
neighborhood. Dashboards that graphically
compare statistics at a neighborhood level
gently encourage citizens to take pride in
where they live.
Near field communications
With citizens free to select the services they
require, mobile payments via near field
communications (NFC) have become the
norm for paying for the advanced, value-
adding services offered by partners. These
contactless solutions simplify payments
for citizens with mobility or cognitive
impairments.
Open Data/Economy of Data
Cities are embracing the Economy of Data
not only through Open Data initiatives
but also by allowing for IoT networks to
be exploited by third parties. While today
open data is often free for non-commercial
use, cities see the value in data as so they
allow access to data also for commercial
use when and where there's benefit for
the citizens of the city. Value in this is not
always expressed in hard currency but it
may also be added value in added data.
This new economy brings new products
and services that generate new
employment opportunities, which in
turn generate additional tax revenues
or savings in direct costs, or may also
encourage more people to visit the city. On
the other side of the coin, cities must take
responsibility for ensuring the data they
share is not misused. The role as enabler
for the economy of data comes with a role
of trusted officer, protecting against misuse
of data and intrusion of privacy.
Peer-to-peer platforms
Driven by real needs and reliant on ease-
of-use, trust and accurate information,
new peer-to-peer services based on
innovative business models (such as
Airbnb and BlaBlaCar) allow citizens to idle
rooms in homes, seats in cars, spaces on
driveways and more into a viable source
of income. Peer-to-peer platforms and
their associated social channels and mobile
apps allow individuals to connect with their
peers.
Prescriptive analytics
By condensing the vast amounts of
data now available to cities into smaller,
more useful nuggets of information,
predictive modeling allows cities to focus
on prevention. Rather than allowing
debilitating traffic congestion to build
up, for example, a predictive model can
forecast traffic flow hours in advance and
alert city management of potential issues.
Prescriptive analytics goes beyond
predictive models by showing the likely
outcome of one or more possible courses
of action.
Sentiment analytics
The lifestyle, behavioral and health
data collected from mobile devices and
digital assistants give cities a deeper
understanding of their citizens and visitors.
What’s more, with social networks now well
integrated into our everyday lives, cities
are using advanced social media analytics
with its sentiment analytics to determine
what people like and dislike about their
municipality and their services.
Streaming analytics
The real-time data provided by the IoT
gives city management a comprehensive
picture of the city throughout the day or
night. Now that data is processed in an
instant on streaming analytics platforms,
city managers are alerted to potential
problems – such as environmental
changes, impending disasters, crowds or
traffic congestion – before they cause any
significant disruption. The value of this
intelligence is multiplied when combined
with mobile technologies; city employees
can act on information in near real time,
keeping the city running smoothly so
it provides an enjoyable experience for
everyone.
Virtual assistants
For tourists, their stay in the city is now
planned in a great deal of detail thanks
to intelligent virtual assistants. Truly
omni-channel, this virtual digital assistant
 Cities

engages seamlessly with the visitor agency offices to engage with the city and
through a multitude of online channels. access city services.

Wearable computing Wireless power

Public services are not only more
personalized than ever before, but also
available wherever and whenever they’re
needed – from home, from the office
or when out and about. Ranging from
smartphones and tablets to wearables
such as smart watches and glasses, mobile
devices of all shapes and sizes keep citizens
connected and informed wherever they
are. Citizens no longer need to visit local
Many drones are controlled through
smartphones and wearables, and tracked
using Radio-Frequency ID (RFID) or
Bluetooth smart tags dotted around the
city. Like other vehicles, drones can take
advantage of the multitude of wireless
charging points. Electric buses, for
example, are fully charged in the station
overnight, topping up their charge for just a
few minutes at a time from charging points
strategically placed at every bus stop.

Key Enablers in Cities

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Mobile and social media
3D printing apps

5G networks Near field

communications

Open Data/Economy
API economy
of Data

Augmented reality Peer-to-peer platforms

Autonomous vehicles Prescriptive analytics

Context-rich systems Sentiment analytics

Cyber-physical systems Streaming analytics

Distributed analytics Virtual assistants

Edge computing Wearable computing

Federated identity Wireless power

Internet of Things

Ascent Look Out 67

Market views

Consumer Packaged Goods

>1bn new consumers by 2020 spending Consumer demand for variety and
$10 - $100 per day authenticity
Generation Y will spend $65bn on CPG Digital is driving innovation in delivery
over the next decade models
80m Generation Y consumers shop Brand loyalty is declining in food,
differently beverage & household goods
By 2025, 50% of retail purchases will be 3D printing will create new business
mobile models

Key Market Challenges

Customer interaction allows them to serve the

Experience
Today’s consumers can very easily access
product data from anywhere and at any
time on their mobile devices. They readily
use smartphones for taking pictures,
comparing prices, finding coupons and
accessing detailed product information,
peer reviews and recommendations. Not
only is information more accessible, but
consumers have a greater opportunity
to contribute to product information too,
through social networks for example. Peer
product reviews and recommendations
have a greater impact than traditional
marketing on their choices.
To reduce churn and increase loyalty,
brands need to understand their customers
better: their behavior, their buying patterns
and their change in taste. As customers
increasingly seek personalized products,
for example, companies are responding
by adopting technologies that allow the
customer to tailor the product, enabling
mass customization.
Direct consumer relationships are
becoming pivotal to the success of every
CPG company. Companies are increasingly
deploying solutions that no longer
depend on the retailer. Evian's ‘smart drop’
connected device that enables customers
to order water directly is a prime example.
Brand manufacturers must be present at
every step of the buying process, engaging
consumers through relevant and inspiring
content while they're both learning about
the product online and experiencing it in
the store, for example. This continuous
consumer in a more personalized manner,
opening up the cross-selling and up-selling
opportunities that deliver higher margins. A
sports clothing manufacturer, for example,
might up-sell socks to go with the running
shoes the consumer is purchasing, or
shorts to go with a football jersey.
Differentiation is crucial, in all the different
markets where companies are present.
Focus is now on fulfilling rapidly-changing
local market requirements and re-shaping
their portfolio to improve their capabilities
and be more effective in their category.
Global CPG companies must find a way to
manage local customers as if they were
unique: understanding and reflecting
local consumer tastes and preferences
and adapting swiftly to changing tastes or
buying patterns. And as food miles become
an increasingly important measure,
consumers are demanding products that
are grown or produced locally.
Business
Reinvention
To increase brand loyalty, manufacturers
need to move away from selling solely their
products and instead focus on providing
the consumer with value-added services.
Their ability to inspire consumers to use
their products in new ways and deliver
innovative services that add real value will
be critical to their future success.
Online communities based around a
brand will empower the consumer with
information and provide a platform where
they can discuss their personal challenges
and concerns with peers. The Kraft
community, for example, allows members
to discuss recipes and the Lego community
– though unofficial – allows fans to share
news and images of their creations. These
platforms provide a way for consumers to
identify themselves with the product and
with peer consumers – which is becoming
increasingly important for building a stable
and leading brand.
Official or not, these platforms do more
than simply drive consumer loyalty; they
deliver genuine consumer insights that
CPG companies can leverage to develop
new products that meet the needs and
desires of the consumer of today and
tomorrow.
New connected products, such as
wearable fitness monitors, also provide a
great opportunity for understanding both
the consumer and their product usage.
Additional services built around the product
drives loyalty and delivers insight that can
be turned into business value. A service
that gathers and analyzes fitness statistics
in real time and displays them in an easy-to-
read online dashboard is a typical example
of the personalized value-add services
expected by today’s consumers.
As product lifecycles decrease many
consumers become frustrated at seeing
their still viable products replaced with
newer models. The innovation process
must balance reducing shorter product
lifecycles with ensuring products deliver
benefits that offer real value. Business
ecosystems need to expand to include
both suppliers and consumers to ensure
new products hit the right spot with
consumers, and can be developed and
delivered efficiently.

68 #AscentLookOut

"Brand manufacturers must be present at every step of the buying
process, engaging consumers through relevant and inspiring content
while they're both learning about the product online and experiencing
it in the store.’’
Thomas Collins
Senior Vice President,
Global Market Head
Consumer Packaged
Goods
Operational
Excellence
Demand-driven supply chain management
minimizes inventory levels and reduces the
stock outs that stifle revenue and growth.
Traditional decision-making reliant on
historical data and gut feeling no longer
suffices. Instead new algorithms using
real-time intelligence are vital for revealing
real-time demand and enabling real-time
decision-making.
As the ability to satisfy market demand
anywhere and at any time becomes a key
differentiator, companies need to accelerate
their respond to change and be able to
adapt easily to any alteration of strategy.
Rapidly changing consumer demands –
for example a preference for lower sugar
products driven by media hype on obesity
– require higher levels of agility throughout
the supply chain.
By establishing a digital value chain that
allows products to be tracked and traced
throughout, CPG manufacturers can
optimize internal processes, control costs
and ensure right-first-time quality. Brand
manufacturers, retailers and partners
are exploring how to align and share
information to improve transparency,
but networks are becoming increasingly
complex. As the supply chain evolves,
retailers will be more involved in upstream
transport and CPG manufacturers in
inventory management and replenishment.
Category management optimization
demands tighter collaboration between
marketing, procurement, the supply
chain, suppliers and local stores. New
Consumer Packaged Goods
ways of working together might include
collaborative business planning and
value chain helps to ensure effective
and efficient compliance. After all, keep
intelligence sharing and might also be organizations up-to-date on food and
extended to new product development, product regulations and policies, and
collaborative warehousing, transport and an effective compliance capability, with
delivery. efficient communications, is essential.
With manufacturing processes being Compliance, quality and cost management
outsourced to cut cost, companies places security, reliability and scalability at
are thinking strategically about which the top of the IT agenda. Any IT failures
processes are outsourced and which core could impact the safety and quality of
skills and processes need to be retained the product produced – and additionally
in-house. Aligned processes ensure all parts the availability of connected products.
of the business can perform optimally as A robust scalable infrastructure will help
CPG companies move from national or deliver these along with the cost reductions
local to international, industrialized and required to fund innovation.
better controlled activities. Companies
can cut costs further by aligning and From a trust perspective, companies are
consolidating enterprise asset purchase focusing on inspiring confidence to develop
and management at an international level. trusted exchanges amongst all partners.
This requires a modern IT environment that
enables effective and efficient collaboration
Trust and and communications. Such as environment
Compliance also helps to attract and retain the best
talent. After all, today’s new generation of
experts is expecting to work with tools that
are at least as advanced as those they use
Collaboration and cooperation across the
at home.
supply chain is becoming increasingly
important for satisfying regulatory
requirements and demands for
transparency from retailers and consumers.
CPG companies need to be able to track
and trace products all the way through
the supply chain to satisfy regulatory
requirements on the security of the supply
chain, satisfy consumers on the origin of
products – and ingredients – and resolve
liability issues.
Regulations around sustainability and
social responsibility, amongst others, are
increasing pressure on the supply chain.
Harmonizing processes along the entire
Ascent Look Out 69
Consumer Packaged Goods

70 #AscentLookOut

3D printing
Prescriptive analytics
Internet of
Things Wearables
computing
Context-rich
systems
Beacons
Machine-to-machine
Geo-location technologies
Near field communications
Hybrid cloud
Sentiment analytics
2016
Key Enablers
3D printing
New 3D printers allow some products to
be printed within the store. A customer
might customize a pair of shoes at home
and then collect the finished product from
the store an hour later, for example. 3D
printing is increasingly being outsourced
to specialists who not only supply services
across multiple brands but who are also
increasingly offering delivery services.
Customers can schedule prints of products
from multiple brands and request that
they're delivered together to optimize costs.
5G networks
Customers are taking advantage of low
power, low latency, extended range 5G
networks to access the information and
services whenever they need them.
5G networks
Cloud Service Integration
Advanced
robotics
Semantic technologies
Edge computing
Privacy-enhancing technologies
Augmented reality
2017 2018
Advanced robotics
Advanced robots work side-by-side
with humans, but on tasks that require
high levels of dexterity and precision:
on components too small for humans
to handle. Enhanced sensing and
AI capabilities allow them to work
autonomously inside the factory,
automatically tailoring goods to meet the
increased personalization customers are
demanding.
Augmented reality
Augmented reality provides detailed
information on the customer they're
assisting and the products they’re interest
in. This information may be displayed
in an employee’s line of sight through
augmented reality glasses.
Beacons
As a customer enters a flagship store,
for example, a beacon recognizes them
Consumer Packaged Goods
Mainstream
Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging
2019+
© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.
and sends a trigger to the central control
system to note that they're in the store.
Further beacons placed strategically
around the store trigger targeted text
messages offering personalized vouchers
on the shopper’s smartphone or highlight
items of interest that are currently on offer
on screens in their line of sight.
Cloud Service Integration
Leading manufacturers have moved
towards integrated manufacturing, which
enables information transparency and
collaboration between MES / MOM, ERP
and PLM systems, to accelerate time
to market. This vertical view along the
value chain becomes increasingly critical
as product lifecycles shorten and the
continuous evolution within product
releases accelerates. Cloud Service
Integration ensures tight integration
between all these different cloud services,
from the generation of ideas to the
Ascent Look Out 71
Consumer Packaged Goods
manufacturing of the product.
Cloud-based federated identity governance
will provide secure federated access to
both operational systems and customer
information across systems, between MOM,
ERP, PLM and CRM systems.
Context-rich systems
Marketing messages are highly contextual.
They’re tailored to the shopper’s
preferences and buying history, the current
environments (such as the weather outside
or local events) and where the shopper is
standing in the store. Context-rich systems
combine intelligence from diverse systems
– from social media and purchase histories
to weather forecasts and diaries of local
events – to fully understand the shopper’s
current context.
Edge computing
Some CPG companies are leveraging edge
computing to both process relevant data
more quickly and ensure scalability within
the end-to-end integration. Indexing data
close to the point of capture, for examples,
lightens the load of centralized servers
while making it highly accessible to the
systems that need it soon after capture.
Geo-location technologies
Combined with geo-location technologies
and radio frequency identification (RFID)
tags, sensors ensure devices such as
vending machines, fridges and other
product displays are running well and
haven’t been moved from their designated
location. Diagnostic and location data is
continually transmitted back to the central
control room where an intelligent system
alerts maintenance teams to issues as
they arise. Any misplaced, or even stolen,
machines can be tracked in real time.
These technologies also allow brands to
track and trace their products from factory
to store.
Hybrid cloud
Cloud computing enables companies to
use the in-depth intelligence derived from
that data to deliver a seamless experience
across all channels and locations. No
matter where the customer engages with
a brand, or where an employee or partner
is working from, the systems that they
interact with and the data these systems
use will be the same. Hybrid cloud then
allows companies to augment their own
omni-channel services with relevant third-
party services – such as news on trends,
hints and tips or even weather forecasts –
72 #AscentLookOut
further enhancing the experience. and retailers as well their customers and
the product itself – to help them build the
Internet of Things intelligence that is improving efficiency
By connecting devices, people, processes and decision-making as well as enhancing
and information, the Internet of Things customer experience. Behind the scenes
(IoT) has opened up the opportunity to semantic technologies help these
deliver a compelling experience, the likes intelligent systems to understand the
of which have never been seen before. relationships within and across data.
Real-time data gathered from social media,
smart devices, wearables and more gives Sentiment analytics
brands a great deal of insight into their Brands have employed social media and
customers’ needs, desires and behaviors. network analytics to understand general
customer issues and desires for some
Machine-to-machine time. Its sentiment analytics allows
Two way machine-to-machine (M2M) them to quickly identify and respond to
communications allow shelves or vending individual customer’s gripes and any other
machines to manage their own stock. Stock reputation-damaging sentiment. They're
levels are automatically transmitted to a now also leveraging it to gather intelligence
central control room in real time, where on individual customers.
advanced analytics assess requirements
and schedule any deliveries needed into an Wearable computing
optimized schedule. Brand employees in stores can access vital
intelligence hands-free through modern
Near Field Communications wearable devices. These wearable devices
When they require comprehensive infuse insights with the real-world, blurring
information customers make their the lines between digital and physical.
way to a brand store where Near Field
Communications (NFC) has become the
norm for tapping into product details.
Prescriptive analytics
Brands are turning to prescriptive
analytics to help deliver a highly
personalized customer service, whatever
the channel. This advanced analytics
examines each individual customer’s
preferences, purchase history, sentiment
on social media accounts and more before
presenting relevant recommendations or
offers – whether on a web page or even
as a text message. At a higher level, it's
also helping brands decide when to cut
prices and how to optimize stocks across
different regions or even stores in response
to changing environments. For example, it's
helping them optimize beer or ice cream
stocks as weather conditions change.
Privacy-enhancing technologies
As customers share more information with
brands they will expect their information
to be well protected and not shared with
third-parties without their permission, for
example. Privacy-enhancing technologies
(PET) control the disclosure of data, helping
CPG companies manage privacy risk by
ensuring compliance with data protection
legislation and regulation.
Semantic technologies
Companies are gathering data from right
across their value chains – from their
operations, suppliers, logistics partners
 Consumer Packaged Goods

Key Enablers in Consumer Packaged Goods

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3D printing Hybrid cloud

5G networks Internet of Things

Advanced robotics Machine-to-machine

Augmented reality Near field

communications

Beacons Prescriptive analytics

Cloud Service Privacy-enhancing

Integration technologies

Context-rich systems Semantic technologies

Edge computing Sentiment analytics

Geo-location
Wearable computing
technologies

Ascent Look Out 73

Market views

Defense

Growth in exports is mitigating the Terrorist activity increased by 80% in

impact of domestic cuts 2014
Balancing squeezed budgets with World military expenditure was
information superiority estimated at $246 per person in 2014
Leveraging the IT evolution, adapted to Global electronics warfare market is
military environment expected to reach $24bn by 2020
Moving from silos to an integrated
forces approach Global military robots market is
projected to grow to $21bn by 2020

Key Market Challenges

Customer
Experience
The mission spectrum is becoming
increasingly diverse. Today’s asymmetric
threats include everything from nuclear
proliferation and climatic disaster through
failed states, ideological warfare and
terrorism to the looming threats of global
resource scarcity and energy security.
To stay one step ahead of the enemy, our
armed forces and intelligence services
need ready access to the latest advances
in technology. Speed of development and
deployment are critical success factors in
the increasingly complex and fast-moving
landscape.
Military personnel need user-friendly,
but tactically-oriented, innovations that
integrate seamlessly with the tools and
processes already at their disposal. It’s
important that the devices they use are the
smallest possible form factor. Man portable
and ultra-low power compute (9v battery)
technologies will improve the mobility of
deployed forces.
A joined up user experience is important
too, with the same systems and services
available to personnel whether they're fixed
or deployed. Training should be swift, with
‘train as you fight’ often the reality.
Today’s new generation of military
personnel expects tools and gear that
is at least as user-friendly as that they
operate in their private lives. A far cry
from many of the specific ruggedized,
rigid, difficult-to-use and un-interoperable
systems currently in operation, they would
appreciate lightweight, intuitive and user-
friendly smartphone and tablet interfaces.
Consumer market waterproof smartphones
and tablets, for example, could be
encrypted and adapted to meet field needs.
Defense organizations are already
changing the paradigm and investigating
how they can leverage familiar civilian
tools and technologies to reduce
training requirements, raise acceptance
levels, increase efficiency and cut cost –
particularly for non-combat scenarios.
Current public devices require major
modification to meet specific user
demands and expectations. Users deployed
in remote locations, for example, require
devices that can function in extreme
environmental conditions, such as high or
low temperature, high levels of humidity or
shock. Additional security measures – such
as zero clients – are needed to ensure the
device and the data on it remain safe in
case of loss, theft or if it needs to be left in-
situ. Some devices may not be suitable for
use in combat situations.
Business
Reinvention
The defense sector needs to reinvent the
way it works. Defeating today’s asymmetric
threats demands global connectivity. No
one defense or security organization can
fulfill its core mission alone. To maximize
operational effect and minimize risk, those
executing operations require total solutions
backed up by an integrated full service
capability. This places interoperability at the
top of the agenda, challenging defense and
industry to provide open standards and
systems that can operate in cross-border
operations without giving in on security
and flexibility.
Against an enemy without borders,
efficient protection requires cooperation
between national organizations and allies.
Collaboration within a wider ecosystem of
peers and partners is now the norm. But
new threat scenarios are only complicating
the picture. Sharing information beyond
defense communities now becomes the
critical factor. But making wider ecosystems
work in practice can be challenging.
Innovation and creativity play an
increasingly important role in enhancing
capability, accelerating deployment and
delivering financial efficiency benefits. As
sovereign innovation becomes a core
aspiration, new open and more integrated
approaches that enable defense and
industry organizations to work together
more effectively will stimulate valuable
home grown defense ecosystems and
innovation that would otherwise be
constrained by organizational boundaries.
A new approach to contracting with
defense suppliers is needed; moving from
a rigidly defined requirements contract to a
flexible results-based model that can adapt
and evolve in the face of a change in threat
type and vector.
Operational
Excellence
The accelerating operational tempo
requires rapid decision-making. Information

74 #AscentLookOut

‘‘Faced with squeezed budgets and a real need for turning information
into strategic and tactical advantage, Armed Forces need to rely more
and more on the power of IT technology evolution, provided it's fully
adapted to the specific military environment.’’
Stéphane
Janichewski
Head of Defense &
Aerospace Market
superiority has become the defining metric
for every defense outcome. Timely and
reliable intelligence is vital for enabling
crucial real-time situational awareness
and rapid decision-making throughout
the whole command chain. Across the
battlefield, for example, informational
superiority enables command and control
to deliver real-time situational awareness to
dismounted personnel and inside vehicles,
providing a force multiplier capability.
Defense organizations must master the
data and information flood flowing out from
both operational and IT sources, including
radio, imaging, human and open sources.
Tight integration across all sources is vital
for eliminating dangerous prediction and
diagnosis time lags. Only then can timely
decisions be made to ensure that alerts
and actions launched are appropriate.
To extract timely meaning and pertinent
signals from the data, large information
bases need to be processed efficiently.
Today’s security and defense mission
is complex and continually evolving.
The rapidly changing operational
environment demands higher levels of
agility and adaptability, both on and in
support of battlefield operations. Defense
organizations also need to be able to scale
resources and performance as and when
required in a landscape of increasingly
unpredictable mission requirements: from
disaster response to global deployment.
Scalability is also vital for meeting ever-
shifting security agendas.
Agility and scalability go hand in hand
with interoperability, particularly across
areas of defense where operations require
solutions to be deployed easily, rapidly
and seamlessly wherever and whenever
they're required. Mobile command posts
need to be deployed at the very heart of
the conflict or emergency to immediately
manage information and resources as if in a
fixed installation. Field hospitals need to be
deployed rapidly in support of operations
where health infrastructure is non-existent
or has suffered a lot of damage. Connected
systems allow critical casualty data to be
provided to medical response teams before
they arrive on the scene, for example.
Equally, technologies that allow security
zones to be collapsed remove the need
for a multitude of discreet infrastructures,
reducing complexity and costs. Design
once, use many times, simple repeatable
processes, incremental acquisition of
capability and spiral development provide
the basis for rapid implementation in this
ever-changing landscape – minimizing both
latency and the possibility that solutions will
be out of date by the time they're delivered.
Trust and
Compliance
To maintain strategic advantage, armed
forces and intelligence agencies need to
ensure the entire information value chain
is secure – from observation to action.
The most effective security solutions for
protection against unauthorized access
to computers and computer networks will
preserve the confidentiality, integrity and
availability of critical information and data.
Ever-increasing mobility requires end-
to-end security to protect against well-
organized threats and ensure the safety of
Defense
military personnel deployed in extremely
dangerous situations. From risk analysis
to monitoring for new threats, exposed
intelligence information signifies a clear
reduction in capacity to both act and
defend.
All mobile security solutions need to
support interoperability between mobile
devices and multiple advanced military
or governmental systems, devices and
technologies. Examples of such systems
include advanced security solutions for
data transfer and specific applications for
communication, such as head-up displays
with security functions.
As cyber space joins the classic realms
of military operations, people, assets and
infrastructure must be secured from known
and emerging threats across both physical
and virtual worlds throughout all hours
of the day and night. Protecting identity,
access and cyber disruption along with
the integrity and confidentiality of the
increasing number of connected objects
are simply the latest variables thrown into
the strategic defense mix along with the
likes of drones and improvised explosives.
There's no room for human intervention in
the cyber domain. Attacks appear with the
speed of light; so must defense.
Ascent Look Out 75
Defense
Key Enablers
3D printing
Back at base in combat scenarios, the vast
engineers’ store rooms that were once
full from floor to ceiling with parts of all
different shapes and sizes are virtually
nowhere to be seen. Modern 3D printing
technology has virtually wiped them out.
When an engineer is assigned to a job, any
parts needed are created there and then.
5G networks
Tactical information systems deliver
real superiority in combat. People and
‘things’ are better connected and better
informed than ever before. Whether
man or machine, they can access online
resources, communicate and share their
insight wherever and whenever they need
to. Today’s easy-to-deploy standalone
LTE networks may be superseded by low
power, extended range 5G networks in the
future.
Advanced data visualization
Combined with advanced data analytics,
immersive 3D visualization technologies
bring clarity to underlying complexity. They
allow defense organizations to identify
underlying structures and otherwise
hidden meanings across increasingly
76 #AscentLookOut
diverse and apparently disparate
data sources, amplifying intelligence,
surveillance and recognition systems.
App stores
As consumer market waterproof
smartphones and tablets are encrypted
and adapted for military use, private and
audited app stores provide access to
bespoke mobile applications.
Augmented reality
Out in the battlefield augmented reality
improves situational awareness within the
field of view. In operations it supports tele-
maintenance and tele-operations, enabling
engineers to access vital information
hands-free through modern wearable
devices, improving productivity and safety.
Autonomous vehicles
Advanced security robots and
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are
increasingly supporting surveillance,
protection, detection, rescue from objects,
infrastructure destruction and people
violation activities.
Brain-computer interface
Novel brain-computer interfaces promise
not only to revolutionize prosthesis
for those injured on the battlefield,
they offer an opportunity to accelerate
learning, enable faster and better neural
communications in hostile environments,
improve analysis of imagery for detecting
potential threats and more.
Cloud Service Integration
In a defense environment, cloud
computing needs to be able to quickly
adapt to demanding and ever-changing
cybersecurity context, tactical needs and
interoperability constraints. Cloud Service
Integration enables a converged cloud
infrastructure that can be relocated quickly.
A mix of embedded sensors and security
components keep operations safe in even
the most difficult security climates.
As cyber space joins the increasingly
diverse mission spectrum, the identities
of people and things within the IoT are
managed through electronic identification
(e-ID) technologies. Cloud-based federated
identity services simplify the extension of
identity and access management across
new IoT-based services. In the future
trusted information brokers will act as
the central verification service to avoid
the need for individual registration and
authentication of each service.
 Defense

Quantum computing

Mainstream
5G networks Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging

Self-adaptive
security

Swarm computing
Brain-computer
interface
Prescriptive analytics
3D printing
Industry 4.0
technologies Cloud Service
Machine learning Integration
Internet of
Things Streaming
analytics
High performance Distributed Innovation
computing analytics Value Webs
Edge computing
Semantic
Social media Advanced technologies
analytics data visualization
Autonomous
vehicles
Software-defined
technologies DevOps App stores
Wearable computing
Augmented
Robots reality Hybrid clouds

2016 2017 2018 2019+

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

DevOps
The Agile development methodology
accelerates development by presenting
early mock-ups, allowing military personnel
to express their needs and desires early
in the design process. To accelerate
deployment, defense organizations
are adopting a DevOps approach to
development. It reduces time-to-market
and cost while improving quality by
enhancing collaboration between software
developers and IT operations.
Distributed analytics
New research programs around
distributed analytics will address future
coalition operations in the congested,
cluttered, contested, connected and
constrained battlefield.
Edge computing
Information gathered and analyzed at the
edge through edge computing allows
restrictive and valuable bandwidth to
be conserved since only immediately
pertinent information needs to be
transmitted centrally.
High performance computing
Growing volumes of data are being turned
into critical military intelligence – Military
Intelligence 4.0. With the volumes, variety
and velocity of data accelerating, high-
performance computing (HPC) ensures
military personnel can run the complex
simulations and analyses that deliver
vital intelligence. By combining HPC
computation infrastructures, networks and
the last mathematical models they can
predict behaviors, prevent cyber or terrorist
attacks and more.
Hybrid clouds
Cloud computing is helping defense
organizations ensure data is accessible
whenever and wherever it's needed,
improving mobility and flexibility. Sensitive
data, such as the position of peers and
foes, is stored in private clouds. Hybrid
clouds allow combat personnel to enhance
sensitive insights with publicly available
data such as maps or weather forecasts.
Innovation Value Webs
With collaboration within a wider
ecosystem of peers and partners key
in the fight against an enemy without
borders, innovation value webs are
empowering network centric warfare and
intelligence. Value webs ensure processes
are supported along their entire paths,
with dynamic and both synchronous and
asynchronous participation all supported.
In addition these webs are able to process
diverse and unpredictable metadata
formats.
Internet of Things (IoT), Industry 4.0
technologies
By promoting Internet of Things (IoT),
Industry 4.0 technologies are enabling the
liquid operational intelligence and control

Ascent Look Out 77

Defense
called for in today’s continually evolving
theatre of war and terrorism. Connected
objects and vehicles integrated to the
heart of the action zone ease information
collection and processing directly in the
field.
Sensors and geo-location technologies
embedded in mobile devices and smart
vehicles continually transmit intelligence to
a central control center. Any individual or
vehicle needing assistance can be found
easily, their status understood in advance
of reaching them.
Machine learning
Behind military robots lies a complex set
of automated processes, with no room
for error. The wrong information or the
wrong outcome of an analysis may lead
to automated responses with real life
consequences. Machine learning will play
a key role in that decision-making.
Prescriptive analytics
Operations research falls under the
category of prescriptive analytics. Its first
application was in planning and managing
organizational operations during World
War II when human and material resources
were scarce and managing war logistics
was a daunting task.
Quantum computing
With communication security critical on the
battle field, quantum computing promises
to deliver new levels of protection. What’s
more, quantum computers threaten to
break today’s encryption methods. Their
substantial increase in computing power
could be a game-changer in intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance.
Robots
Security robots undertake dangerous
actions without jeopardizing military forces
and act in areas that are either extremely
difficult or impossible for humans to access.
Autonomous, they can self-organize and
reach certain level of independent decision
making.
Self-adaptive security
Advanced Security Operations Centers
(SOC) and Security Information and Event
Management (SIEM) are integral to new
security strategies. Organizations have
deployed real-time controls in a proactive
security approach that is helping to prevent
cyberattacks. Trusted probes are being
deployed within secure environments to
look for evidence of specific suspicious
behaviors. These pre-emptive security
78 #AscentLookOut
technologies help agencies anticipate used to analyze geo-location information
threats. Behind the scenes streaming in real time to provide a comprehensive,
analytics and HPC analyze millions of up-to-the-minute view on the location of all
events in real time. mobile assets.
Self-adaptive security approaches that Swarm computing
can, for instance, automatically adapt to Part of the wider IoT, sensors, robots
a fast-changing context would heighten and other devices together make up
security in self-organizing ad-hoc and the intelligent dust that can detect
sensor networks. light, temperature, vibration, magnetism,
chemicals and more. Operating wirelessly
Meanwhile distributed analytics in within a network it provides invaluable data.
combination with HPC supports vital
forensic analysis after an incident is Wearable computing
detected. They help organizations quickly On the battlefield, wearables connect
identify where the attack started, who is military personnel with their peers and
behind it and how it was carried out. operational headquarters. Electronics
and sensors that can be worn or placed
Semantic technologies in uniforms provide real-time monitoring
In defense, semantic technologies help of their location, vital signs and the
organizations unleash the hidden value of environment around them.
data, develop shared common databases
and simplify the management of military
intelligence reference data. They help
intelligence systems to understand the
relationships within and across data.
Social media analytics
Defense organizations are employing
social media analytics to gain additional
insight into how situations are developing.
This will also provide Open Source
Intelligence (OSINT) to complement
established methods already in place.
OSINT enhances situational awareness. In
a non-combatant evacuation operation
it can provide valuable insight for those
preparing to deploy or who have deployed,
for example.
Software-defined technologies
Build over the wire and software defined
techniques improve deployment speed
and safety. Software-defined networking
(SDN), for example, provides the agile
network that helps forces communicate,
train and operate together better. Military
personnel can create dynamic links
between locations and dynamically
apply appropriate quality-of-service and
bandwidth allocation to those links.
Streaming analytics
The vast volumes of data available today
coupled with today’s advanced analytics
allows the military to move from a reactive
to a proactive position by enabling real-time
situational awareness and rapid decision-
making. Streaming analytics, for example,
allow organizations to extract intelligence
that can be detected and acted on at a
moment’s notice from data in motion.
In addition, streaming analytics can be
 Defense

Key Enablers in Defense

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3D printing Innovation Value Webs

5G networks Internet of Things

Advanced data
Machine learning
visualization

App stores Prescriptive analytics

Augmented reality Quantum computing

Autonomous vehicles Robots

Brain-computer
Self-adaptive security
interface

Cloud Service
Semantic technologies
Integration

DevOps Social media analytics

Distributed analytics Software-defined

technologies

Edge computing Streaming analytics

High performance Swarm computing

computing

Hybrid clouds Wearable computing

Industry 4.0
technologies

Ascent Look Out 79

Market views

Discrete Manufacturing

Almost all products are becoming Market revenues will reach almost
smarter $28bn in 2017
Connectivity is growing at an 70% of manufacturers offer connected
exponential rate products
40% will provide Product-as-a-Service
3D printing will transform the market
platforms by 2018
By 2020, most things at home can be
Energy costs continuing to rise
monitored online

Key Market Challenges

Customer voice of the product. But to build enduring

Experience
Products are becoming increasingly smart.
Almost all products will soon be a mix
of hardware, software and connectivity.
Embedded software, enhanced user
interfaces and product control components
allow users to control product functions in
a way that personalizes their experience.
Embedded sensors, processors and
connectivity gather and share data about
the status of the product, its environment
and the way it’s used.
This trend started with vehicles and big
industrial machines, but is now moving
to smaller products such as home
appliances. As consumer products and
their embedded electronic systems grow
in complexity, ensuring they remain user-
friendly and intuitive will be critical.
In time, products and their components
will dematerialize. Discrete manufacturing
companies will no longer manufacture the
products themselves; instead consumers
will print them at home or through a
printing service provider. Companies will
simply design the product functionality and
print.
In addition, consumers in particular are
increasingly looking to customize the
products they buy: a talking teddy bear as a
unique gift for a family member or a music
center that fits with the color scheme in
their lounge, for example.
Discrete manufacturers’ goal has always
been to get closer to their customers to
help them gain unbiased feedback – the
loyalty in the smart world, manufacturers
will need to engage more intimately and
individually than ever before, with both
their customers and consumers.
Increasing volumes of data are helping
manufacturers to understand the
behaviors, needs and desires of their
B2B customers and consumers better.
The wealth of intelligence available will
help them tailor their products to meet
the individual needs of specific market
segments. Their engagement on social
media and value-added services will only
serve to enhance their relationship with
and knowledge of the consumer.
Companies that don’t have their own
flagship stores and currently sell their
products through resellers may decide
to build a direct connection with the
consumers to establish their brand and
increase their share of the revenue.
Business
Reinvention
Discrete manufacturers will need to
focus not only on enhancing design and
customization, but also on offering value-
added services that enhance the overall
product experience. Such services might
include washing machine maintenance or
repairs, recipes that help the consumer take
full advantage of their kitchen appliance or
even direct rental services that allow the
customer to pay for a product based on
utilization.
Discrete manufacturers are exploring
how they can leverage their increasing
volumes of data to open up these new
revenue streams. Insight borne out of the
data will help them tailor their new services
to ensure they provide optimal value to
the end customer and buy their enduring
loyalty.
Companies will have a number of key
design decisions to make that will be
influenced by how they plan to leverage
smart products. These include: where
they should place the sensors, what data
the sensors should collect and how to
maximize the value of the intelligence
generated from that data – even though
the product (or related services) will be
designed jointly with the customer.
The increased connectivity, data and
intelligence allows companies to: gain a
better understanding of how their products
are being used; control product functions
remotely; identify poorly performing
products and repair them remotely; offer
predictive diagnostic services based on
predefined algorithms and even allow
products to operate autonomously.
The convergence of hardware and software
is transforming the market. Traditional
manufacturers’ market dominance is being
eroded by new software and connectivity
players – such as sensor providers and
IT and software companies – who are
designing smart appliances, watches,
cameras and furniture. New market
entrants are fast becoming tier one
providers in the new ecosystem.
As companies not only reinvent
themselves, but also compete to deliver
measurable results, the number of

80 #AscentLookOut

‘‘Increasing volumes of data are helping manufacturers to understand
the behaviors, needs and desires of their B2B customers and consumers
better. The wealth of intelligence available will help them tailor their
products to meet the individual needs of specific market segments.’’
Davide Criscione
Global Head
of Discrete
Manufacturing and
Aerospace
partnerships, joint ventures, mergers and
acquisitions will swell further. Those joint
ventures and partnerships help companies
acquire the skills and capabilities they're
lacking – for example helping a home
appliance manufacturer gain vital software
skills – while the data from downstream
manufacturers is vital for presenting
measurable results. For instance, the
performance of a light-transmitting
furniture solution is equally vital for the
upstream smart LED manufacturer and the
furniture manufacturer.
Operational
Excellence
Product lifecycles are decreasing in a
booming market driven by both consumer
demand and technology-push. New
versions of TV sets, for example, appear
on an almost annual basis. Companies
are investing significant amounts of time
and money into R&D to ensure they keep
pace with decreasing product lifecycles.
Materials analysis, for example, is helping
them discover new more reliable, more
resistant, lighter and cheaper materials.
Nowadays, R&D effort focused on software
development is commonly transferred
offshore to take advantage of the
abundance of low cost talent.
Companies must be able to react quickly
to trends. New product launches must
be timely to ensure opportunities aren’t
missed in a world where products can
very quickly gain and lose favor with the
end customer. Steiff, for example, missed
a unique opportunity to market a teddy to
celebrate the birth polar bear Knut at Berlin
Discrete Manufacturing
Zoo in 2007. In another instance a shirt to-market. Being nearer to customers also
manufacturer was suddenly hit with huge increases control and accelerates reaction
demands for the shirt worn by drug lord El times.
Chapo when he was interviewed by Sean
Penn. Manufacturers need high levels of For partnerships and joint ventures to
flexibility that can cope with huge variations succeed, companies must take a more
in demand over short periods of time. open approach to working together.
Questions remain around how openness is
The core product needs to be tailored achieved and how companies still protect
to appeal to diverse markets around the their intellectual property.
world and increasingly customized to
meet the specific needs and desires of Meanwhile, mergers and acquisitions will
the individual consumer. This not only bring together diverse legacy systems that
increases development and production will need to be simplified and harmonized
complexity, but changes demanded by the to optimize operations.
B2C are reflected backwards up the B2B
value chain.
Trust and
As product complexity grows, so will Compliance
products’ support and maintenance
requirements. But the lifecycles of
products’ hardware and software are
As product digitalization becomes the
different: software upgrades are needed
norm, the increasing volumes of data
more frequently. Managing these different
produced and shared must be secured
lifecycles can be complex, for both PLM
from threats across cyberspace. To
and utilization phases.
preserve the confidentiality, integrity
and availability of critical data, discrete
Upgrade processes need to be simple
manufacturers need to protect against
and intuitive or even automated. Discrete
unauthorized access to products, data
manufacturers are exploring how they can
centers and networks.
leverage increasing connectivity and their
growing volumes of data to reduce the
The risks are high. A well-organized attack
cost of maintaining both their products and
could potentially take control of products,
their manufacturing equipment. Examples
rendering them unusable or, worse still,
include remote tuning and remote
diagnostics. putting the safety of their users at risk.
Companies must take all precautious
necessary to identify, understand and
Furthermore, as production networks
eliminate threats. Their mere existence
become more complex – particularly for
depends on it.
higher value and customized products –
collaboration must become more dynamic.
Risks also extend to suppliers and
Some manufacturing is now returning
subcontractors. Manufacturers must ensure
closer to home to reduce logistics cost,
they are also fully secured and can trace
increase customization and improve time-
Ascent Look Out 81
Discrete Manufacturing
any issues. Even the smallest subcontractor
– who may be unable to adequately
manage their security – must not bring
any unknown risks to the final product. In
the event that a problem slips through the
net, if manufactures cannot trace the root
cause, the consequences could be dire.
But it’s not just their products that need
to be protected. Companies must also
secure future profit streams by protecting
intellectual property from any low-cost
copycats: their various hardware and
software components and their designs.
This is particularly important where R&D
is taking advantage of near- or off-shore
talents. It’s not just profits that are at risk;
brand reputations are at risk from low
quality alternatives.
And since customers will only offer their
loyalty to companies whom they trust,
companies must comply with increasingly
tough data protection regulations and
policies. With new national and international
legislation emerging all the time, discrete
manufacturers must understand and
be able to implement diverse regulatory
changes smoothly.
Furthermore, companies will need to
fully understand the diverse regulations
that exist across individual nations.
82 #AscentLookOut
That understanding is vital for ensuring
compliance in where they store product
and customer data, along with where they
access it from and how they use it.
Depending on the nature of data, export
control may demand it’s stored in-country,
for example, and prevent it being accessed
from overseas. The EU's Data Protection
Directive, for example, lays down specific
rules for the transfer of personal data
outside the EU.
Depending on the country, there may
also be restrictions on whether data can
be passed to third parties or used for
recommending products or services. Can a
motorcycle manufacturer pass information
gathered about its customers’ journeys
onto relevant tourist offices so they can
recommend places to visit or stay, for
example?
On everybody’s agenda, sustainability
is driven partly through regulation and
partly through customer and consumer
demands. Discrete manufacturers must
deliver sustainable products – and
increasingly services – while minimizing
pollution, eliminating the exploitation of
child labor and turning their backs on
bribery and corruption.

Edge
computing
3D printing
Internet of
Things
Digital rights management
Streaming analytics
High performance
computing Innovation value webs
Hybrid cloud
Digital signage
Wearable computing
Beacons
2016
Key Enablers
3D printing
By using 3D printing to produce
prototypes and individual components,
manufacturers have cut transportation
costs, stock volumes and, most importantly,
downtime. When an engineer is assigned to
a maintenance job, any parts he may need
are first created virtually in a cloud-based
system before being printed on-site – which
is particularly useful when they're working
at a remote location many miles from the
parts store.
3D printing will also change the supply
chain dramatically by dematerializing
concrete products. Products – initially
simple products without mechanically
stressed parts and later more complex and
highly customized products – are going
to be printed firstly by specialized printing
service companies and, later, at home. The
Machine learning
Self-adaptive security
Prescriptive analytics
Cloud Service Integration
Distributed analytics
Advanced data visualization
Augmented reality
2017 2018
end customer will pay for a data package
as they do for music or movies. Sales
channels will also be affected.
Advanced data visualization
Manufacturers are leveraging immersive 3D
visualization technologies based on real-
time data to reduce machine set-up times.
Operators optimize machine settings in this
virtual world before switching production.
Technologies such as these that also
enable virtual testing and concurrent
engineering also decrease time-to-market.
Augmented reality
Smart glasses use augmented reality to
provide step-by-step instructions on how
a machine needs to be set up or details
on maintenance requirements. This
information may be displayed in a worker’s
line of sight through augmented reality
glasses. Embedded cameras relay pictures
back to base to record activities or tap into
Discrete Manufacturing
Mainstream
Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging
2019+
© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.
the insight of a specialist engineer – who
could be located remotely, anywhere
around the globe.
Beacons
Once beacons have detected the presence
of a known customer, digital devices offer
them relevant promotions and services.
A consumer who has designed a tailored
product at home might be presented
with more options for that product when
they arrive in store, for example, in an
experience that glides seamlessly across all
channels of interaction.
Cloud Service Integration
Vital systems are managed within the cloud
and delivered ‘as a service’ wherever and
whenever they're needed. Systems that
monitor and control processes no longer
need to be located within the plant; sales
and marketing systems no longer need to
be located in store. Remote or temporary
Ascent Look Out 83
Discrete Manufacturing
plants or shops can be deployed quickly,
delivering the consistent engineer or
customer experience that enhances
productivity and drives engagement. As
the need for cloud-based functions grows,
Cloud Service Integration connects
processes seamlessly.
Leading manufacturers have moved to
the integrated manufacturing, enabling
the information transparency and
collaboration between MES / MOM, ERP
and PLM systems. This vertical view along
the value chain becomes increasingly
critical as product lifecycles shorten and
the continuous evolution within product
releases accelerates. The shift to integrated
manufacturing was not a quick technical fix.
The first steps required a simplification and
harmonization of the IT landscape. Later
steps include Cloud Service Integration.
Digital rights management
As the number of products created on
3D printers grows, manufacturers must
turn their focus from producing physical
products to delivering value-added services
to their customers. Once the cost of 3D
printers drops and consumers begin
printing products at home, digital rights
management will help manufacturers
retain intellectual property (IP).
Digital signage
In store digital signage – from wall
mounted screens to tablets and even the
consumer’s own smartphone or smart
watch – allows the manufacturer to show a
greater variety of stock in a limited space
while, at the same time, providing a more
engaging and personalized customer
experience.
Distributed analytics
A few years from now virtually every
action on or by a product will leave a
digital trace. Manufacturers manage
those billions of pieces of information
coming from embedded sensors securely
in an internally-managed private cloud.
Distributed analytics gives them deep
intelligence on consumer desires and
behaviors by combining insight from this
data with insight from operational, stock,
price and customer data.
Edge computing
With vast amounts of data to be processed
and intelligence required in real time,
manufacturers have adopted edge
computing to process – for example index
or analyze – the data in its diverse formats
84 #AscentLookOut
close to the point of capture.
High performance computing
With the volumes, variety and velocity
of data accelerating, high performance
computing is needed for handling the
complex analysis of the volumes of data
transmitted from consumer devices. It will
give companies a better understand of
how products are being used and reveal
potential issues before they arise.
Hybrid cloud
To enhance customer value, manufacturers
are increasingly complementing their
own services with third-party services.
For example, moped manufacturers are
offering a service that enhances a view
of a customer’s journey and driving
performance with details of the weather
along the way. A hybrid cloud combines
the manufacturer’s insight with the third-
party weather service.
Innovation Value Webs
Open innovation ensures discrete
manufacturers optimize value from their
wider partner ecosystem. Suppliers are
encouraged to provide more complex
outcomes and share the investment cost of
new technologies. Innovation value webs
encourage collaboration and knowledge
sharing while facilitating data aggregation
and sharing.
Internet of Things
On the shop floor, the smart factory
is helping manufactures respond to
an increasingly complex and fast-
paced production environment. Fully
autonomous production chains reconfigure
automatically for each individual product
according to its individual design
parameters. By promoting Internet of
Things (IoT), Industry 4.0 helps companies
to efficiently respond to the increasing
demand for customized products.
Furthermore, senior management gets the
real-time insight it needs to make informed
business decisions. After communicating
changing production to the shop floor,
for example, flexible reconfiguration
procedures, amongst others, ensure
production can respond to customer needs
in next to no time.
Both plant assets and discrete products
continually report their status back to
the central control system using IoT
technologies. Precise measurements of
components, oil pressures, vibrations and
more not only provide engineers with an
early indication that parts are becoming
worn. Technicians can access the remote
discrete product securely – no matter
where they are and where the product is
located – to perform remote maintenance
and optimize its performance. Experts no
longer need to be onsite – they can share
their knowledge and expertise from any
corner of the globe.
Machine learning
To help improve both products and
manufacturing processes, machine
learning is learning about how products
perform and are used during their entire life
cycle. It takes advantage of the additional
knowledge that can be gained from novel
situations to enhance their performance.
Prescriptive analytics
Advanced data analytics are making
use of that data to increase plant uptime
by predicting – and even prescribing –
maintenance requirements. Manufacturers
are turning to prescriptive analytics to
predict actual equipment failures and then
suggest a number of possible actions and
their likely outcomes.
They’re also deploying prescriptive
analytics to predict when and how their
washing machines, TVs and more will fail
and recommend the actions the consumer
needs to take to prevent that failure.
Self-adaptive security
Self-adaptive security techniques,
including trusted probes are being
deployed to look for evidence of specific
suspicious behaviors and help companies
anticipate threats. Behind the scenes
streaming analytics and HPC analyze
millions of events in real time.
Meanwhile distributed analytics in
combination with HPC supports vital
forensic analysis after an incident is
detected. They help organizations quickly
identify where the attack started, who is
behind it and how it was carried out.
Streaming analytics
New sources of intelligence are paving the
way for manufacturers to develop new
types of relationships with and exciting
new services for their end customers. A
service linking real-time data streaming
from a bicycle helmet with customer data
automatically calls the emergency services
with the cyclist’s details if they do not move
for 30 seconds, for example. Streaming
analytics processes that data in real time.
 Discrete Manufacturing

Wearable computing
Two-way communications between
machines, workers through tablets,
smartphones and even wearables has
increased agility on the shop floor.

Key Enablers in Discrete Manufacturing

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High performance
3D printing computing

Advanced data
Hybrid cloud
visualization

Augmented reality Innovation Value Webs

Beacons Internet of Things

Cloud Service
Machine learning
Integration

Digital rights
Self-adaptive security
management

Digital signage Prescriptive analytics

Distributed analytics Streaming analytics

Edge computing Wearable computing

Ascent Look Out 85

Market views
Education
Blended learning becoming more and
more established
Costs of administering education
institutes rising
Increasing online competition
Institution does it all model is being
dismantled
Key Market Challenges
Customer
Experience
Schools and teachers are undergoing
a significant transformation as learning
extends beyond the conventional bricks-
and-mortar classroom, combining the
creative use of digital media with traditional
teaching. In fact, education has become
a blended learning experience where
students access resources both online and
in the classroom.
Both inside and outside of the classroom,
students already absorb content from
a multitude of different educational
tools and information sources and in a
variety of ways. While built-in assistive
technologies such as screen readers open
up the options for disabled learners, other
students are benefitting from access to
formats such as Braille, large print, audio
or even the symbol systems that connect
words with pictures for students who have
cognitive impairments.
In some countries, students are taking
advantage of the increased flexibility to
set their own learning pace. Personalized
learning modifies materials in response to
student performance. High flyers and slow
learners are more motivated.
With increasing flexibility comes increased
competition, particularly within the higher
education sector where ranking – especially
amongst universities – plays a key role.
With geography typically no longer a
barrier to learning, students can decide
where to learn. If an establishment doesn’t
cut it, students will simply go elsewhere.
Competition for both students and staff is
86 #AscentLookOut
Global student numbers to double
by 2025
50% of coursework to include online
by 2020
40% of academics’ time spent on
admin
US$1 in education = US$10 in
economic growth
accelerating in the USA and across Europe.
New commercial entrants are challenging
for the brightest and best.
Alumni play an increasing role in today’s
schools, colleges and universities. Former
students touch schools in their own
individual ways. If they hold a senior role in
business, for example, they might volunteer
as a guest teacher or offer current students
real-life experience through internships. As
alumni become increasingly important to
a school or college’s ability to differentiate
itself, creating a platform that offers them
a compelling and engaging experience
becomes imperative.
Our 21st century society is constantly
changing. Life-long learning sees older
generations engage in ongoing, voluntary
and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge
and skills to help them embrace those
changes, explore new ideas and reinvent
themselves. With learning not confined
to childhood or classroom environments,
learners can access tools and content of
unparalleled variety and richness.
What’s more, in a global marketplace
everything – research, design, production
and administration – can take place
anywhere, as long as the right skills are
available in the right quantities, at the right
price. With economic competitiveness
dependent on the right skills being
available, education must be aligned with
the needs of society – especially where
this wider ecosystem is experiencing rising
unemployment.
Business
Reinvention
New digital classrooms allow students
in diverse locations to learn together at
the same time. For the first time ever,
we can imagine the creation of a ‘global
classroom’. A growing range of content and
resources can be made available online
to teachers anywhere and accessed via a
‘pay-per-use’ model. This could transform
how educational bodies acquire their IT
resources and content.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
offer a different type of learning experience.
This free global class is identical to what the
on-campus students are receiving.
Even small universities are offering
specialized MOOCs that complement the
MOOCs provided by larger universities
to help raise their reputation. MOOCs do
more than simply pick up millions of users
along the way for participating colleges;
their learning analytics allow colleges
to measure the impact of and gather
feedback on their lectures.
The majority of MOOCs are designed
for a specific period of time. Many are
focused on collaborative activities between
peers and course facilitators. Learners
are encouraged to learn at their own
pace within the limits of the course and
are offered personalized services such
as tutoring and content delivered on a
freemium (a business model where basic
services are free but more advanced
features must be paid for) basis.

Egbert-Jan Niels de Schutter
Koekkoek Global Head of
Director Business Public & Health
Development Central Solutions
Government
With students accessing the best
professors from the best universities free
of charge through MOOCs, as well as
collaborating and researching online, local
teachers must rethink their added value
and transform their role within this ‘flipped-
classroom’. Students use their time in the
flipped classroom to apply their knowledge
and benefit from personalized teacher
support: more intimate discussions and
exercises with smaller groups of students,
for example. Furthermore, combining
MOOCs with adaptive learning increases
flexibility and helps previously discouraged
students to progress better since teachers’
time is freed up so they can help those
students who need it most.
Schools and college’s ability to offer
individual tailored services will set them
apart from the MOOCs. To do this they
must make sense of the data they retain
about their students. A school might, for
example, use information on a student’s
attendance and grades to flag up a need
for additional support. This helps ensure
every student attains predefined levels
of skills and competences, enhancing
the school’s reputation in a climate of
increasing competition.
The role of universities is changing
too: they're becoming ecosystems,
blurring their boundaries with large scale
enterprises through offering co-innovation,
innovation hubs and a safe harbor for
start-ups. As universities become innovative
job creation engines they will need to
change their business models and financial
structures.
Many universities already collect vast
amounts of data for scientific and research
purposes. Open Data initiatives, which focus
‘‘Schools and colleges ability to offer individual
tailored services will set them apart from the
MOOCs. To do this they must make sense of the data
they retain about their students.’’
on making previously inaccessible learning
analytics data openly available, offer
new business opportunities, specifically
intelligence services related to this data: its
analysis, prediction and the detection of
patterns. Examples might include a service
that analyzes environmental data to predict
major natural events such as tsunamis or
to understand the environmental impact
of working oil platforms and identify
measures that will reduce any impacts.
Operational
Excellence
The education environment is incredibly
exciting, but also incredibly tough thanks to
budget constraints. Schools must continue
to improve the quality of education without
raising costs. Digital technologies have
become key to delivering more and better
education for less. Conversely, just keeping
up with today’s fast-changing technology
domains can be costly.
The demands on teachers are becoming
more complex. Teachers are not only
finding it increasingly difficult to manage
their agendas as education becomes
more personalized, they're expected
to be sensitive to culture and gender
issues, respond to students with learning
or behavioral difficulties and adopt new
technologies – all while keeping pace with
developments in their field of knowledge.
As schools transition from a static
bricks-and-mortar to a blended learning
environment, the school building becomes
an environment for face-to-face social
networking. As they modernize and
harmonize, educational establishments are
Education
looking to make better use of their legacy
classrooms and libraries. Proposals include
everything from transforming them into
new formats of learning spaces that enable
complementary learning to selling them or
hiring them out to raise additional funds.
Flexible infrastructures keep education
establishment agile, better able to keep
up with new trends and adopt new
technologies as they emerge. After all, the
z-generation won’t tolerate anything less
than a modern, flexible environment that
empowers them to take control of their
learning.
Trust and
Compliance
Schools are increasingly creating their own
IT-based educational environment, where
students have to register to use the school’s
learning material and communicate with
teachers, schedule exam or get their
results. To keep all this data safe and
ensure the availability of their services,
educational establishments must protect
this environment from the increasingly
diverse cyber threats. Cyber-attacks need
to be foreseen, understood and prevented.
Prevention plans should include recovery
measures that will minimize impact in the
event of an attack.
And as students bring their own devices
into the physical and virtual classroom,
schools have to grapple with new security
challenges. They must ensure their
infrastructure has adequate security
measures in place to allow diverse new
devices to enter their networks.
Ascent Look Out 87
Education

As they move to a more virtual

environment, educational establishments
must also continue to keep students safe
within their physical spaces. Preventing
violence – particularly gun and knife crime
– from both internal and external felons
remains on the agenda.

Professors, staff and students also expect

to have adequate privacy, preventing
their personal and sensitive information
being used for commercial purposes.
Children (and proud parents) are equally
keen to protect all the things they have
created during their school life – from their
kindergarten drawings to graduate thesis.
After all, moving to a digital environment
shouldn’t prevent the next generation from
saving their school memories.

As students increasingly look to take

advantage of the growing range of courses
made available and accessible through the
internet, educational bodies will need to
explore how they ensure remote courses
fit into their grading systems. In the future
they may need to look deeper into how
they decide which establishments they can
trust and how they establish that a certain
set of courses provides a level and mix of
learning aligned to a particular student
achievement award.

88 #AscentLookOut
 Education

Mainstream
5G networks Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging
Self-adaptive security

Prescriptive
analytics
Cloud Service
Integration

Distributed analytics

Internet of Things Virtual assistants

Privacy-
Pattern-matching enhancing technologies
Context- technologies
rich systems Semantic technologies
Innovation value webs
Augmented reality

Wearable computing 3D printing

Robotics
Gamification
Haptic
technologies
Mobile and social Hybrid cloud
media apps

2016 2017 2018 2019+

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers networks mean they can participate from

almost anywhere.
Digital identities provide a vital role in
enabling educational establishments
to work together to deliver the digital
3D printing
Augmented reality classroom, with cloud-based federated
3D printing helps students understand
Game-based learning approaches and identity services securing and simplifying
the complex processes of composition
visualization technologies – including virtual the extension of identity and access
and design, which are part of science,
worlds, virtual reality, augmented reality management beyond individual
technology, engineering and math.
and fully immersive environments such educational establishments. In addition,
Introducing robotics into their 3D printing
as caves and domes – engage learners national bodies depend on them for
design helps learners to understand
of all ages and levels. Medical students, filing exams. And institutions are working
complex mathematical concepts as well
for example, use immersive technology harder to ensure they have robust security
as basic and advanced electronics. It also
simulations to learn their craft. management systems in place.
helps to develop creative attitudes and
competences that will eventually contribute
Cloud Service Integration Context-rich systems
to fostering the learners’ interest in science
As the numbers and types of devices Designed around the user experience,
and innovation.
participating expand, interaction patterns context-rich systems bring together
between cloud components and students insight from diverse systems in the
5G networks
have become even more complex. Cloud learning environment to tailor contents and
Highly-integrated hyper-collaboration
Service Integration allows educational learning experiences to students’ needs
technologies such as video conferencing
services from diverse educational on the fly. These systems make content
and unified communications allow teachers
establishments to be seamlessly connected and experience more student-centric by,
and students to collaborate in real time.
across a multitude of devices to provide a for example, enabling adaptive learning:
New low power, extended range 5G
truly blended learning experience. adjusting materials according to the

Ascent Look Out 89

Education
information gathered on anything from
a student’s performance, learning pace
and learning preferences to their location,
device-type and network capabilities.
Distributed analytics
Diverse sources of data are processed
across diverse systems to provide a single
view of the student, their performance,
behaviors, needs and desires that is
more comprehensive than ever before.
Distributed analytics provides teachers
with the insight they need to offer
students with a personalized, meaningful
and engaging learning experience. For
educational institutions it provides the
insight needed to optimize the different
organizational aspects of learning from
learning spaces to resources.
Local education authorities are also
leveraging distributed analytics for
assessing and planning communities’
educational needs. By combining data
from schools and GP practices, and taking
into account migration and new housing
developments, amongst other things,
they're making real-time forecasts for pupil
numbers.
Gamification
Introducing gaming mechanisms into
the learning experience, also known as
gamification, motivates students to want
to learn, to take ownership of their learning
and to maintain their focus on the learning
task in hand. Students are learning about
concepts in the real world by solving
riddles and experiencing simulated
situations. Role-playing games allow
teachers to experience difficult situations
and learn to manage them.
Haptic technologies
Wearable haptic technologies ensure very
young children also benefit from digital
learning. These technologies provide a fun
way to engage in real life experiences and
to learn about the world around them.
Hybrid cloud
Education institutions are increasingly
adopting hybrid cloud services to enhance
the student experience by augmenting
learning resources offered through internal
private clouds with the myriad of learning
resources available on public cloud
infrastructures.
Innovation Value Webs
As educational establishments across
the globe increase their collaboration,
innovation value webs provide an ideal
90 #AscentLookOut
platform for creating, sharing and refining
ideas and materials.
Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) connects
students’ devices to cloud services and
educational assets. Their wearable devices
might, for example, provide access to
school premises, specific rooms or even
individual pieces of equipment. The
data shared ensures computer settings
automatically reflect the individual student’s
needs when they log in, providing larger
fonts for a visually impaired student for
example.
Mobile and social media apps
Students are increasingly learning about
specific topics by watching online videos
outside of the classroom, then making the
most of class time for engaging face-to-face
discussions with their peers and for seeking
teachers’ guidance on specific matters – the
flipped classroom. Mobile and social media
apps deliver learning content to students’
mobile devices through the cloud.
Pattern-matching technologies
Schools are able to make informed
decisions around what works best for each
student or when intervention is required,
for example. As part of the learning
analytics approach, pattern-matching
technologies help schools identify specific
behavior patterns that might indicate a
need for additional educational support or
that a student is being affected by events
outside of school.
Prescriptive analytics
Rather than allowing problems to escalate,
a predictive model can forecast students’
results and alert staff of potential issues.
The other element of learning analytics,
prescriptive analytics, goes beyond
predictive models by showing the likely
outcome of one or more possible courses
of action.
Prescriptive analytics is also helping
students make the best choices for new
learning and future careers. Time spent and
results achieved will lead to suggestions
for jobs and career paths when most
students don’t know what they want to do
or become.
Privacy-enhancing technologies
As students share more information
on social media and with public sector
organizations they will be looking to
ensure that the information they supply is
appropriately protected. Social media, in
particular, brings new security challenges
such as identity theft, hacking and the theft
of intellectual property. Privacy-enhancing
technologies (PET) control disclosure of
data, helping educational establishments
to manage privacy risk by ensuring
compliance with data protection legislation
and regulation.
Robotics
Introducing robotics to learning is an
effective way of introducing programming
to very young learners, contributing
to the acquisition of a set of skills and
competences that will be mandatory for
their future employment. Robots also help
learners with different types of abilities or
special needs.
Self-adaptive security
Students – and in some instances their
guardians – are able to access information
to help them appreciate their progress
and also to ensure support at home is
aligned with learning in the classroom.
Self-adaptive security with its dynamic
access control capabilities ensures
teachers, students and parents alike have
access to the classrooms, information and
systems they need to access, but only
when they need it and on the devices
where they need it. Schools may want, for
example, to prevent students’ exam results
or progress from being accessible on their
smartphones to minimize opportunities for
school bullies.
Semantic technologies
Behind the scenes semantic technologies
help intelligent systems to understand the
relationships within and across data.
Virtual assistants
Innovations, such as virtual assistants,
provide students with the advice they need,
when they need it. They have an important
role to play in remote locations or where
the student is unable to access a teacher
directly – for example if they're learning
from home while they're recovering from
an illness.
Wearable computing
In the case of social media apps, the
surrounding social media environment
offers a platform for students to share their
thoughts, concerns and ideas. As such,
learning can take place anytime and on
any device – from desktops and laptops to
tablets, smartphones and even wearables.
Whatever the device, learning should be
accessible to all – including those with
visual, movement or hearing impairments,
or any other disabilities.
 Education

Key Enablers in Education

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3D printing Internet of Things

Mobile and social media

5G networks
apps

Augmented reality Pattern-matching

technologies

Cloud Service
Integration Prescriptive analytics

Privacy-enhancing
Context-rich systems
technologies

Distributed analytics Robotics

Gamification Self-adaptive security

Haptic technologies Semantic technologies

Hybrid cloud Virtual assistants

Innovation Value Webs Wearable computing

Ascent Look Out 91

Market views

Government

Rising expectations of hyper-connected Use of e-gov services expected

citizens to triple
Digital by default could bring €10bn in
Growing security and privacy concerns
annual savings
Governments becoming solution 90% of jobs will require some level of
enablers digital skills
Balancing personalized and lean 47% of EU population is not properly
services digitally skilled

Key Market Challenges

Customer digital experience. Delivered through a

Experience
The modern public service views the
citizen as a customer: a consumer whose
respect, satisfaction and loyalty are
fundamental. Meanwhile, our modern
society demands that the citizen has the
right to be protected – regardless of age,
gender, location or origins - a contribution
to make and obligations to fulfill.
Citizens themselves are changing too; their
interests, preferences and capabilities are
quite different from what they were just a
few years ago. They're more tech-savvy,
own more and smarter devices, and expect
services to be engaging, personalized and
available whenever and wherever they're
needed. At the same time, populations are
aging, the number of single households
is rising and growing migration means
populations are growing in some regions as
talent moves in and declining in others as it
moves out.
Citizens and businesses are increasingly
expecting their engagement with
government to be on par with the
consumer market. This means
governments need to ensure relevant
services and information are not only
readily available online, but easy to find
and easy to use on any desktop or mobile
device. Designed with accessibility in
mind, everybody must be able to access
the resources they need, regardless of a
disability.
As a consequence, governments’ digital
strategies are shifting from bringing single
services online toward a more holistic
single point of engagement and tailored
to individual needs and behaviors, it
empowers citizens by making it easier to
access the services and information they
need. For governments, it allows them
to build a deeper relationship with their
citizens while reducing the administrative
burden.
Citizens expect to have to share their
information with government only once, to
receive a consistent service and seamless
experience across all departments, public
services and different governmental
organizations. Today, governments are
striving to obtain a 360° view on their
citizens and society. Without it departments
will struggle to deliver the engaging,
personalized and familiar services their
citizens are demanding.
What’s more, today’s smart devices
and social technologies are changing
the relationship between citizens and
the government bodies they have
elected. All these new technologies and
communications platforms amplify the
voice of the citizen. Civil servants are
more highly scrutinized than ever before.
Any infringement of the law or moral and
ethics can create an avalanche of public
discontentment.
Business
Reinvention
As we move to a more digitized world,
the role of governments is changing.
Governments are not simply digital
transformation facilitators and the
governors that ensure legitimate use of
data; they're also digital technology users,
leveraging it for reinventing their services
and enhancing their economies.
In Europe, for example, the European Digital
Single Market (DSM) aims to enhance
Europe's position as a world leader in the
digital economy by improving access to
digital goods and services across Europe
and helping innovative digital networks and
services to flourish. It does, however, need
a European push on defining standards
and encouraging interoperability. Standards
are currently defined by industries
organizations, and often outside of Europe.
The roles of government institutions are
changing too. As books become e-books
accessed online, the role of the library must
evolve too, for example. Local governments
need to redefine the role played by current
institutions in the modern world and create
new institutions to fill any gaps.
Government agencies must also explore
how to make best use of the growing
volumes of citizen data. Combining data
held on diverse systems across agencies
will allow them to create deeper insights
that will enable them to both make more
informed decisions and operate in new
ways. It will also help pinpoint citizens who
are not meeting their obligations – such
as paying their taxes or attending school –
and identify citizens who are most at risk so
they can be offered the support they need.
The rise in public/private collaboration is
accelerating and, to some extent, redefining
the economic options open to public sector
organizations. Relationships between
collaborating enterprises are shifting from
capital-intensive to operationally-linked

92 #AscentLookOut

Egbert-Jan Niels de Schutter
Koekkoek Global Head of
Director Business Public & Health
Development Central Solutions
Government
economic models. In the public sector,
where tax remains the prime funding
source, this is critical. New multi-sided
business models see governments
as either the market place provider –
providing security or privacy governance,
for example – or being a simple customer,
cross-funding large infrastructure projects,
electronic identification projects and more.
Operational
Excellence
Governments must continue to deliver
more with less; to do that they must rethink
their operational and delivery models.
Automating core processes will play a
key part in ensuring services are well-
organized and cost-effective by enhancing
appointment scheduling, optimizing case
management or eliminating manual data
entry tasks.
Automation could also help the judicial
system that is already under pressure and
seeing delays in cases, for instance. The
vast volumes of documents associated
with cases could be automatically uploaded
and organized to accelerate case resolution
times and make more efficient use of
resources.
To maximize its full potential, automation
needs full end-to-end integration across
the government ecosystem. Beyond
simply saving time and money, automation
will also ensure services are delivered
consistently and at a very high level.
Across all public sector organizations,
from school and hospitals to governing
‘‘Government agencies must also explore how to
make best use of the growing volumes of citizen
data. Combining data held on diverse systems
across agencies will allow them to create deeper
insights that will enable them to both make more
informed decisions and operate in new ways.’’
bodies, there's pressure for change. While
centralized services can be delivered more
efficiently, benefitting from economies of
scale, centralization also has its drawbacks:
citizens feel alienated having to travel to
hospitals outside of their community or
taking their children to bigger, specialized
academies further away from home. The
swing back from big to small is underway,
specifically with public sector budgets
becoming more regionalized.
Today’s governments have to exercise
a difficult balance between providing
services that are engaging and
personalized and providing services
that are agile and lean. Modernized
governmental institutions shall have to find
a way to do this. Controlling and creating a
360° view of the citizen might be possible
for now, but may later backfire because of
privacy concerns.
Trust and
Compliance
Government and governance are bound
together and we need to be able to
implement decisions for the common good
at both a national and international level.
With new international legislation emerging
all the time, national government must
be able to plan and implement regulatory
change smoothly. Around Europe, EU
members who are regularly finding
themselves facing hefty fines from non-
compliance are looking for more freedom
to choose which laws they abide by at EU-
level and which they abide by locally.
Future government legislations might
Government
boost citizen empowerment, allowing
individuals to control how their personal
data held by private sector organizations is
used. Transparency and innovation will help
companies boost their innovation activities.
In the UK the ‘mydata’ initiative is opening
up the data held by businesses, giving the
individual access to their personal data
– such as energy usage, credit card fees,
phone tariffs and weekly spend – so they
can make more informed decisions.
The ways people need to be protected are
changing. In an increasingly connected
world, citizens expect governments to
safeguard their data, their communications
and their services. The confidentiality,
integrity and availability of information
are more crucial than ever before. Citizens
expect governments to not only prevent
breaches that could see their personal
information fall into the hands of fraudsters,
but ensure digital services remain available
on any channel they may choose to
interact.
But it’s not just the citizen that is at risk –
national security is also at stake. If critical
national infrastructure – such as hospital,
energy or transport communications or
IT systems – is not adequately protected,
cybercriminals could cause major havoc –
and even put lives in danger. Governments
must continue to keep ahead of new
technologies before fraudsters and
cybercriminals, in particular, can evolve
their activities.
In the sharing economy, governments are
finding it more difficult to keep track of
their citizen’s activities. New peer-to-peer
consumer business models mean it's not
clear who is working where or selling what,
for example. The potential for
Ascent Look Out 93
Government

citizens to evade their tax and regulatory

responsibilities has heightened.

From the global to the individual level,

sustainability is now climbing the agenda
as people begin to experience the
impact of climate change for themselves.
Sustainability is achieved partly through
regulation and partly through public
consciousness. The public sector must
design and deliver sustainable services by
addressing environmental, economic and
social impact as society changes.

Equally, public and private sector

organizations must work together to
develop strategies to minimize the negative
impact of human activity on the planet,
increasing energy efficiency and reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.

94 #AscentLookOut
 Government

Mainstream
Early adoption
5G networks
Adolescent
Emerging

Privacy-enhancing
technologies
Web-scale computing

Prescriptive analytics

Internet of Context-rich
Things systems Intelligence amplification
Edge computing
Distributed
analytics
Cloud Service
Integration
Wearable computing
Cyber physical
systems
Sentiment Autonomous vehicles
analytics
Hybrid cloud Augmented
Open Data reality
Mobile and social
media apps
2016 2017 2018 2019+
© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers engaging with, either face-to-face or over

the phone. Embedded cameras relay
may also be used to protect access to
government buildings and assets and
pictures back to base to record activities or also public services across borders. Cloud
5G networks
tap into the insight of an expert or senior Service Integration with its federated
New low power, extended range 5G
manager. identity services simplifies the extension of
networks rolled out across both rural
identity and access management beyond
and urban areas ensure all citizens are
Autonomous vehicles national public sector boundaries, into the
connected and can access government
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are also workflows of private-sector businesses
resources wherever and whenever they
helping to monitor critical infrastructure and overseas public sector organizations,
need to. The digitally literate government
and government assets. Often referred to improving the mobility of citizens.
workforce, from frontline workers to
simply as ‘drones’, these UAVs have relieved
the highest executives, also relies on
engineers from hazardous inspection Context-rich systems
5G networks for the more mobile and
activities. Onboard cameras relay videos The citizen and employee experience
accessible work environment, which has
and photos to the operator, while sensors is integrated across every channel
increased productivity significantly over
gather data on the environment – on of interaction. It's not only seamless
recent years.
temperature and air quality, for example. and consistent across all services; it's
convenient and personalized. Online
Augmented reality
Cloud Service Integration services are augmented by situational
Government employees across numerous
Both citizens and government employees context and real-time interactions. Behind
agencies can access vital information
depend on electronic identification (e- the scenes, context-rich systems combine
hands-free through modern wearable
ID) for ensuring their access to online intelligence from diverse systems to
devices, improving productivity.
government resources is secure no proactively anticipate citizens’ specific
Augmented reality provides detailed
matter which device or channel they needs. They ensure the resources needed
information on the individual they're
choose to interact on. These identities are highly visible when needed, adjusting

Ascent Look Out 95

Government
content based on device-type, network and
input capabilities.
Cyber-physical systems
Body cams worn by law enforcement
agencies not only provide video images
of any police interactions, they're linked
with wearables that monitor the well-being
of the constable. These cyber-physical
systems (CPS) both monitor and control
the physical environment. Any signs of
distress and these smart systems can
automatically call for back-up, medical
assistance or automatically divert traffic
away from an area by interacting with
smart traffic controls.
Distributed analytics
Analytics running across diverse systems
in different departments provide a near
360° view of the citizen to individual
government agencies. Distributed
analytics helps ensure each engages with
the citizen consistently, more personally
and appropriately. This comprehensive
view of the citizen allows departments to
make informed decisions on the care they
need to provide to vulnerable citizens, for
example, or whether to take a tougher
approach with individuals who have
failed to comply with a number of other
departments.
Edge computing
Some governments are leveraging edge
computing to process that data close
to the point of capture to make real-
time assessments about what actions
they should take. Running constantly
in the background and embedded into
business processes, it processes sensor
and environmental data. Edge computing
proved particularly useful in emergency
situations where it adjusts activities on the
fly as events unfold, requesting the expert
resources needed or reprioritizing activities.
Hybrid cloud
Already on the landscape, cloud computing
has just touched the tip of the iceberg
when it comes to the role it will play in
public sector. Cloud enables organizations
across public sector to share resources,
reducing costs and providing access to
additional resources as required. Hybrid
cloud allows governments to combine
internal private clouds with external cloud-
based environments.
Intelligence amplification
Decision-making has also been greatly
enhanced through intelligence
amplification, which requires public
96 #AscentLookOut
sector employees to interpret and react
to the broader context of intelligence
derived through advanced analytics and
machine learning. Computer-generated
analytics might, for example, highlight
an increase in the number of people
missing appointments. Only a human can
correctly interpret the data; a machine is
unlikely to understand the wider context
and realize this is likely to be a temporary
glitch connected to the current football
championship.
Internet of Things
5G enables more simultaneous
connections, ensuring connectivity for
the growing base of intelligent objects.
These have been combined with traditional
internet and IT systems and modern social
media sources, amongst other things, to
create a smart city based on the Internet
of Things (IoT). Sensors placed in lantern
poles or the ground monitor availability
of on-street parking places throughout
the city. Smartphone apps guide drivers
to available parking places, minimizing
the time spent looking for a suitable spot,
reducing traffic and pollution. At the same
time the use of available on-street parking
capacity is maximized and thus income
from parking fees.
Mobile and social media apps
Diverse governmental services will soon
all be available online, through mobile and
social media apps as well as web pages.
Open Data
Governments are embracing the economic
value of opening up data through Open
Data initiatives. To make it accessible open
data should be in a standardized format,
easy to link to, with guaranteed availability
and consistency over time. It should also be
easily traceable so that it can be trusted.
Prescriptive analytics
Combined with prescriptive analytics,
UAVs play a role in maintaining and
extending the life of the country’s assets.
In the Netherlands, for example, UAVs
transmit diagnostics data from dykes
back to a central control center. Advanced
analytics determine maintenance
requirements and prescribe a course
of action that will ensure the dykes are
repaired before they fail while, at the same
time, avoiding unnecessary maintenance.
Privacy-enhancing technologies
With a more rounded view of the citizen
now available, privacy-enhancing
technologies are helping to ensure
governance around citizen privacy.
Sentiment analytics
Governments began leveraging social
media some years ago to help them
engage more deeply with their citizens.
Social media not only provides citizens
with a platform where they can express
their needs, desires and concerns, it also
allows governments to present information
from different departments as a single
communication and provides a platform for
politicians to canvas opinions on proposals
or policy initiatives. Furthermore, advanced
social media analytics with its sentiment
analytics provides governments with
deeper insight into the needs and desires
of different segments of the population.
Forward thinking departments and
politicians listen and actively innovate
based on what they learn.
Wearable computing
Citizens can interact with government
departments at any time, from anywhere,
on any channel, using any device – from
tablets and laptops to smartphones
and wearables – without having to visit
government offices in person.
Web-scale computing
Governments are progressing toward
web-scale computing with its highly
scalable, inexpensive open source-based
hardware, integrated computer resources
and self-healing capabilities. Its operational
simplicity allows departments to be
more agile while optimizing investments.
Cloud adoption was their first step in this
direction.
 Government

Key Enablers in Government

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Intelligence
5G networks amplification

Augmented reality Internet of Things

Mobile and social media

Autonomous vehicles
apps

Cloud Service
Open Data
Integration

Context-rich systems Prescriptive analytics

Privacy-enhancing
Cyber physical systems
technologies

Distributed analytics Sentiment analytics

Edge computing Wearable computing

Hybrid cloud Web-scale computing

Ascent Look Out 97

Market views

Healthcare

63% believe online is best for booking Shift toward patient-centered, value-
appointments based healthcare
70% using digital channels for medical Patients increasingly using digital for
education healthcare
63% prefer a single app for holding all Patient generated & genomic data
their data spurring innovation
Digital may reduce European Growing health needs of an aging
healthcare costs by 10% global population

Key Market Challenges

Customer The average life expectancy is increasing in

Experience
People’s attitudes to healthcare are
changing. Instead of ’just’ getting treatment
for their illnesses, people are taking
responsibility for their own wellbeing and
want to be empowered to make informed
choices about their healthcare, especially
when they have chronic health conditions.
They might appreciate tools such as
personalized health portals that provide
access to information about their condition,
including videos, chat and the opportunity
to share experiences and information on
treatments with other patients.
Increasingly engaged people are also
appreciating how preventive healthcare
reduces incidents of ill-health, choosing
ambulant healthcare in favor of clinical
healthcare and opting for more treatments
to be carried out from home. Insurance
companies, for example, are testing
win-win models that reward customers
leading a healthier lifestyle that will prevent
future ill-health. Personal real-time health
monitors, amongst other things, provide
the data required to determine whether the
customers are making the lifestyle changes
required.
Patients’ expectations around the quality
of healthcare services are rising too.
They’re looking for personalized services
and support that deliver improved
outcomes, self-service tools and a seamless
experience anytime, anywhere. Gaining a
360° view of patients is vital for delivering
the engaging, tailored and consistent
experience today’s patients expect – both
online and in the physical world.
many regions of the world and with it the
occurrence of chronic illness. According to
the World Health Organization, in 2013 life
expectancy at birth for both sexes globally
was 71 years – a global increase of six years
since 1990.
Senior citizens have some specific needs
that need to be addressed: they're more
likely to need prompting to take medication
and attend appointments, to experience
loneliness and to find themselves in critical
situations where they need immediate help.
When full recovery is not possible, the
focus turns to quality of life. Raising the
quality of day-to-day activities becomes
more important than ever before. This
requires an ecosystem that connects all of
assistance needs for the elderly and infirm
– from their health, care, medication and
nutrition to their appointments, finances
and social lives – and allows friends and
relatives to take more responsibility for their
care.
Meanwhile, the healthcare workforce
is gaining the better understanding of
patients’ individual needs that is vital for
improving the quality of healthcare. Health
service providers are changing from
siloed patient administrators to holistic
medication managers. They have the
more complete understanding of each
patient that is vital for determining the best
solution. Providers are moving toward a
precision medicine model where healthcare
– including all decisions, treatments and
products – are tailored to the individual
patient, based on their genetics.
Giving patients the opportunity to provide
real-time feedback will help ensure their
healthcare experience is improved before
the end of an encounter. In addition,
transparent clinical performance data
allows patients to make informed decisions
about their care and, at the same time,
helps improve clinical performance.
Business
Reinvention
Healthcare is a sector in transformation.
Patients are better-informed and focusing
on preventive healthcare, treatment
processes are more complex, healthcare
workers have more real-time data and
the administration workload is heavier.
To be effective and efficient in delivering
healthcare that matches higher patient
expectations, healthcare providers must
create a new business model – a model for
empowered health provision.
Some countries are building new facilities
to allow primary, hospital and social care
to be organized and delivered centrally.
Services from smaller general healthcare
facilities are being transferred to larger
establishments, bringing everything –
including all funding – together. There are
synergies to be gained by centralizing
support functions or, depending on scale,
organizing them in a shared service center.
Economies of scale allow services to
be delivered more efficiently and cost-
effectively.
On the other side, countries are also
building more specialized care capabilities,
often as satellite facilities. Collaboration
between these specialist healthcare
facilities is increasing. University clinics

98 #AscentLookOut

‘‘Providers are moving toward a precision medicine model where
healthcare – including all decisions, treatments and products – are
tailored to the individual patient, based on their genetics.’’
Ruud van der Loo
Vice President, Global
Healthcare Market
are coming closer together too, creating
concentration within each specialism.
The relationship between the healthcare
provider – general practitioner, hospital
or other provider – and equipment
supplier is evolving too. New ecosystems
are emerging, with business models
that are reevaluating who actually owns
the medical device, who pays for its
support and maintenance, and how risk is
distributed.
Both the centralized and the specialist
services models allow health and social
care providers to come together to
exchange information and deliver the
truly joined-up services that both improve
outcomes and cut cost. An eHealth
solution that shares real-time data across
patient pathways, for example, makes early
diagnosis and disease prevention possible.
Risk can be assessed more accurately
and providers can deliver the proactive
personalized care patients expect.
Collaboration across new, broader
healthcare ecosystems that include both
public and private sector organizations
is accelerating technology and process
innovation, disrupting traditional
business models. New performance-
based drug reimbursement models offer
pharmaceutical companies a higher
reimbursement rate for better results. In
this model the pharma carries the risk.
Meanwhile, the Virtual Physiological Human
(VPH) methodology and technological
framework, for example, aims to enable
collaborative investigation of the human
body as a single complex system. A new
approach integrates the huge volumes of
biomedical research and clinical practice
information produced to help simplify its
transformation into integrated knowledge.
Hospitals already collect vast amounts
of insightful eHealth data. They might
consider monetizing anonymized health
records, offering new services that
make previously inaccessible data more
available. Examples might include offering
anonymized patient data to pharmaceutical
companies who might use it to search for
intelligence that might be developed to
improve procedures or treatments.
Operational
Excellence
Demographic changes, continuous
innovation and growing regulations
are putting pressure on the financial
sustainability of healthcare systems. With
demand growing fast and resources
limited, these systems are under immense
stress, particularly in developed countries.
Healthcare providers need to do more
with less. Increasing convergence between
cure and care organizations is helping. Co-
operation is of strategic importance; it will
ensure effort is not duplicated and, in doing
so, optimize use of valuable resources –
particularly doctors and ambulances.
Major improvements in the way care is
organized, via care pathways amongst
other things, are minimizing patient
throughput times. Integrated care is
becoming the norm across patients, rooms,
beds, materials and staff. It also includes
integration with family, social services and
the other relevant actors in an individual’s
continuum of care that are important for
Healthcare
creating a sustainable system. Patients
would also benefit from research and
clinical trials activities currently included
within research pathways at academic
hospitals being connected to their care
pathways.
An integrated and transparent eHealth
solution is needed that encompasses all
stakeholders, from citizen to professional.
But, at present, the wider health ecosystem
lacks any mature business model
connecting all these parts. Interaction
between organizations within the
ecosystem must be straightforward. After
all, interoperability is vital for delivering
effective healthcare.
The growing digitization of all healthcare
processes and technologies is helping
to improve patient outcomes, simplify
healthcare processes and shorten cycles.
eHealth is already boosting efficiency,
increasing agility and reducing cost –
which in turn allows providers to fund
innovation to improve their services further.
Electronic healthcare records, for example,
give providers the more complete patient
information that enables them to make
well-informed treatment decisions quickly
and safely. Providers have come a long way
already, but there's more to be done.
Automation will play a key part in
ensuring services are well-organized and
cost-effective. But to maximize its full
potential, automation needs full end-to-
end integration across the healthcare
ecosystem. Beyond simply saving time
and money, automation will also ensure
services are delivered consistently and
at a very high level. However, existing IT
solutions are often specific to a particular
organization or function, and that results in
Ascent Look Out 99
Healthcare
information silos and business processes
that are not sufficiently integrated.
Even though the cost of overhead and
support processes will decrease over
time, state healthcare provision, based on
taxation alone, is no longer sustainable.
Sustainable healthcare requires a mix of
public and private services. Interaction
between public and private providers
reduces costs, opens access to specialized
capabilities and makes services more
scalable. In many countries there are
already a lot of public/private initiatives,
with the state withdrawing more and more.
Trust and
Compliance
For most people, there's one aspect of
life that takes priority over all the rest:
their health. That’s why we want to have
confidence in our healthcare systems,
both today and into the future. Healthcare
legislators, funders and service providers
need to be able to guarantee the availability
and quality of healthcare provision for the
population.
People, assets and infrastructure must be
secured from known and emerging threats
100 #AscentLookOut
across both physical and virtual worlds personal control and integrity of health
throughout all hours of the day and night. data before developing any new services
A combination of regulatory pressures, that require targeted promotion of relevant
operational cost and patient expectations health and care services or proactive
has led healthcare providers to adopt a sharing of personal healthcare data with
proactive stance in both physical and cyber chosen providers.
security.
At the same time, information provenance
The personal and sensitive nature of becomes paramount. As more and more
patient data means that all healthcare people turn to the internet to source
providers must consider its confidentiality, information about their condition, they
integrity and availability as part of the need ways to ensure it comes from a
same process. In some countries, patients reliable and trusted source.
are concerned about the digitization of
their personal health information; but their
concerns are diminishing as they become
accustomed to sharing more and more
information online in return for value-added
services. Sharing personal health data
with their wearable device manufacturer
in return for analysis on their fitness is one
such example.
New security solutions will be critical for
ensuring people can access data and
suites of tools when they need them,
regardless of where data sources are
located. The security, reliability and integrity
of information becomes even more crucial
as patients gain direct control over what
their personal data can be used for and
with whom it can be shared. To that end,
healthcare providers need to ensure
 Healthcare

Mainstream
3D printing
Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging

Distributed
analytics
Virtual assistants
Privacy-enhancing
technologies
Smart Edge computing
machines
Internet of
Things Advanced data
Wearable visualization
computing Prescriptive Semantic
High performance analytics technologies
computing Augmented Robotics
Streaming reality
analytics Cloud Service Integration
Mobile apps
Pattern-matching
Multi-factor technologies
authentication Gamification
Telemedicine

Social media
analytics Intelligence
Near field amplification
communication
2016 2017 2018 2019+
© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers specific drug, physicians can predict how

the patient’s body is likely to react.
brought together by Cloud Service
Integration.
3D printing
Augmented reality Distributed analytics
Customized implants have significantly
Augmented reality delivers patients To deliver patient-centric, real-time
improved outcomes from everyday
personalized self-management guidance healthcare, all health and social workers
surgery. 3D printing produces one-off
– such as reminders to take medication – involved in each patient’s care need to have
patient-specific devices that precisely
through wearable glasses. During surgery, a single, consistent and up-to-date 360°
mimic the curves and surface of the part
augmented reality provides the surgeon view of the patient, their treatment, their
they're replacing, such as a knee, to ensure
with information on vital signs such as needs and their behaviors. Distributed
a perfect fit. These inexpensive devices
heart rate and the blood pressure. analytics provides a comprehensive view
reduce the amount of post-surgery therapy
of the patient that allows departments
required and allow the patient to get back
Cloud Service Integration to make informed decisions on their
to normal activity levels much faster than
Situation-aware federated identity treatment and care.
with off-the-shelf implants.
governance will help secure eHealth
platforms, providing secure federated Edge computing
Advanced data visualization Edge computing enables smart devices to
access to patient information across silos:
Simulations that leverage 3D visualization process their critical data near to its source
between hospitals’ departments and
technologies give physicians a better to maximize security, optimize bandwidth
practitioners’ offices for example. In the
indication of likely outcomes. By taking a and ensure it’s available in real time.
future, trusted information brokers will act
simulation of a heart, adapting it to model
as a central verification service to avoid
a specific person and then simulating
the need for individual registration and
the administration of a specific dose of a
authentication of individual cloud services

Ascent Look Out 101

Healthcare
Gamification
Age-related physical and cognitive
impairments are being improved with
the help of personalized, serious games:
gamification. Results are monitored
to maintain continuous improvement
in an environment where users can
compete with each other to increase their
motivation.
High performance computing
With the volumes, variety and velocity
of data accelerating, high performance
computing is needed for handling the
complex simulations and analyses that are
vital for the diagnostic testing required to
select therapies in a precision approach to
medicine.
Intelligence amplification
As the pace at which medical and social
science advances accelerates, health and
care workers are increasingly adopting
intelligence amplification techniques to
help them keep up to date with the latest
thinking. This field of technology allows
the medical community to augment their
personal expertise with an easy-to-interpret
advanced analysis of the latest research
findings or case histories.
Internet of Things
Connectivity is driving the rise of patient-
centric, real-time healthcare that is
empowering patients and enhancing
efficiency in a new ways, allowing doctors
to treat patients remotely, for example.
Intelligence from smart devices is now
combined with information from numerous
other diverse sources – from electronic
patient records to information on rooms,
beds, materials and staff – in the Internet of
Things (IoT).
Outside of the hospital itself, the IoT is vital
for providing the integrated care – including
the connected assistance – that is critical
for ensuring the elderly and infirm can
live independently. Connected assistance
not only monitors the individual’s health, it
provides access to carers and reduces the
number of visits to the doctor’s surgery.
Mobile apps
New technologies are empowering people
with age-related dependencies to live
independently for longer. Fully voice-
controlled, easy-to-use mobile apps have a
very high end-user acceptance. They also
foster active participation in society for
the aging population by suggesting and
managing events and social contacts.
102 #AscentLookOut
Multi-factor authentication
Next generation access management
will generalize adaptive multi-factor
authentication, leveraging smart cards,
RFID badges and biometric readers to
provide access to mobile devices such as
tablets, bedside terminals in hospitals, kiosk
workstations shared by medical personnel
and more.
Near field communication
Smart medical devices are using
embedded Bluetooth and near field
communication (NFC) technologies
to connect to other medical devices or
computing platforms, such as tablets,
smartphones and computers. Doctors and
other healthcare professionals use NFC to
gain access to information about a specific
patient and to log when they visit a patient
or administer drugs as they do their rounds
on the ward.
Pattern-matching technologies
The medical community is turning to
pattern-matching technologies such as
deep learning to help them understand
and predict the spread of viruses. These
technologies help to identify hidden
transmission patterns and identify
behaviors that help reduce the risk of
infection or minimize the impact of a
disease.
Prescriptive analytics
Advanced analysis of the up-to-date 360°
view of an individual, which also includes
their genetic profile, gives physicians a
better understanding of a person’s risk
whenever they see them. Prescriptive
analytics takes this comprehensive picture
and combines it with described symptoms,
treatments and known outcomes to
prescribe the best course of action. It's
even employed as a more general tool
to suggest what a person should do to
minimize their risk of becoming ill in the
future.
Privacy-enhancing technologies
With more and more patient data digitized
and shared across departments, privacy-
enhancing technologies are helping
providers manage privacy risk by ensuring
compliance with data protection legislation
and regulation.
Robotics
Advances in robotics aid people with
amputations, making prosthetic limbs react
in a more personal and lifelike way. In the
early phases of rehabilitation, robotics
plays a crucial but temporary role in
helping the patient establish a new routine.
As acceptance of them grows, they're
increasingly helping old and young alike
learn how to manage their disease and
cope with everyday life – particularly after a
life-changing accident or illness.
Semantic technologies
Semantic technologies help providers
integrate diverse formats of information
from those disparate systems. They also
help with sharing a single holistic view
of the patient across departments and
organizations.
Smart machines
To accelerate adoption, new innovations
must be simple and usable so that people
and healthcare workers are motivated
to use them. Take sensor technologies:
they’re now embedded in familiar medical
apparatus. In walkers, embedded sensors
help ensure the user is positioning the
walker correctly. This is a prime example
of an innovation that people are accepting
without hesitation, while significantly
enhancing the use of an everyday medical
appliance.
Social media analytics
Social technologies, such as social
networks and blogs, are helping to ensure
people are kept informed. The information
shared helps people take a greater role
in managing their wellbeing; discussion
groups managed by healthcare experts
allowed patients to make informed choices
about their treatment. Social media
analytics can help to alert authorities to
a potential epidemic before it gets out
of control, allowing them to follow its
progression closely.
Streaming analytics
Real-time healthcare depends on real-
time analysis of the growing volume
data now available. Streaming analytics
gives organizations a means of extracting
intelligence from data in motion. Insights
can be detected and acted on at a
moment’s notice. A remote physician would
be able to react to a diabetic patient’s rise
in sugar levels, increasing their insulin
to reduce the risk of them becoming
hyperglycemic.
Telemedicine
More appropriately seen as ‘medicine
without boarders’, telemedicine is far
more than just the remote sensors and
domotics that will play a key part in
improving remote patient care through
monitoring vital signs and reacting
 Healthcare

appropriately. Telemedicine also includes
technologies such as teleoperations, where
a surgeon carries out a surgical procedure
remotely (sometimes also referred to as
telepresence), and practices such as the
outsourcing of x-ray analysis overseas to
countries such as India.
Virtual assistants
Innovations such as virtual assistants for
providing advice anytime and anywhere,
might not be so easily accepted. After
all, people like that human touch,
especially when they're feeling vulnerable.
Innovations such as these have an
important role to play in locations that
are hard to reach or when high levels of
infection might put medical staff at risk.
Wearable computing
In a few years from now smartphones,
wearables and other smart devices
will mean patients are not only more
connected than ever before, but can more
easily be monitored in real time. These
technologies improve the care process
by giving carers and medical staff direct
access to the individual’s vital signs and
alerting them in an emergency. The data is
collected by unobtrusive wearable sensors,
monitoring the vital signs of older people,
for instance.
The number and types of wearables is
expanding rapidly. Innovations include LG’s
heart rate monitor earphones; Reebok’s
Checklight, which measures the impact an
athlete experiences; the Luma Back, which
measures your posture, steps, sitting and
sleeping time; the Hexoskin vest, which
measures your heart and breathing rate;
and the MC10 Biostamp, which collects data
such as body temperature, heart rate, brain
activity, and exposure to ultraviolet radiation
and more.

Key Enablers in Healthcare

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Near field
3D printing
communication
Advanced data Pattern-matching
visualization technologies

Augmented reality Prescriptive analytics

Cloud Service Privacy-enhancing

Integration technologies

Distributed analytics Robotics

Edge computing Semantic technologies

Gamification Smart machines

High performance
Social media analytics
computing

Intelligence Streaming analytics

amplification

Internet of Things Telemedicine

Mobile apps Virtual assistants

Multi-factor Wearable computing

authentication

Ascent Look Out 103

Market views

Homeland Security

Cybercrime & attacks to critical 4x more megacities with >10m citizens

infrastructures are weapons of future in 2050 bring new security challenges
Big Data analytics driving electronic 85% of population growth in high-
intelligence & surveillance income countries driven by migration
Security entities need to know more Number of people killed by terror
and share more attacks increased 10-fold since 2000
Mobile technology & power of Cybersecurity jobs projected to grow
communities bring completely new by more than 35% by 2020
threats

Key Market Challenges

Customer Business mechanisms that drive crowd behaviors.

Experience
Worldwide, citizens trust homeland security
organizations to keep them and their
country safe, secure and resilient against
today’s myriad of threats. The police,
border control, emergency response, crisis
management and infrastructure protection
organizations are also key to the economic
success of their nation. Together they
protect vital cross-border travel and trade,
minimize the number of illegal immigrants
entering the country, safeguard society
from organized crime, secure virtual and
physical infrastructures and respond to
catastrophes.
At the border, entry into a country needs to
be straightforward, legal and safe to allow
people to move freely. Travelers, whether
business or leisure, want to feel secure, but
not overly controlled. Whether at an airport,
seaport, train station or anywhere else, they
expect every border control to be able to
read their passport without any problems;
along with transport authorities, travelers
become frustrated by long queues and
delays.
Interaction between organizations within
the wider homeland security ecosystem
must be equally straightforward. Whether
it’s the police or coastguard, for example,
exchanging information or sharing a
mission with the fire brigade, the Red
Cross or any other partner organization,
interoperability is vital for ensuring
an effective response to any threat.
Any failings are soon picked up by the
media, eroding citizens’ confidence in
organizations’ ability to keep them safe.
Reinvention
The changing behaviors and asymmetric
security threats of the twenty-first century
require a complete rethink for security
organizations. In a world where everyone is
connected, menacing groups can leverage
social media to mobilize huge threatening
crowds in just a few hours, for example.
Faced with these alarming new threats,
organizations have to rethink their security
processes to keep ahead. From how they
analyze data to how they judge threat
levels, their processes must be continually
evolved to keep ahead of the ever-
changing, evermore connected world.
If we look at the EU, for example: the
number of first time asylum applicants
increased by 85 percent in the second
quarter of 2015 compared with the same
quarter of the previous year, putting
these mechanisms to test. The dramatic
movement of people changes from week
to week, even day to day. Social media
keeps the travelers informed on the
evolving situation as different countries
open and close their borders, welcome and
then turn away asylum seekers.
This expanding state of affairs is putting
exceptional pressure not only on
border controls but also on intelligence
units fighting crime and terrorism. The
increasing tempo of change requires
situational analysis to be done differently:
an up-to-the-minute picture requires
insight into chatter on social media and
patterns of mobile communications,
as well as an understanding of the
While modernizing situational analysis,
investing in understanding and controlling
communications on social media will help
organizations prepare for any potential
emergencies uncovered.
Meanwhile, the police on our streets must
find new answers to age old challenges
while tackling some new ones introduced
by the digital world. How can technology
help them engage better with a person
with a visual or hearing impairment, for
example, or ensure they understand the
needs and behaviors of someone with a
cognitive impairment?
Today’s police forces are tasked with
the prevention, detection, response and
mitigation of both physical and cyber
threats. Advanced forensic tools able to
address new emergent technologies such
as cloud and social networks are key to
helping them protect cyberspace.
A rise in public/private collaboration is
helping. But organizations must talk more
with the industries that are asking to
participate, to help develop the products
needed to control and secure borders.
They must turn to the universities that
have researched the technologies and the
social behaviors. Increased interaction will
both accelerate innovation (bringing new
passports and other critical advances to
our borders in just a few years for instance)
and combat skill scarcity.

104 #AscentLookOut

‘‘People want to have confidence in homeland security; they want to feel
their homeland is a safe place to live and that businesses feel likewise
and invest in its economic stability. To deliver, security organizations
need to be able to guarantee the availability, reliability and stability of
Günter Koinegg
Senior Vice
their services and the technology that supports them.’’
President, Head
of Big Data and
Security Central
and Eastern Europe
Operational
Excellence
The security community is confronted
with conflicting challenges that threaten to
limit its operational effectiveness: security
threats continue to multiply and intensify at
a time of tightening budgets and financial
austerity. But law enforcement agencies
have always had to face core strategic
challenges. From availability, stability,
reliability, interoperability and adaptability
to capability, affordability and resource
efficiency, homeland security has always
been a question of juggling priorities and
maximizing synergy. New threat scenarios
are simply complicating the picture.
The speed and efficiency with which the
security community can gather, combine
and explore information is becoming ever
more vital for ensuring a nation’s security.
The rapid correlation and consolidation
of different information sources – such
as event data, intelligence and news –
contributes to the agile operations and
create the agility that homeland security
requires in today’s fast-moving world.
To make a difference, security entities
must know more and share more than
they ever did in the past. Asymmetric
threats make networked thinking – both
within countries and across borders – a
must. Straightforward information sharing,
such as fingerprints or criminal records,
and seamless process integration across
borders and domains are critical to
stamping out cross-border organized crime
and managing emergencies, including
coordinating the response of all actors
involved in disaster risk management.
Everyone involved must have access to all
the information they need to save lives.
The EU will soon see all existing sectorial
systems integrated into a broader network
that enables traffic and activities to be
monitored and reported coherently in both
areas under the jurisdiction of the Member
States and adjacent areas. Border control
authorities will benefit immensely from
the integration of surveillance and control
systems. Any future expansions of the EU
– Turkey, Albania, Montenegro or Serbia,
for example – will change Europe’s external
borders even further and require further
integration of security systems.
Information sharing and cooperation is
equally crucial when combating global
threats. The fight against crime and
terrorism requires new technologies
and capabilities for preventing incidents,
including understanding and tackling
terrorist ideas and beliefs. In this context,
cooperation and data sharing between
different law enforcement agencies is
crucial.
Trust and
Compliance
People want to have confidence in
homeland security; they want to feel their
homeland is a safe place to live and that
businesses feel likewise and invest in its
economic stability. To deliver, security
organizations need to be able to guarantee
the availability, reliability and stability of
their services and the technology that
supports them.
Homeland Security
But the omnipresence of information and
technology makes it the lifeblood of any
security organization. Such a dependency
comes with an inherent risk of cyber
breaches and attacks. The US Office of
Personnel Management data breach across
2014 and 2015 saw almost 22 million US
homeland security and personnel records
stolen.
Securing assets, information and identities
across all physical as well as virtual
infrastructures is now an imperative.
Shifting security agendas due to local or
global events demands the right level
of technology. Ensuring it provides the
required quantity and quality of information
is paramount.
Equally, a greater reliance on technology
sees criminals, terrorists and fraudsters
leaving behind digital traces that provide
invaluable insight to forensics operations.
New techniques and technologies are
required to ensure organizations stay
ahead of the technological innovations
– to facilitate the interception of new
communications channels such as Firechat
and Periscope, for example.
Security organizations are also responsible
for protecting citizens and the critical
national infrastructures their lives depend
on. They safeguard the data and privacy of
citizens in cyberspace as well as protecting
other actors, such as private companies or
public services, from various online threats.
Data retention databases alone have
become hugely attractive for criminals,
hacktivists, terrorists, advisory intelligence
services and others.
Likewise, the growing adoption of Industry
4.0 technologies, with their
Ascent Look Out 105
Homeland Security

increased connectivity and therefore
increased vulnerability to threats from
cyberspace, makes protecting vital national
infrastructures and critical sites such as
large events and industrial sites significantly
more complex.
The personal and sensitive nature of
an individual’s data means security
organizations must consider its
confidentiality, integrity and availability in
addition to legal and regulatory privacy
concerns whenever it's shared within the
wider security community. People are more
willing to share data over different types
of media. However, this willingness should
not be a motivation for homeland security
or intelligence services to exploit this data
for other purposes or for the protection of
a nation.
Moreover, people are more willing to share
more about themselves with organizations
if they understand how that data will
be used and how they will benefit from
sharing it. Smarter borders, for example,
will require information to be shared across
borders. Travelers will benefit with a slicker
passage across the border.
Transparency is key: individuals don’t just
want to know where their data is, but also
how to escalate any concerns they might
have about how it's gathered, used and
stored – along with who has access to it.
Without it organizations risk a grilling by
the press at a time when authorities need
to facilitate trust of individuals in national
security practices to encourage the general
public to collaborate in national security
matters to enhance national security.

In the aftermath of tragic events such

as 9/11, the Madrid bombings, the UK
bus bombing, Paris and Brussels, people
might change their opinion. After all, when
homeland security must intervene in the
event of an emergency, the protection of
life becomes a greater priority over the
protection of privacy. It’s equally crucial
that systems and organizations can revert
rapidly to a normal modus operandi
following periods when sensitivity and
privacy decreases for security purposes.

106 #AscentLookOut
 Homeland Security

Swarm computing Mainstream

Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging

Brain-computer
interface

Internet of
Things
Distributed
analytics Augmented reality
Self-adaptive security
Cloud Service Integration Software-defined
Robotics technologies
Privacy enhancing technologies
State- Edge computing
of-the-art
jamming High performance
products computing LPWAN
Wearable
Crowdsourcing computing Quantum cryptography
Streaming
analytics Unmanned
Biometrics aerial vehicles

Sentiment Hybrid cloud

analytics
2016 2017 2018 2019+
© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers scanning technologies for some time to

Augmented reality
Smart glasses leverage augmented reality
technologies to render virtual images in
the line of sight. They improve situational
awareness by allowing officers to access
additional background information – for
example about a suspect or location – in
real time.
Facial recognition enhances these systems
further, providing recognizable scenarios to
help detect persons of interest. In situations
where radio silence must be maintained
they provide the perfect medium for
sending commands.
Biometrics
Biometric technologies are continuing
to help homeland security organizations
establish a person’s true identity. Border
control has been using fingerprint and vein
ensure identification documents belong to
the person presenting them.
Facial recognition technologies, meanwhile,
have a much broader application,
particularly in identifying known or
suspected terrorists, criminals and
immigration violators. Combined with
media surveillance, they help pick well-
known faces out from the crowd and
control movement around secure zones.
Biometric electronic ID from Match on
Card allows the biometric identification
of individuals when connectivity it not
available.
Brain-computer interface
Novel interfaces promise to enable faster
and better neural communications in
complex environments. Furthermore, they
also promise to help automated threat
detection by improving outcomes from
imagery analysis.
Cloud Service Integration
Already on the landscape, cloud allows
homeland security information and
services, such as exit/entry services, to be
provided centrally. Personnel can access
the resources they need from anywhere
and on any device.
The diverse processes that run across
clouds need to be able to connect
seamlessly, mash-up services and
aggregate both human centric processes
and the IoE. Cloud Service Integration
plays a crucial role in accomplishing this.
Within the IoT, the identities of people and
things are managed through electronic
identification (e-ID) technologies. Cloud-
based federated identity services simplify
the extension of identity and access
management across new IoT-based
services. In doing so they help protect
personal and sensitive systems and data.
In the future, trusted information brokers

Ascent Look Out 107

Homeland Security
will act as the central verification service,
eliminating the need for individuals to
register and authenticate themselves with
each distinct cloud service.
Crowdsourcing
Civilians are increasingly contributing to
the intelligence that homeland security
organizations need to keep their people
safe. On the U.S.-Mexico border, for
example, homeland security organizations
are leveraging crowdsourcing to gather
intelligence. Anyone with an internet
connection can patrol that border.
Distributed analytics
With the diversity of information sources
growing, distributed analytics is also
accelerating the creation of intelligence.
This technology allows information on
known or suspected criminals, terrorists
and immigration to be analyzed alongside
information from social media, biometric
surveillance and other sources in real time.
Furthermore the integration of multiple
information sources (data from sensors,
first responders, GIS, social networks and
more) improves crisis management and
rescue operations.
Edge computing
Agencies are leveraging edge computing
to index and analyze data close to the point
of capture to help them make real-time
assessments about what actions they need
to take. Constantly processing sensor and
environmental data in the background,
edge analytics have proved particularly
useful in emergency situations where they
adjust activities on the fly as events unfold,
requesting the expert resources needed or
reprioritizing activities.
High performance computing
With the volumes, variety and velocity
of data accelerating, high performance
computing (HPC) allows complex
simulations and analyses to deliver vital
intelligence rapidly. By combining HPC with
computation infrastructures, networks and
the latest mathematical models, they help
predict behaviors, prevent cyber or terrorist
attacks, and more.
Hybrid cloud
Agencies often need to combine resources
on internal private clouds with external
cloud-based environments such as those of
certified security companies. Hybrid cloud
allows selected on-premises, private cloud
and public cloud services to unite in a
heterogeneous environment of clouds.
108 #AscentLookOut
Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) connects
everything from sensors and unmanned
systems to wearable computer
technologies and smart clothing. The
networks and data that flow from them
have significantly enhanced situational
awareness, command and control.
LPWAN
In the future data will be sent over a
combination of low power, extended range
5G and IoT-optimized Low-Power Wide-
Area Networks (LPWAN).
Privacy-enhancing technologies
As agencies gather more and more data
about the civilians they protect, privacy-
enhancing technologies are managing
privacy risk, ensuring compliance with
data protection legislation and regulation.
They help ensure information that is shared
amongst the homeland security ecosystem
is anonymized or pseudonymized where
appropriate.
Quantum cryptography
Quantum cryptography will help ensure
the security of high end transmissions
and assure secured interoperability and
collaboration for highly sensitive data.
Encryption technology will be used
end-to-end across public, hybrid and
private cloud solutions with a common
encryption standard ensuring secure cross
organization, and even cross country,
communications.
Robotics
Advanced security robotics, support
surveillance, protection, detection, rescue
and immigration violation activities. They
undertake dangerous actions without
jeopardizing personnel and are deployed
in areas that are either extremely difficult
or impossible for humans to access to
enhance situational awareness.
Self-adaptive security
While traditionally crimes are responded to
after they have been committed, agencies
are now putting proactive security
controls in place to prevent cyberattacks.
Advanced Security Operations Centers
(SOC) and Security Information and Event
Management (SIEM) are integral to their
new security strategies.
Trusted probes are being deployed in
trusted environments to detect for the
minutest of evidence of specific suspicious
behaviors amongst millions of events.
These self-adaptive security technologies
not only help agencies anticipate threats
as attackers try to hide. Behind the scenes
streaming analytics and HPC play a key
role in enabling the real-time analysis that
also helps to keep personal and sensitive
data and systems secure.
Meanwhile distributed analytics in
combination with HPC together accelerate
the forensic analysis after an incident
is detected. They help agencies quickly
identify where the attack started, who is
behind it and how they carried it out.
To enhance security further, contextual
dynamic access control ensures homeland
security personnel can only access to
information and systems when and where
they need to.
Sentiment analytics
Now the primary channel for engaging
with civilians during a disaster scenario,
social media is also a channel individuals
can use to let their families know they're
safe or even call for help. Homeland
security organizations are employing
social media and network analytics, with
its sentiment analytics, to gain additional
insight into how situations – from floods
and earthquakes to criminal, migration and
terrorist activities – are developing and how
people are reacting. This will also provide
additional Open Source Intelligence to
complement established methods already
in place.
Software-defined technologies
In any disaster scenario, multiple agencies
must work closely together: organizing,
coordinating and commanding in a
rapidly-evolving and complex environment.
Effective collaboration, shared situational
awareness and informed decision
support require the timely distribution of
information. Software-defined networking
(SDN) allows agencies to create dynamic
links between locations.
State-of-the-art jamming products
Next-generation communications are
now able to transmit video as well as
voice in even the remotest of locations,
is now critical. State-of-the-art jammers
not only block these communications
to protect convoys but also detect and
locate suspects, and support Explosive
Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams by
preventing remote detonations. Telephony
eavesdropping devices, meanwhile,
intercept and record communications to
enhance situational awareness.
 Homeland Security

Streaming analytics
Growing volumes of data are being
rapidly turned into critical security
intelligence thanks to advanced analytics.
Streaming analytics, for example, provides
organizations with real-time intelligence
on the movement of cars or boats. This
enhanced situational awareness allows
agencies to be more proactive.
Swarm computing
Intelligent dust comprising sensors, robots
and other devices detects minute changes
in light, temperature, vibration, magnetism,
chemicals and more. Operating wirelessly
as part of the IoT, it helps gather critical
intelligence.
Unmanned aerial vehicles
While unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
support surveillance, protection, detection,
rescue and immigration violation activities,
drone-shielding technologies allow security
forces to protect themselves against
remotely piloted aerial vehicles that may
be used to deliver destructive payloads or
used for surveillance purposes.
Wearable computing
One of the vital tools of modern policing,
wearables gather and store a wide array
of incoming and outgoing data. Examples
include smart glasses, watches, wristbands,
helmets, socks, vests and more. In an
emergency situation these devices help
track individuals – their location and vital
signs – while streaming video from the
scene to a remote location where it can be
analyzed and stored.
All devices must be ruggedized and
capable of withstanding the rigors of
police work – in particular the extreme
environments that often accompany
emergency situations. These new
technologies enable rapid training solutions
that can be accessed by a government
officer wherever they are.

Key Enablers in Homeland Security

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Privacy enhancing
Augmented reality technologies

Biometrics Quantum cryptography

Brain-computer Robotics
interface

Cloud Service
Self-adaptive security
Integration

Crowdsourcing Sentiment analytics

Software-defined
Distributed analytics
technologies

State-of-the-art jamming
Edge computing
products

High performance
Streaming analytics
computing

Hybrid cloud Swarm Computing

Internet of Things Unmanned aerial

vehicles

LPWAN Wearable computing

Ascent Look Out 109

Market views

Insurance

Connected world will transform the Expected that half of premiums will
industry have a telematics component by 2025
Data and analytics empowering the 68% of consumers willing to
insurance industry download and use an insurance app
Auto insurance market being impacted Just 2% of large firms have explicit
strongly cyber cover
Reputation, brand and improving Overall auto insurance premiums
customer intimacy are top concerns of expected to be reduced by 25% by
insurers 2025

Key Market Challenges

Customer hassle of dealing with insurance (especially

Experience
The new digital era is putting pressure on
both life and pensions (L&P) and property
and casualty (P&C) insurers. On the L&P
side, digitization is opening up a new
‘online advisor’ space, for example, while
mobile devices have reduced the sales
cycle by giving customer direct access to
brokers and aggregators. Digitization is also
helping agents to understand their clients’
behaviors better which, in turn, allows – and
forces – them to offer a more proactive and
engaging customer experience.
Meanwhile, P&C insurers are fighting to
engage with their personal lines customers
because the insurance policy has become
increasingly commoditized. Purchase
decisions are driven almost entirely by
price. Digitization means customers
have access to more information than
ever before, using social media and price
comparison sites to compare policies,
prices and claims experience.
It also means customers might be ready to
share much more information provided the
insurer proves itself a trusted intermediary.
They will expect to see a real connection
between giving up information and access
to a simpler, more convenient, personalized
and transparent experience. Profitability
will come from insurers’ ability to deliver on
these requirements.
At the end of the day, P&C customers want
quotes and prices when they want them,
fully adapted to their needs and via their
channel of choice alongside access to
help when required to reduce the overall
in the claims process) all the way from
subscription to billing.
Customers across both sectors want
self-service tools for managing their own
insurance and savings needs, particularly
at expiration, when payments are due or
when making additional investments. To
deliver these – and other personalized
tools and services – insurers need a
single view of their customers along with
their customers’ needs and ambitions.
Furthermore, coverage flexibility, simplicity
and transparency are also important.
Personal lines business through mobile
and online channels not only continues
to expand, but is expected to accelerate,
particularly in relation to ‘in the moment’
cover (short-term insurance policies with
by the minute, hour or day coverage) and
standardized P&C policies. Customers will
soon expect to be able to interact with their
provider through mobile, for uploading
photos relating to claims or insurance on
the go (including at the retailer or service
provider), for instance.
Customer experience needs to be mobile
and digital by default. Insurers are, however,
lagging behind when it comes to the
mobile experience. According to various
sources, in 2014 only 30 percent of insurers
had a mobile responsive website and only
a similar percentage had one or more
mobile apps.
Insurers need to employ the personal
finance and sales force automation tools
already available to help them move away
from simply competing on price. These
tools will help them control risks more
effectively and to match the engaging
experience offered by the new market
entrants who will claim market share
if incumbents don’t get closer to their
customers and build the loyalty needed to
reduce churn.
Social media, meanwhile, could potentially
rapidly become insurers’ channel of choice,
either integrating with or virtually replacing
current multi-channel approaches. Insurers
are already exploiting social media for
referrals, particularly related to complex car
or life and savings insurance. They need
to be leveraged for advanced analytics
(to combat fraud, for example), customer
service, product development as well as
many other processes.
Tied agents continue to be a significant
sales channel, playing a key role within the
insurance distribution value chain. This
channel must be integrated and supported
to offer a seamless omni-channel customer
experience and to ensure greater efficiency.
Insurers are, however, feeling tension
between the pressure to disintermediate, a
customer journey that is by essence multi-
channel and the pressure from brokers and
aggregators to stay relevant. A combination
of greater focus and greater efficiency
and coherence is needed, while revisiting
business and operating models that are
progressively tested, but potentially not
evolving fast enough.
Business
Reinvention
Insurance, at its very core, is an agreement
between the customer, who needs
protection from an unlikely event or to

110 #AscentLookOut

‘‘For all lines of business, the next decade will be defined by increasing
connectivity and growing volumes of data. Business model innovation
will be driven by collaboration across broader ecosystems.’’
Laurent Gibert
Global Insurance
Market Executive
preserve his own and his family’s health or
wealth, and the company, who must have
the right financial assets, reputation and
tools to support the customer during his
whole lifespan. It is, in fact, a matter of long
term strategies.
For all lines of business, the next decade will
be defined by increasing connectivity and
growing volumes of data. Business model
innovation will be driven by collaboration
across broader ecosystems that include,
amongst others, the technology giants
that are driving disruption across many
industries. On the positive side, car,
health and home insurers are already
collaborating with these technology players
to leverage the growing volumes of data
they have available to further enhance and
personalize policies. On the downside, they
could separate insurers from the ownership
of customer relationships.
New players with innovative new business
models and insurance products and
services will emerge, some disrupting
traditional distribution models by offering
customers integrated value propositions
that encourage a healthier lifestyle (Vitality,
Oscar) or help to protect their property
better, for example.
Social (peer-to-peer) insurance is also
increasing. German Friendsurance is five
years’ old while Guevara, a peer-to-peer
car insurance service, has only recently
launched in the UK. Radically integrated
value propositions that combine personal,
family and business lives are also becoming
more commonplace.
Meanwhile, the traditional car insurance
business within the P&C market is shifting
to a new business model based on online
risk coverage. Individual usage based
insurance (UBI) models – where car makers
share relevant driver data gather from their
connected cars with insurance companies
(with drivers’ permission) – are emerging
in new motor insurance products. These
allow insurance companies to offer lower
premiums to safe drivers along with pay-
per-use models.
Furthermore, the emergence of the
connected and autonomous car has
the potential to transform car insurance
further. Companies are thinking about its
implications. It may reduce risk but, even
in the new world, somebody will need
to be held liable if the autonomous car
malfunctions. Premiums may decrease and
shift from individual property to collective
liability insurance or to more commercial
lines cover as ownership shifts from
private individual to fleet or corporate hire
provision.
The combination of sustained period
of low interest rates, which is yielding
low investment returns, and increased
regulation is hurting profitability for L&P
insurance companies, as it is banks. To
increase their top line, L&P companies
need to turn their focus back to driving
profit margins from underwriting and
new product development rather than
investment. That means going back on
the offensive and reaching out to the
customer with the products they need
and desire, by using de-regulation in the
pension markets to come up with new and
innovative retirement plans, for example. At
the same time, L&P companies must focus
on improving operational efficiency to cut
their bottom lines, OPEX in particular, and
capital efficiency through reinvented ERM,
leveraging Big Data and new platforms.
Insurance
On the flip side of a lower interest rate
environment, hedge funds and other
alternative sources of capital are becoming
part of the insurance value chain. Driven
by low interest rates, they’re increasingly
providing additional funding options for
insurers and, in doing so, transferring
investment risks outside of the insurance
company.
This business reinvention is happening fast
in an industry not used to drastic change
and will require an ability to change some
key aspects of corporate and industry
culture towards a more open, participative
culture, internally and externally integrating
open innovation and new types of partners.
Operational
Excellence
Insurance companies are adopting
technological solutions to automate and
increase the accuracy of the underwriting
process, support variable pricing,
help maximize the efficacy of scarce
underwriting resources and increase
direct sales. But this is not enough. Only by
completely re-engineering their business
processes can they ensure they’re aligned
with best practices and able to adopt more
and more straight through processing
within their environments.
Front office digitization – including
connected devices, self-service and an
omni-channel environment – promises to
give customers secure and high speed
access to the heart of insurance business
systems. It allows customers to manage
their own accounts and interact with the
Ascent Look Out 111
Insurance
company when it suits them, on their
preferred channels and in way that is
intuitive and engaging. In addition, it’s
helping insurance companies reduce
capital expenditure and cost while
freeing up personnel so they can focus
on more valuable customer relationship
management and sales tasks.
Back office digitization, on the other hand,
promises to boost returns on investment,
with the greatest value coming from
process automation. By digitizing manual
processes and paper documents, insurers
can increase efficiency and agility while
reducing cost by up to 40 percent.
Documents can be shared more easily
and non-core functions such as IT, human
resources and finance can be moved to
a more efficient and more cost-effective
centralized role.
Those looking anew at their processes and
thinking front to back digitalization will be
the ones reaping the most benefits from
the digital revolution. They will also be most
likely to respond effectively to the digital
disruptors and to customer expectations.
Meanwhile, industry-wide consolidation
is extending demand for the low-cost
business models that are helping
companies across all geographies to
manage their legacy closed block portfolios
more effectively. That consolidation is
also increasing pressure for the greater
‘economy of scale’ that will help companies
gain market share in specific geographies
(particularly in advanced western countries)
and fight against margin reduction. Greater
economy of scale does, however, bring
112 #AscentLookOut
with it significant challenges, including visibility – particularly in relation to the
outsourcing management, continuous reserve and solvency information that
integration, the closure of entire business rating agencies need to understand. But
lines and product displacement. merging data silos to create a single view
of the truth, in real time, will help not only to
address regulation such as Solvency II and
Trust and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive ;
Compliance it also offers competitive advantage by
allowing insurers to offer more personally
tailored products to the customers that
really need them.
Insurance companies must take steps to
ensure they’re compliant with intensifying
Generation Y consumers are more
consumer protection legislation and to
prepared than their parents to trade
avoid a repeat of the miss-selling that has
personal data for financial reward such as
dented consumers’ confidence in the
discounts, vouchers or access to services.
industry. Accelerating information risk
Advances in security, data governance and
management in the front office will help to
data usage transparency are needed to
ensure consumer data protection, with the
help them stay secure while they do this.
appropriate ‘touch’ on risk and underwriting
to meet new consumer expectations.
New cyber-risks and the ‘cloudification’ of IT
mean insurance companies need to rapidly
Insurers are increasing their focus on Anti
adopt new security technologies to ensure
Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist
proper data and consumer protection.
Financing legislation in a way that is natural
Cyber-risks offer new opportunities too:
to banks but new to insurers. New solvency
cyber-risk insurance.
regulations coming into play across Europe,
for example, mean insurers will have to
All in all, building trust especially on how
screen customers before underwriting their
data is protected and used is absolutely
policies.
critical, not only for the obvious sense
of safety but also to allow companies to
When it comes to internal and external
continue to play in a world where access to
stakeholder information requests, insurers
data is becoming vital at each step of the
need to be more efficient in how they
insurance value chain.
deliver the information wanted. Only then
will they be sure they can respond to the
requests within the timescales required.
Accurate, reliable, consistent and timely
compliance data requires reporting to be
more transparent. Combining information
from diverse, siloed systems will enhance
 Insurance

Mainstream
Early adoption
5G networks
Adolescent
Emerging

Robotics / Intelligent automation

Privacy-enhancing
technologies
Software-defined
technologies
Blockchain
Internet of Web-scale computing
Things Distributed analytics Prescriptive analytics
Pattern-matching technologies
High performance computing
Streaming analytics
Context-rich systems Cloud Service Integration
Self-adaptive security
Hybrid cloud
Wearable computing
Rules engines Virtual assistants
DevOps
Mobile first & real-time interfaces
Semantic technologies
Sentiment analytics

2016 2017 2018 2019+

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers Cloud Service Integration

Already on the landscape, cloud computing
DevOps
To develop and deliver new products
has just touched the tip of the iceberg quickly, cost-effectively and to a high
5G networks
when it comes to the role it will play in standard, insurers are adopting a DevOps
Customers access cloud services from
insurances. Insurance companies are approach to software development. By
wherever they are. Moreover, mobile
increasingly hosting their systems in the enhancing collaboration between software
solutions combined with a secure and
cloud, from where they're delivered as developers and IT operations the DevOps
pervasive 5G networks are extending the
cloud services. Cloud Service Integration approach reduces time-to-market and cost
reach of business services, attracting new
ensures tight integration between all the while improving quality.
customers who prefer self-service tools to
different cloud services, from standard
other forms of interaction. These modern
policy underwriting and to claims Distributed analytics
customer service tools significant increase
processes. By exploiting data from predictive models
policyholder satisfaction, while reducing
such as weather, insight from social media,
agent workloads.
Context-rich systems data from geo-positioning systems and a
Increasingly sophisticated digital advisors wealth of broader information sources, the
Blockchain
enhance the customer support experience: IoT is allowing insurers to enrich individual
Blockchain technology applies as
the truly omni-channel avatar can engage usage based insurance (UBI), tuning it
well to fraud management, payments,
seamlessly with the policy-holder through closer to the needs of the individual.
identification, document authentication,
a multitude of online channels. Behind Distributed analytics allows diverse data
claims management and M2M security
the scene context-rich systems combine sources to be analyzed together without
(IoT). It significantly reduces the cost of
intelligence from diverse systems to the need to first copy the data to a central
performing these activities while improving
proactively anticipate each customer’s location. This impacts everything from
security.
specific needs. wearables (such as wristbands) right up to
oil rigs.

Ascent Look Out 113

Insurance
High performance computing
High performance computing allows
insurance companies to take full advantage
of the benefits offered by IoT data.
Models help them anticipate and prevent
catastrophes, eliminating the need to pay
out for damages created by such events.
Hybrid cloud
Private clouds allow insurers to make
resources – both data and applications
– available from anywhere and on any
device. No matter where the customer
engages from or where an employee
or partner is working from, the systems
that they interact with and the data these
systems use will be the same. Hybrid cloud
then allows companies to augment their
own omni-channel services with relevant
third-party services – such as news, hints
and tips or even weather forecasts – further
enhancing the experience.
Internet of Things
A few years from now and the Internet of
Things (IoT) will have transformed not only
the health, motor and home markets but
also commercial lines with its widespread
use of sensor technology, advanced
analytics and new ecosystems.
Mobile first and real-time customer
interfaces
New customer usages require investment
in mobile first and real-time customer
interfaces that link seamlessly with
backend systems.
Pattern-matching technologies
Pattern-matching technologies help
companies leverage the vast volumes
of data available today to identify and
then address unusual behavior patterns,
including potentially fraudulent behaviors.
Prescriptive analytics
This dynamic customer profiling allows
for more sophisticated segmentation that
has improved cross-segment sales and
cut response times for origination and
claims. The prescriptive analytics that can
decipher what customers want even before
they know themselves provides ‘next best
offer’ capabilities.
Privacy-enhancing technologies
As customers share more information
with insurers, insurers must ensure
robust compliance with consumer
protection legislation. Privacy-enhancing
technologies (PET) control disclosure
of data, helping companies to manage
privacy risk by ensuring compliance with
114 #AscentLookOut
data protection legislation and regulation.
Robotics/intelligent automation
Workplace robotics, as automated virtual
workers, that can be deployed across
unstable architectures or multiple legacy
systems as easily as a human operative
take on a lot of the dull, time sensitive
and repetitive back office tasks at a
much lower cost. 100 per cent auditable
and reliable, they can be deployed with
minimum disruption and, unlike the human
workforce, never make mistakes, work 24/7
and can be programmed for a multitude of
variable tasks.
Rules engines
Resilient and agile frontend tools need
powerful and extremely flexible rules
engines to deliver ultra-personalized
products and pricing.
Insurers are achieving their goals of 100
percent straight through processing
now that core insurance IT systems are
aligned with the best-in-class automatic
process solutions. Business-rules based
configuration that leverages advanced
analytics is allowing standard policy
underwriting and claims processes to
be automated, eliminating manual work
activities at an enterprise scale.
This increases the accuracy of underwriting
decisions, supports variable pricing and
helps insurers to maximize the efficacy
of scarce underwriting resources.
Able to handle multiple product lines
simultaneously, rules-based configuration
is accelerating time-to-market for new
products.
Semantic technologies
Companies are storing both operational
and customer data in private clouds,
providing secure and robust access to
the information they need to improve
efficiency and decision-making as well as
enhance customer experience. Behind the
scenes semantic technologies help their
intelligence systems to understand the
relationships within and across data.
Sentiment analytics
The lifestyle, behavioral and health
data collected from mobile devices
and wearables gives insurers a deeper
understanding of their customers. What’s
more, with social networks now well
integrated into our everyday lives, insurers
are using advanced social media analytics
with its sentiment analytics to enhance
this insight even further.
Software-defined technologies
Cloud native applications allow companies
to take full advantage of web-scale
computing and software-defined
technologies. They allow new products to
be tested and launched within significantly
shortened project lifecycles.
Streaming analytics
Big Data is helping leading insurance
companies outperform their peers. Its
advanced streaming analytics enables
insurers to leverage real-time data, for
example about properties likely to be
affected by weather data for claims
initiation, optimization or prevention. These
dynamic customer profiles signal insurers
moving away from the generic customer
profiles that cater for millions of customers
to individual 360° customer profiling.
Self-adaptive security
While trusted information brokers
provide insurers with the confidence to
share more information with agents, the
dynamic access control enabled by self-
adaptive security and a new generation
of collaborative tools ensures they have
access to the information, systems and
locations they need to access, but only
when they need it.
Virtual assistants
Digital advisors have a vital role to play in
helping insurers avoid scandals such as the
miss-selling saga that dented consumers’
trust. These intelligent virtual assistants
provide accurate, consistent and compliant
information throughout the sales processes
and listen in on call center agents to ensure
they do the same.
Wearable computing
Health wearables, such as smartwatches
and sensors embedded in clothing, have
created a huge health insurance market,
with policies that include preventive
medical assistance provision and
connections to health professional doctors
and medics.
Web-scale computing
The IT organization and architecture
has been redesigned for web-scale
computing, underpinned by a software-
defined architecture. This has allowed a
more profound digital transformation of
insurance operating models, from front
to back. Its operational simplicity allows
insurers to be more agile while optimizing
investments.
 Insurance

They have the agility they need to rapidly

and successfully launch and support
new products and new mobile apps. In
other words legacy systems will need to
be dramatically reduced in scope and
perimeter, core processes and business
rules taken out by dedicated modern,
flexible, real-time architectures.

Key Enablers in Insurance

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Privacy-enhancing
5G networks technologies

Robotics/intelligent
Blockchain
automation

Cloud Service Rules engines

Integration

Context-rich systems Semantic technologies

DevOps Sentiment analytics

Distributed analytics Software-defined

technologies

High performance
Streaming analytics
computing

Hybrid cloud Self-adaptive security

Internet of Things Virtual assistants

Mobile first & real-time

Wearable computing
interfaces

Pattern-matching Web-scale computing

technologies

Prescriptive analytics

Ascent Look Out 115

Market views

Media

Mobile will become the principal digital 70% of all mobile network traffic will
content platform be video by 2021
Print will remain the format of choice Facebook is serving 4 billion video
for consumers views a day
Books will emerge as survivors as digital Users spend nearly 6 hours watching
readership plateaus videos on their phones each month
Augmented reality will outstrip virtual 88% of millennials engage in second
reality within 3-5 years screen behaviors when watching
video content

Key Market Challenges

Customer This decentralized model of prosumers Business

Experience
Content consumers’ behaviors and
expectations have, and will continue to,
change dramatically. While TV audiences
and paper-based media sales continue
their significant decline, digital media – with
its accessible (since captioning and audio
descriptions are easier to add), personalized
and sharable content – continues to grow
in popularity.
Today’s content consumers can choose
what, where and how they watch
content. Immersed in a media experience
throughout their day, they regularly switch
from device to device, enhancing their
principal source with interactive content
delivered seamlessly through a second
– or even third – screen. Each interface is
intuitive with content easy to find. During
the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, for
example, the online digital audience
enjoyed both live and on-demand access
to sports events. These were synchronized
with real-time stats, enhanced by
information tagging and integrated with
social media where fans could share their
experiences.
Consumers can also participate in and
influence live broadcasts (from talent
contests to debates about migration),
feeding their thoughts back to content
providers and sharing opinions via social
media. Outside of digital content, fiction
writers are using Twitter to gather feedback
from consumers to help them enhance
their stories before final production.
More than that, modern consumers also
generate and share their own content.
(consumers are also media producers)
may, on occasion, provide individuals a
generous source of income. Social media
is becoming the distribution platform for
this and other new media, with mobile
the primary platform for its creation. As
such, mobile manufacturers have the
opportunity to become media companies
and create new media ecosystems.
The customer relationship is one of the
keys to success in today’s fragmented
digital media environment, but the battle
about who actually ‘owns the customer’
has only just begun. Providing the best
customer experience through ease-of-use,
availability, quality content and affordable
pricing builds essential customer loyalty,
drives usage across the different channels
and generates the usage data that provides
insight into consumer preferences. These
insights, in turn, help media companies
understand their consumers better
and enable the optimization of content
production and distribution, along with
revenue growth from more effective
advertising and new sources of income.
Industry content owners’ expectations
are changing too. They prefer to engage
with the multimedia companies that are
able to offer complete coverage over all
media channels: broadcast, social, digital
and events. Furthermore, they expect
media distributors to deliver relevant and
engaging content across these diverse
contexts, while providing a compelling
seamless multiplatform experience.
This is particularly important when you
consider how media consumption habits
are fundamental to advertising revenue
and to creating new revenue streams and
partnerships.
Reinvention
For media companies of all types – from
traditional newspapers, TV and radio to
modern digital media – mere survival in
today’s highly competitive, fragmented and
increasingly online market depends on
their ability to find innovative new ways of
monetizing their content. At the same time,
they must optimize value from existing
business: from paywalls, subscriptions and
micropayments through advertisement-
related revenues to e-commerce and online
gaming and betting. With so many models
available, individual media companies need
to explore what works best for them and
make that space their own.
The industry is converging across both
geographies and sectors. Telco, media and
entertainment companies are merging
into large multinational, multimedia
conglomerates that are able to provide
a full offering over all platforms. As such,
focus has turned to optimizing that
expanded supply chain and ensuring it's
able to adapt quickly to the changing
needs of the market and rapidly adopt new
technologies. A flexible infrastructure holds
the key to success.
With a small number of conglomerates
now owning an increasing share of the
mass media, having bought up smaller
local companies, concerns have been
raised over whether the public interest can
still be served at a local level. And since
consumers expect media to be tailored to
their own personal needs, maintaining a
local perspective – providing context and
relevance with local accountability – has

116 #AscentLookOut

‘‘The customer relationship is one of the keys to success in today’s
fragmented digital media environment, but the battle about who
actually ‘owns the customer’ has only just begun.’’
Eric Mariette
Vice President
Global Media
become increasingly important.
Nevertheless, content is still ‘King’ and
where companies can differentiate.
Some companies that were previously
purely distributors are now creating and
publishing their own original material to
increase subscriber numbers. Netflix, for
example, is investing millions of dollars
creating their own work (House of Cards for
example) and Amazon is now following this
lead with TV favorite Top Gear, amongst
others.
At the same time, content is not enough
in the digital world, if not supported by the
ability to manage the (meta)data about
it and about its consumer (the Queen).
Successful companies are the ones that are
able to do both. In fact, traditional media
companies are using a combination of
content and data to turn the threat from
social media and user-generated content
around: leveraging user-generated content
to enhance owned content, using social
media to direct audiences to their content
and engaging with audiences on social
media to learn more about their desires
and behaviors.
After all, to successfully compete against
free content and agile new market entrants,
traditional media companies need a deeper
understanding of their diverse audience
segments, along with the content and
viewing behaviors and desires of each.
Actionable business intelligence directly
from their knowledge of real-time audience
behaviors is vital for monetizing high-
quality content.
Media companies could also derive
monetary value from the data too,
monetizing their unique insight into
real-time audience behavior to help B2B
partners tailor their own services to better
meet consumer needs – but only with
permission from the consumer.
Meanwhile, passive forms of media will
continue to exist – and may even continue
to be the most popular way to consume
content – for many years. They will,
however, need to become increasingly
augmented and tailored to meet consumer
demands for a more personalized
experience. For TV, advertising is becoming
more subtle and includes product
placement and program sponsorship along
with interactions that allow things (clothes,
cars, food and more) seen in a TV program
to be purchased more easily.
For the print publishing industry, the future
is a little more uncertain. Large parts of it
may disappear, yet books, for example, will
survive – partly because they're unbundled
and partly because they provide a unique
experience that is appreciated by the
reader. Publishers are, however, offering
additional value-added services: education
publishers, for example, are offering
platforms for supporting students’ creative
activities while other publisher are enabling
online digital communities for writing
books.
Nevertheless, new business models,
which could include crowdfunding and
other innovative ways of funding in
addition to the traditional ones, will keep
popular publishers alive. In a sector that
is transforming at an incredible pace,
one thing remains constant: publishers’
desire to maintain control of the pricing
and production of their content. We will
wait and see if their appeals are heard as
Amazon moves into the high street.
Media
But as advertising dollars move to the web,
online services delivering personalized
content offer numerous opportunities for
highly-tuned advertising and its related
cross- and up-sell. To succeed in this space,
media companies need to understand
their customer well and be able to tag
content appropriately and relate it to other
materials and adverts. Surging mobile
advertising sales have helped Facebook
revenues, for instance. But the mutation
of the selling process is adding to the
complexity of the advertising sales function
with the emergence of programmatic
advertising and its real-time, data-driven
approaches.
With modern audiences more likely
to grant their loyalty to content rather
than media brands – gravitating toward
specific TV series, film and music brands,
for example – content providers are
creating fan-based communities where
they can offer targeted content along with
the advertising for cross- or up-selling
related products. These highly-engaged
communities love to participate in brand-
related activities – activities that can go
viral and, in doing so, create a great deal of
interest in these content brands.
Operational
Excellence
Digital technologies are driving an ongoing
reinvention of the media landscape. It
seems that new technologies are available
every other week and consumers have
no hesitation in dropping one thing if
something better and cheaper comes
along. Although the free video streaming
Ascent Look Out 117
Media
service Popcorn Time was illegal, the fact
that even Netflix mentioned the service as
a main competitor is a perfect illustration of
this point.
In such a highly competitive and fast-
changing landscape, media companies
of all types must focus their investments
toward creating high-quality, informative
and entertaining content and innovative
distribution models. After all, audiences are
willing to pay for higher quality content and
optimal user experience.
Both traditional and modern media
companies are, however, increasingly
extending the monetary value of their
content beyond the initial broadcast
or publication; repurposing broadcast
content for online or mobile consumption,
for example. There are, nevertheless,
overheads that must be considered: the
cost and effort required for publishing
the content on different and continuously
evolving technology platforms and for
ensuring the quality of the repurposed
media matches the original. On the plus
side, repurposed content can be more
accessible for the visibly impaired. Screen
readers on their mobile devices can read
content to them, for instance.
To free up spend, companies should
explore how they can make their
production and business systems better,
faster and more cost-effective. At least part
of the answer lies in standard IT storage,
networks and workflows, amongst other
things. With media technology now more
closely aligned to IT, media companies
can take advantage of the considerable
investment that has gone into making
modern IT what it is today.
More generally, any media organization
that struggles to reap the benefits of
technology advances will soon find they're
118 #AscentLookOut
lagging behind the competition. Therefore,
effective innovation processes are needed.
Leading organizations are investing in
ensuring they fully understand the potential
and challenges of new technologies as they
emerge, so they can swiftly adapt and align
their businesses. Organizations that don’t
have the knowledge and flexibility required
to roll-out new services when consumers
are demanding them will find it difficult to
keep their audiences’ attention and attract
new viewers.
To fund the investments, traditional
media organizations will need to reduce
the burden of their legacy technology
landscape. They also need to reinvent
themselves, transforming their legacy
content-driven organizational and
operational models (including ‘old-world
thinking’) into ones that are data-centric
and more agile – and do so as fast as
possible.
Trust and
Compliance
As the audience experience becomes
increasingly personalized and participative,
media companies must increase their focus
on protecting audience data – including
both personal data and usage patterns.
Too many large media organizations
have experienced security breaches and
significant data leakage in recent years,
denting the consumer’s trust in their brand.
To show themselves to be trustworthy and
responsible, companies must also comply
– and be seen to comply – with regions’
diverse data protection regulations and
policies.
Consumers are increasingly expecting to
see benefits in exchange for their data and
information. Where media companies use
that wisely, consumers will be immensely
grateful. But if media companies get
it wrong, they will have disgruntled
customers on their hands.
But, it’s not just personal data that media
companies need to consider. Risks of all
shapes and sizes must be anticipated,
prevented and managed in a world
that is increasingly mobile and social.
Fail to prevent the leakage or misuse of
licensed content and organizations may
find themselves losing their license or
distribution rights. Fail to protect the brand
and the performance and availability of
services and audiences will take their
loyalty and their dollars elsewhere (recent
attacks by hackers have undoubtedly
been aimed at interrupting services). And,
most importantly, fail to protect sources for
sensitive journalistic investigations, along
with the reporters, and the consequences
could be dire.
Risks come from inside media
organizations too. In an online world,
content becomes available to billions of
people across the globe as soon as it’s
published. Any errors or misrepresentations
are sure to be spotted by someone
somewhere. Once published, any glaring
mistakes are likely to be shared virally. They
cannot be changed.
Because of the great responsibility media
organizations have to individual consumers
and to society at large, combined with the
challenge of new risks that are introduced
by adoption of new digital technologies, the
importance of security needs to be high on
the agenda in order to continue to comply
with legislation and remain a trusted brand.
 Media

Named Data Networks

Mainstream
Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging

Advanced data visualization

Augmented reality

Distributed analytics
Wearable computing

Gamification
Robotics
Internet of Privacy-enhancing
Things technologies
Self-adaptive security
Prescriptive analytics
Software-defined technologies
Streaming
analytics Virtual reality

Cloud Service
Integration Context-rich systems

Edge computing
Social media analysis

2016 2017 2018 2019+

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers the things you can physically touch and

feel. It's not only game and TV characters
decisions, cloud-based federated identity
services simplify access across services in
that take on a whole new dimension; the cloud. In the future trusted information
Advanced data visualization
friends on social media do too. Aware brokers will act as a central verification
New immersive 3D visualization
of the environment around them, these service. Individuals will no longer need to
technologies ensure the viewer is
avatars have never seemed more real. register and authenticate themselves for
immersed more deeply than ever before.
Start-up Magic Leap has raised $50 million each cloud service.
The immersive images produced by
to develop its own proprietary augmented
360° cameras help build that emotional
reality platform. Context-rich systems
connection with everything from stories
The viewer’s experience is integrated
on the news to the latest movies. Sports
Cloud Service Integration across every channel of interaction – online,
fans can watch their favorite athletes online,
As the digital media supply chain mobile, social, wearables and more – with
while seeing the chanting crowd around
expands and the number of media a seamless and consistent experience
them and the sky above. They can move
services hosted in the cloud grows, Cloud across all media sources. TV viewing is
around and watch the race from different
Service Integration helps accelerate the connected with online social media tools.
angles or even compete in a virtual line
development of new ideas in both content It seamlessly follows the viewer as they
nine against Usain Bolt at the Tokyo 2020
and media formats. It allows services move from device to device, from watching
Olympics.
from diverse hosted content sources to a film on their smart TV in the lounge to
be connected to offer a truly seamlessly watching it on their smart fridge interface
Augmented reality
content consumer experience. in the kitchen. Behind the scenes context-
Augmented reality is allowing real and
rich systems deliver fully synchronized
virtual worlds to merge into one. Virtual
With the integration of multiple content across multiple devices within the
animations can come to life in the world
technologies providing immediate connected home. That content and how it's
around you, interacting seamlessly with
feedback for investment or divestment delivered is no longer dependent on its

Ascent Look Out 119

Media
delivery network or media provider.
By bringing together insights from various
sources, context-rich systems proactively
anticipate each consumer’s individual
needs and preferences. They're adept
at aligning revenue generating media
products and services to consumers’
needs, desires and behaviors, offering them
up at the exact moment in time when the
consumer is most likely to buy. Contextual
systems might also adapt the product
itself, aligning the end of a movie to who
is watching and the mood they're in for
instance, or even the product’s digital rights
to the medium at hand.
Context-rich systems also have a wider
role, particularly when it comes to mobile
content and the connected car. Such
systems offer consumers content that is
not only tailored for their location when
they're out and about, but optimized for the
viewer’s device as well as wider context –
whether they're driving the car and where
they're sat in relation to other passengers,
for example.
Distributed analytics
Distributed analytics provides insight into
audience consumption across multiple
platforms, across TV and online initially.
Edge computing
Media companies are leveraging edge
computing to process those vast volumes
of data close to the point of capture. Server
loads are reduced as the processing
required to present the personalized
content to the consumer is offloaded to
servers at the edge of the cloud.
Gamification
Wearables impact the gaming industry
too. Dynamic online gaming with
interactive storytelling and narratives are
even more realistic now that they can be
tailored to a player’s emotional response.
The technologies benefit non-leisure
gamers too, delivering the gamification
(application of game playing elements to
other activities) that has multiple uses in
education, health, government and defense
sectors in particular.
Internet of Things
Wearables are just a small proportion of
the billions of connected devices that share
information seamlessly across the Internet
of Things (IoT). The vast volumes of data
from the connected devices, social media
and other sources enriches what media
companies know about their audiences
120 #AscentLookOut
– their preferences and behaviors. They
can develop ways to better engage their
audience and drive the loyalty that is vital
to achieving enduring success.
Named Data Networks
The volume of content hosted will
continue to expand, increasing the load
on underlying networks and storage. The
future of file distribution across the internet
may be transformed by Named Data
Networks (NDN), which would change
the architecture of the internet at its core.
For media companies, NDN promises
reduced congestion and improved delivery
speeds, along with increased robustness
and security. As the volumes of data media
companies distribute grow, it could help
ensure the continuity of their services.
Prescriptive analytics
As expectations for personalized viewing
rises, media companies are turning to
prescriptive analytics to automatically
provide the viewer with a profiled catalog
of content tailored to their individual needs
and desires. This will offer each specific
viewer a highly-tailored passive traditional
TV experience that doesn’t require any
interactivity on their part.
Self-adaptive security
With protection of the brand and its
services crucial to any media company’s
survival, companies are employing
pre-emptive self-adaptive security
technologies to look for early evidence of
suspicious behaviors.
Privacy-enhancing technologies
Despite enabling a whole new level of
dynamic, ultra-personalized, embedded
advertising, some consumers have
reached the point at which use of their
personal data to shape a personalized B2C
interaction is an unacceptable invasion of
privacy. Media companies are employing
privacy-enhancing technologies (PET)
to control their use of consumer data,
ensuring their compliance with data
protection legislation and regulation.
Robotics
Robotics are not only impacting the media
industry in terms of automation, but also in
the creative and editorial parts of the value
chain. In Australia, Channel Nine’s new
state-of-the-art studio includes a news desk
surrounded by a cluster of robotic cameras
that don’t require operators.
Social media analysis
Social media is valuable source of
information for informing content. Social
media analysis, with its sentiment analysis,
provides media companies with a deeper
understanding of how audiences are
responding. Service customization based
on social media insights can be a key factor
in driving customer satisfaction, ensuring
loyalty and attracting new business
through advocacy.
Software-defined technologies
Flexible software-defined technologies
have transformed operations at
many levels. Media specific functions
implemented in vertical appliances that
bundle hardware and software have been
decoupled. Instead specialized software
applications run on general-purpose
hardware platforms, leveraging both
virtualized and cloud environments.
Small programmable chips, for example,
replace expensive specialized hardware
– such as tools for transcoding or
transforming files – with commodity
platforms running specialized software.
This means media companies can
now embrace next-generation media
platforms and delivery options swiftly,
without abandoning current infrastructure
investments. These virtualized
environments have accelerated time-to-
market for new offerings and new business
models.
Cloud continues to be a pivotal technology.
It not only enables rapid innovation cycles,
but also allows companies to rapidly scale
or shrink in response to changing market
demands. Disrupters adopted it early on;
incumbents – including the multinational,
multimedia conglomerates – are adopting
it too. Combined with the virtualized
structures enabled by software-defined
technologies, cloud helps companies
standardize, optimize and automate the
digital media supply chain.
Streaming analytics
Direct real-time user feedback is becoming
an essential part of the media creation,
development and improvement cycle.
Advanced forms of data analytics allow
media creators and distributors to
personalize and target specific interactions,
from tailored subscription packages and
transactional offers to show narratives.
Streaming analytics provides real-time
insight into audience reactions.
 Media

Virtual reality
Technology is driving huge changes in
how we use media to tell and experience
stories. Immersive virtual reality devices,
such as Facebook’s Oculus Rift and Sony
PlayStation VR, allow millions of online
gamers to interact with each other in real
time while living their own unique game
experience.
Alternatively they can experience what it's
like to be their favorite sports star. Totally
immersed they feel what it's like to where
their hero’s shoes – in a racing car, on a
football pitch, at the Olympics or even
down the ski slope. In more advanced
systems narratives evolve in response to
implicit or explicit real-time feedback from
social network analytics, wearables and
other context sensing technologies.
Wearable computing
A new category of web-connected
wearables that can measure physiological
indicators – such as heart rate, body
temperature, pupil dilation or sweat
production – is allowing media companies
to align services to users’ response to
environmental stimuli. A live production
team can measure and respond to the
emotional response of a million viewers of
a live TV show or sports fans in real time.

Key Enablers in Media

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Advanced data
visualization Prescriptive analytics

Augmented reality Self-adaptive security

Cloud Service Privacy-enhancing

Integration technologies

Context-rich systems Robotics

Distributed analytics Social media analysis

Edge computing Software-defined

technologies

Gamification Streaming analytics

Internet of Things Virtual reality

Named Data Networks Wearable computing

Ascent Look Out 121

Market views

Oil and Gas

Middle East has 67% of world’s oil

Lower prices and shrinking margins
reserves
High maintenance, exploration & Middle East has 45% of all natural gas
production costs reserves
Moderate energy demands across 25% of companies will use advanced
ASEAN and India analytics by 2019
Environmental impact & public Top 50% investing in oilfield
confidence pressures operations automation

Key Market Challenges

Customer companies are exploring ways to satisfy

Experience
The industry’s matrix of B2B and B2C
relationships is complex. B2B customers are
mainly the energy intensive industries and
power generation plants that need more
and more energy to stimulate progress and
support an ever-expanding and better off
world population.
B2C customers include gas stations
customers, governments and national oil
companies. As living standards rise, their
demand for energy continues to grow as
does their awareness of the world they live
in. Oil and gas companies are responding
by leveraging their enormous marketing
spend and taking a two-brand – low-cost
and premium – approach at the pump.
Always connected, B2C customers are
demanding a new experience. Fickle and
quick to switch loyalties, they want ultra-
personalized and simple interactions with
the brand, at the very moment they need
it. Forecourt stores are a key asset for B2C
retailers, who increasingly need to deliver
an enticing ‘showroom’ experience.
To win business in this very complex,
competitive and volatile landscape, oil and
gas companies must turn their growing
volume and variety of customer data
into actionable insight on the diverse
expectations and behaviors of their
different types of customers. Only then
will they be able to create compelling
new services and provide customers with
the meaningful value that will buy their
enduring loyalty. Downstream, where the
fleet business is particularly important,
both fleet end-users and the teams that
award the contracts.
In downstream operations, oil and
gas companies are creating a new
and differentiated business space for
themselves by moving from selling gallons
of petrol to selling energy as a service.
They're also addressing the growing
demand for electricity as mainstream
fuel for transportation through offering
electrical charging services at their filling
stations.
Business
Reinvention
Every oil and gas company is undergoing
a period of significant transition. Meeting
the current industry challenges means
seizing new opportunities. But profitable
exploitation of smaller and less accessible
fields, shale gas and liquefied natural
gas (LNG) requires new methods and
models to be developed. At the same
time, companies must also tackle diverse
challenges that range from economic
and political uncertainty to massive
environmental and public confidence
pressures.
In addition millennials, in particular, are
building a new relationship with their car.
No longer a social marker, it’s now simply a
commodity product they use to commute
from A to B. Public and private car sharing
– enabled by BlaBlaCar, Uber and other
transport market disruptors – along with
increased teleworking may well decrease
the distance each citizen drives with his
own car in the mid-term.
Oil and gas companies need to build a
sustainable energy system that drives
economic progress and supports growing
populations to ensure resilience in the face
of this continued volatility. That system
must, at the same time, also minimize
environmental impact and respect our
changing climate while creating attractive
returns for shareholders.
To find other new ways of creating value
and to open up new revenue streams,
companies are building an ecosystem
that stretches beyond traditional
boundaries. This open innovation includes
both customers and cross-sectoral
partnerships: from specialist product and
service providers (including wearables
manufacturers and renewable energy
generators) upstream to a growing array
of retailers and manufacturers (including
automotive) downstream.
The new multi-sided business models
delivered through these new partnerships
allow companies to offer valuable new
services that will help build customer
loyalty. In the emerging world, for example,
oil and gas companies are already offering
credit management in gas stations.
Companies are also exploring multi-
sided market opportunities driven by our
increasingly connected world: the growing
number of connected cars, individuals and
more.
Real-time intelligence will accelerate and
enhance decision-making throughout
new business development. Growing data
volumes will become the real differentiating
asset, but only for companies committed to
uncovering their business value.

122 #AscentLookOut

‘‘To win business in this very complex, competitive and volatile
landscape, oil and gas companies must turn their growing volume
and variety of customer data into actionable insight on the diverse
expectations and behaviors of their different types of customers.’’
Alpha Baro
Vice President
Oil & Gas
Operational
Excellence
As oil prices continue to tumble in the face
of excess supplies, every oil company finds
itself operating under immense pressure.
With no rebound expected at least until
a clearer picture of supply emerges,
companies urgently need to reduce costs
to combat shrinking margins and higher
discovery and development costs. They
must also increase agility to quickly adapt
to new economic environments.
Outsourcing non-core operations – loyalty
card management in downstream
operations or even divesting whole
tranches of the retail business, for example
– can reduce cost and boost effectiveness
while maintaining the brand and customer
relationship strategy. After all, oil companies
want to keep control and retain their
position as the decision makers for
strategic topics. To maximize value, oil and
gas companies must form tighter and more
active business relationships with their new
specialist partners and their suppliers.
Actionable intelligence is vital for improving
efficiency, reducing downtime and helping
oil and gas companies thrive. After all, a
single day’s downtime can cost a company
more than $10 million. They must fully
exploit both real-time and historical data
upstream, midstream and downstream,
especially in those areas where operational
and information technology come together.
With significant investments tied up in
assets that are often more than 20 years
old, maintenance costs have become
almost unsustainable. Meanwhile, the cost
Oil and Gas
of reinvesting is considerable and it will take Any major incident can have catastrophic
companies more than a decade to bring effects on both planet and reputation. The
replacements on board. quality of data, governance and reporting
matters more than ever.
Upstream, efficiency is key to managing
the operations at the smaller and more As oil prices tumble and companies
remote sites with a limited life-span. Without seek out new ways to save money, data
it, these sites would simply not be viable. quality and integrity must be assured
In location-specific and relatively stable without compromise wherever data
midstream environments, effectiveness management is outsourced. What’s more,
depends on exact inventory and timely industry constraints must be taken into
intervention. full consideration in the design of the
virtualized systems that will help oil and
gas companies reduce cost and boost
Trust and efficiency.
Compliance
Security processes and solutions must
be applied across the partner ecosystem
too. Where pumps on a rig, for example,
No other industry sector comes under as
are owned and managed by a third-party
intense critical public scrutiny as oil and
under contract, the responsibility for
gas. Companies must protect customer
the safe and effective working of those
data and shield essential resources
pumps is ultimately carried by the oil
from the threat of cyber-attacks while
or gas company. With these complex
responding to increasing regulatory
interdependencies, it's essential that
reporting obligations in a timely and
local and global security and compliance
transparent fashion.
obligations are extended across the
partnership network.
In a world that is now very much digitally
connected, oil and gas companies must
be seen to meet social and environmental
obligations. As oil and gas companies
increase their energy production they must
manage the environmental impact of their
operations very carefully. Commitments to
protecting the environment should not only
focus on eliminating leakages, reducing
CO2 emissions, water consumption and
waste, they should also include working
closely with local communities.
Always in the public eye, no oil or
gas company can underestimate the
importance of environmental impact.
Ascent Look Out 123
Oil and Gas

124 #AscentLookOut
 Oil and Gas

Mainstream
5G networks Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging

Cloud Service Integration

Prescriptive analytics
Privacy-enhancing
technologies Self-adaptive
security

Distributed analytics Advanced data

visualization
High performance
computing
Edge
Internet computing Semantic technologies
of Things
Wearable 3D printing
computing

Innovation value webs

Streaming
analytics Context-rich
systems
Autonomous
vehicles
LPWAN
Machine-to-machine

Hybrid cloud
Augmented reality
Sentiment analytics

2016 2017 2018 2019+

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers Advanced data visualization

3D visualization technologies provide a
have relieved engineers of hazardous,
time-consuming and costly field data
real-time immersive picture of the well that reading activities. More than that, these
3D printing
can be shared remotely. ‘drones’ can monitor movements around
Every sector – exploration, production,
pipelines and facilities, highlight activities
refineries, petrochemical plants and gas
Augmented reality – such as public works or a fire – close to
stations – is benefiting from modern
By providing workers with immediate sensitive pipelines. They can also pinpoint
3D printing technology. It's particularly
access to more and better information the source of a leak or other pollution far
important in the field, specifically offshore.
– from asset lifecycle management to quicker than any human could and provide
When a critical piece of equipment fails,
production analysis – augmented reality a permanent view of offshore platforms.
maintenance engineers no longer have to
delivered through smart glasses allows Onboard cameras relay videos and photos
wait to set to work repairing the affected
more to be done by one individual. back to base, while sensors gather data on
machinery. The new part is now available
Embedded cameras relay pictures back the environment.
in next to no time, eliminating the cost of
to base to record activities or to allow less
ordering, shipping and downtime.
highly qualified staff in the field to tap into Cloud Service Integration
the expertise of centrally-located experts. Cloud-enabled integrated manufacturing
5G networks, LPWAN
This allows companies to make better use is bridging the gap between up-, mid- and
Soon all data will simply be sent over a
of scarce expertise. downstream operations. Cloud Service
combination of the pervasive 5G and Low-
Integration (CSI) ensures tight integration
Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN). The
Autonomous vehicles between various cloud services. For
deep insight offered helps enhance the
Oil and gas companies need to ensure instance, CSI is helping gas companies
safety of offshore engineers, ensure the
the safety and security of their vast optimize extraction by enabling tight
security of infrastructure and maximize
infrastructure. With assets spread far and integration between the gas turbine
productivity, amongst other things.
wide, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) manufacturer’s PLM cloud service, a

Ascent Look Out 125

Oil and Gas
company’s own private asset management
cloud service and a sub-surface analysis
cloud service.
Context-rich systems
By bringing together insight on the wider
context, context-rich systems in tandem
with advanced analytics, help companies
ensure they deliver the personalized
interaction today’s customers demand.
Distributed analytics
Distributed analytics helps companies
optimize production yield by analyzing
data from the well head, in the field and
other remote locations in real time. They
help reduce leakage by combining and
analyzing data gathered from sensors
deployed throughout the production chain
in real time, for instance.
Edge computing
Upstream, edge computing is adding
intelligence to equipment. Critical
production decisions are well-informed and
can be made quickly.
High performance computing
With actionable real-time intelligence now
crucial for helping oil and gas companies
not only survive, but thrive, high
performance computing is able to process
the vast volumes of real-time and historical
data that is now available. Seismic imaging,
for example, relies on HPC to process data
on how acoustic waves propagate and
reflect through the subsurface to determine
the possible presence of hydrocarbon
accumulations. These simulations enable
companies to predict whether oil wells will
fulfill expectations more accurately before
drilling begins.
Hybrid cloud
Cloud computing is helping oil and gas
companies ensure data is accessible
whenever and wherever it's needed,
improving mobility and flexibility. Sensitive
data, such as prospecting intelligence, is
stored in private clouds. Hybrid clouds
then allow companies to combine their
sensitive data with classified data, such as
the contact information for local associates.
Innovation Value Webs
With oil and gas companies building
partnerships and alliances beyond
traditional borders, innovation value
webs are enhancing collaboration and
communication across the wider partner
ecosystem. Their new social business
tools are also encouraging deeper
cooperation between the multi-skill teams
126 #AscentLookOut
that are organized in collaborative working
environments for looking after a series of
fields.
Internet of Things
By exploiting data from predictive models
– such as weather – along with production
data, data from smart embedded sensors
and engineers’ wearables and a wealth
of broader information sources, the
Internet of Things (IoT) provides oil and
gas companies with a rich picture of the
environment out in the field.
Machine-to-machine
Breakdowns are few and far between
these days. Smart, data-driven prescriptive
maintenance programs are helping to
maximize the effective lifecycle of aging
upstream and midstream assets, while
improving tool reliability and cutting
maintenance cost. Machine-to-machine
(M2M) technology connects assets,
continually transmitting diagnostic data
from machinery in the field, at wells or in
refineries to an intelligent system in the
remote control center.
Prescriptive analytics
Companies are increasingly leveraging
smart, data-driven prescriptive analytics
to optimize operations up-, mid- and
downstream. Downstream, prescriptive
analytics not only helps companies predict
market demand and align per barrel
production cost against the current and
foreseeable future of crude oil price, it
can also suggest how, when and where
production needs to be stepped up.
Privacy-enhancing technologies
With the oil and gas industry under such
intense scrutiny privacy-enhancing
technologies are helping control the
disclosure of customer data. They help
companies manage privacy risk by
ensuring compliance with data protection
legislation and regulation.
Self-adaptive security
Contextual dynamic access control
enabled by self-adaptive security provides
companies, customers and partners with
access to information and systems only
when needed, shielding essential resources
from the threat of cyber-attacks while
raising levels of privacy protection.
Semantic technologies
Distributed analytics has a role to play in
reducing power consumption in midstream
operations. It provides refinery managers
with an overall analysis of power usage
across the refinery equipment that they
can then drill down into. Behind the
scenes semantic technologies help
these intelligent systems understand the
relationships within and across data.
Sentiment analytics
As oil and gas companies looking to
address massive environmental and
public confidence pressures are turning
to advanced social media analytics with
its sentiment analytics to determine
what people feel about their brands and
quickly address any reputation-damaging
sentiment.
Streaming analytics
A few years from now and you will find oil
and gas companies well into their Big Data
revolution, dependent on the timeliness
and quality of intelligence for production,
refinement and commercialization of oil
and gas. Advanced analytics play a vital
role in ensuring safety and profitability.
Streaming analytics, for example, allows
companies to extract intelligence in
real time so they can act rapidly. By
immediately analyzing data coming from
a pump at the wells it provides production
engineers with actionable insight in next
to no time – insight into any sudden drop
in production that might prevent the well
reaching its target daily production, for
example.
Wearable computing
Well engineers access vital information
hands-free through modern wearables
– including smart glasses, bracelets and
sensors embedded in clothing – improving
productivity and safety. Sensors can send
information on the engineer, their actions
and the local environment back to a
remote control center.
 Oil and Gas

Key Enablers in Oil and Gas

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3D printing Innovation Value Webs

5G networks Internet of Things

Advanced data LPWAN

visualization

Augmented reality Machine-to-machine

Autonomous vehicles Prescriptive analytics

Cloud Service Privacy-enhancing

Integration technologies

Context-rich systems Self-adaptive security

Distributed analytics Semantic technologies

Edge computing Sentiment analytics

High performance Streaming analytics

computing

Hybrid cloud Wearable computing

Ascent Look Out 127

Market views
Pharmaceuticals
Global pharma market worth nearly
$1.6 trillion by 2020
Focus on patient-centric health lifecycle
management
80% of consumer wearables measure
health-related KPIs
Personalized medicine and value-
based pricing
Key Market Challenges
Customer
Experience
We're in the midst of a significant shift,
from a world in which one size fits all to
one in which the individual’s diseases are
treated with highly personalized drugs.
Pharmaceutical companies’ key goal is to
develop the right drugs to be administered
to the right people at the right time. They
need to ensure patients not only get the
medications they need, but also fully
understand how to take them – a growing
issue as the population ages.
Understanding how differences in
genes and their expression affect the
body’s response to medications is key to
developing personalized drugs. Genetic
and other forms of molecular screening
are helping the physician select the
optimal therapy first time, avoiding the
frustrating and costly practice of trial-and-
error prescribing. But there’s a significant
gap between this cutting-edge ‘genomic’
research and everyday healthcare.
Processes and solutions are needed to
translate genomics into clinical practice.
Meanwhile, the internet is providing
patients with a wealth of information about
their diseases, how they can prevent them,
possible treatments and recovery. Powerful
online communities allow patients to seek
advice from fellow sufferers.
This freely available insight has
revolutionized patients’ behaviors.
To be successful in the new world,
pharmaceutical companies need to
understand and engage with the new type
of patient: cyber patient. Cyber patient is
128 #AscentLookOut
Increasing volume of digital patient
data
Growing health needs of an aging
global population
New sources of evidence: online
communities, apps & sensors
Swelling counterfeit drug market
well-informed having trawled the internet to
learn about his health, diseases, prognosis
and potential treatments. He may also
be misinformed and have drawn his own
– right or wrong – conclusions about his
diagnosis.
Cyber patient can access all the information
he needs, anytime, anywhere. Armed with
an abundance of knowledge, cyber patient
provides pharmaceutical companies with
a unique challenge: he is likely to self-
medicate. Not giving drugs enough time
to be effective, he is prone to switching
from one to the next, time after time.
Pharmaceutical companies need to engage
directly with cyber patient to counteract
the impacts of and support self-diagnosis
and self-medication.
In fact, pharmaceutical companies need
to engage more intimately and more
individually than ever before across all
their stakeholders, including physicians,
hospitals and insurance providers. Creating
an integrated ecosystem will allow them to
deliver the engaging experience that will
ultimately build trust and loyalty.
Business
Reinvention
Pharmaceuticals must deliver safe, high-
quality drugs and medical devices, while
safeguarding revenues. But time-to-market
is increasing, R&D productivity is declining
and fewer blockbuster drugs are emerging.
Meanwhile, they also face competitors
waiting to produce generics after patents
expire, slowing growth in established
markets, an intensifying counterfeit drugs
market and increasing manufacturing
capabilities in countries such as Brazil,
Russia, India and China (the BRIC
countries). Companies developing new
pharmaceuticals stand to lose many billions
of Euros of annual revenue over the next
few years from patent expiry alone.
As pressure on the pipeline mounts,
pharmaceutical companies are looking
for ways to accelerate new product
development and transform themselves
from drug manufacturers into patient-
centric organizations.
One of their key goals is to make costly
and time-consuming research and
clinical trials more effective and more
efficient. Replacing legacy manual and
paper processes with intelligent tools that
integrate all data from collection to analysis
is cutting cost, accelerating processes
and reducing inconsistencies, errors and
duplication of effort.
Accelerating new product development
will also help pharmaceutical companies
develop vaccines or treatments whenever
there's a major pandemic. In recent years
we have seen major outbreaks of avian
flu, Ebola and SARS, and people expect
pharmaceutical companies to react quickly
and come up with a solution without delay.
Furthermore the traditional drug company
focused on the product must transform
itself into a disease management
organization focused on delivering patient
value. Additional patient-centric products
and services will open up the new revenue
streams. It’s important they collaborate with
other parties in the value chain, such as the
IT technologies partners that may position

‘‘As pressure on the pipeline mounts, pharmaceutical companies
are looking for ways to accelerate new product development and
transform themselves from drug manufacturers into patient-centric
organizations.’’
Markus
Fuchslocher
Vice President
Head of
Pharmaceutical
Industry
themselves as data brokers, brokering data
gathered from via tablets, watches, TVs and
other sources.
By redesigning the patient experience,
moving from a product-centric to a patient-
centric world, pharmaceutical companies
can gain the insight and loyalty that is
critical to success. Online communities
keep the brand at the forefront of cyber
patient’s mind while providing a direct
channel for learning about his fears at
the different stages of his health journey
– healthy living, prevention, diagnosis,
treatment, recovery and home care. In
return, cyber patient may offer his trust and
loyalty.
Increased patient engagement and greater
transparency will help pharmaceutical
companies connect with patients along
their very personal health journey. Linking
the Business-to-Business and Business-
to-Patient worlds provides companies
with the access to volumes of patient
data they need to deliver innovative
new personalized services – for example
providing diabetic patients with a complete
service comprising measuring the blood
sugar level, the right doses of insulin, a
pump and their physicians access to their
real-time patient data.
Centralizing that insight along with other
critical data will not only enable real-time
access to information from anywhere, it will
strengthen engagement with stakeholders
(including study sponsors, regulators,
hospitals, physicians and nurses, as well
as the patients) by simplifying information
sharing. Stakeholders will no longer
participate individually; instead they will
work together towards a united goal.
Our ever more connected and monitored
world offers many great new opportunities
for pharmaceutical companies. Take
ingestible sensors that will be activated
upon swallowing and enable wireless
patient monitoring and diagnostic imaging,
for example. These ‘smart pills’ could open
up new revenue streams, along with other
wearable products and apps.
Meanwhile, doctors could prescribe their
patients apps, either in a more preventive
approach to health or as an alternative
to medication. An app that monitors
and encourages exercise and a healthy
diet could be an alternative to statins, for
example.
Operational
Excellence
With revenues declining, pharmaceutical
companies must increase efficiency
and reduce costs to improve margins.
Operational excellence is required
throughout the life sciences organization:
in production and across the supply chain
and within IT. A modern digital environment
is vital for streamline both internal and
external processes that reach across the
pharmaceutical ecosystem.
Despite demand weakening in established
markets, demand for healthcare is
strengthening in the emerging markets.
Companies therefore need to be able to
provide any drug anywhere around the
world at any time, swiftly moving drugs
around the globe. Reliable forecasting
and a well-managed global supply
chain are key to ensuring demand is
Pharmaceuticals
successfully satisfied, especially now that
manufacturing is commonly outsourced
to contract manufacturers in low-
cost locations. A real-time value chain
combined with transparency both inside
the pharmaceutical company and in its
interaction with its network of partners
will help ensure the ‘right first time’ quality
demanded today.
Trust and
Compliance
Patient and product safety is increasing
regulatory burden on the development,
manufacturing and supply of drugs.
Pharmaceutical companies must
keep their organizations up-to-date on
national and international laws, as well
as healthcare specific regulations. An
effective compliance capability, with
efficient communications, is a differentiator.
Furthermore, standardizing processes
along the entire value chain will help
pharmaceutical companies meet the
increased legislative pressure and combat
counterfeiting.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies are
increasingly outsourcing drug discovery,
clinical trials and clinical data management
to cut cost. They're also working more
closely with each other to share risk, take
advantage of economies of scale and
influence the direction of clinical research.
Protecting intellectual property in this new
very collaborative environment is a key
concern.
This places security, reliability and
scalability at the top of the IT agenda.
Ascent Look Out 129
Pharmaceuticals

Any IT failures could potentially impact

manufacturing processes and the quality
of the drug produced. Furthermore, all data
and information exchanges must be kept
safe from ever-increasing cyber-threats.

To develop trusted exchanges amongst

all stakeholders, companies should also
focus on inspiring confidence within their
ecosystem. This requires a modern IT
environment that enables the effective and
efficient collaboration and communications
that will also help attract and retain talent
in a highly competitive talent marketplace.
After all, today’s new generation of experts
is expecting to work with tools that are
at least as advanced as those they use at
home.

130 #AscentLookOut
 Pharmaceuticals

Mainstream
Early adoption
5G networks
Adolescent
Emerging
3D printing

Streaming
analytics
Self-adaptive security
Trusted information
High performance brokers
computing
Internet of Virtual assistants
Things Cloud Service
Distributed Prescriptive analytics
analytics Integration
Pattern-matching Privacy-enhancing
technologies technologies
Wearable Semantic
computing technologies Advanced data
visualization
Social network
analytics
Augmented reality

2016 2017 2018 2019+

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers Advanced data visualization

Graphs and other pictorial formats
Cloud Service Integration
Integrated manufacturing, which ensures
convey information concisely, making information transparency and collaboration
3D printing
the exploration of complex information between MES, ERP and PLM systems,
With personalized medication high on
quicker and simpler. By providing an easy is bridging the gap between demand,
the agenda, 3D printing technology will
to interpret representation of data where production and supply chain execution,
one day allow manufacturers to layer
the end point depends on a number of and also with R&D. This vertical view along
medication in precise dosages in pills.
variables, 3D visualization technologies the value chain has become increasingly
Medication can be tailored, based on each
simplify access to meaningful insights and, critical as pharmaceuticals move towards
specific patient’s needs.
in doing so, increase the odds of finding more personalized medicine. Cloud Service
clinically significant insights. Integration ensures tight integration
5G networks
between all these different cloud services,
Future high speed, extended range 5G
Augmented reality from scanning an individual patient’s
networks will ensure even participants
Plant maintenance engineers access knee and sharing the picture in the cloud
in the remotest of locations can share
vital information hands-free through to gathering the raw materials and then
their data from the comfort of their own
modern wearable devices, improving manufacturing the one-off product.
homes. Clinical trial teams and other
productivity and safety. Augmented reality
pharmaceutical company employees
provides step-by-step instructions on Distributed analytics
will also benefit from the more mobile
how to maintain equipment, equipment At the end of a trial, pharmaceutical
and accessible work environment, which
maintenance or performance histories or companies need to analyze the data
will allow them to access the tools and
even details on how to unlock a secure gathered alongside up-to-date information
information they need, when they need it –
cabin. Embedded cameras relay pictures about the participants, candidate drug and
even when they're out on the road.
back to base to record activities or tap into more. Distributed analytics allows diverse
the insight of a specialist engineer. data sources to be analyzed together

Ascent Look Out 131

Pharmaceuticals

without the need to first copy the data to
a central location. Companies can more
rapidly understand how differences in
genes result in an effective cure, non-
effectiveness or severe side effects for a
specific drug treatment.
High performance computing
With the volumes, variety and velocity
of data accelerating, high performance
computing is needed for handling complex
simulations and analyses; for analyzing the
DNA of clinical trial participants to try and
identify the variants involved in different
side effects, for instance. It also enables
the virtual high throughput screening that
is accelerating lead compound discovery
processes.
Internet of Things
Intelligence from wearables and smart
devices is combined with information from
numerous other diverse sources – from
electronic patient records to information
about the drug candidate, trial itself and
even all stakeholders involved – in the
Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT enables
smart, timely and appropriate drug
administration, amongst other things,
where a patient’s KPIs measured by smart
sensors regulate an ‘embedded’ active
pharmaceutical ingredient depot (such as
an insulin pump), for instance.
Pattern-matching technologies
In the event of a pandemic, the medical
community and pharmaceutical companies
need to understand how the disease is
spreading in order to predict future spread
and these future drug requirements.
Pattern-matching technologies such as
deep learning are helping them understand
disease behaviors, revealing otherwise
hidden patterns in transmission or
remission, for example.
Prescriptive analytics
Pharmaceutical companies are adopting
prescriptive analytics to ensure they
meet significantly greater demand for
specific drugs in the event of a pandemic.
Prescriptive analytics takes intelligence on
the spread of the disease, availability of
raw materials and production schedules
to suggest (or prescribe) an appropriate
production schedule for the product.
are repaired or replaced long before they
threaten to cause down time. This type
of condition-based maintenance helps
companies save on labor and service
cost, reduce unscheduled downtime and
improve operational efficiency.
Privacy-enhancing technologies
As companies gather more and more
information about patients during
their clinical trials privacy-enhancing
technologies control the disclosure of data.
They help companies manage privacy
risk by ensuring compliance with data
protection legislation and regulation.
Self-adaptive security
Contextual dynamic access control
enabled by self-adaptive security provides
companies, patients and partners with
access to information and systems only
when needed, raising levels of security and
privacy protection.
Semantic technologies
Semantic technologies enable the
integration of the diverse formats of data
that come from disparate systems into the
cloud. They ensure analytics systems can
understand the meaning of the data they
process, whatever its format.
Cloud enables people to share their health
KPIs – clinical trial data, for example – from
anywhere and allows other stakeholders
to act on that data in real time. Examples
might include physicians increasing insulin
on seeing blood sugar levels decrease.
Social network analysis
Pharmaceutical companies are striving
to move from a product-centric to a
patient-centric world while patients want
to take a greater role in their choice of
medicine. Social media is taking an active
role in enabling that transformation and
participation. In combination with social
network analysis it's helping companies
to understand how patients feel about
their drugs and which side effects impact
them most. Meanwhile companies are
participating in or creating specific disease
communities that help educate patients
about their disease and to encourage
them to lead the healthier lifestyles that will
improve outcomes.
trial or physician can react quickly to any
change in a participant’s vital signs, for
instance.
Trusted information brokers
Pharma companies are looking for a
trusted mediator to host personal health
information. Trusted information brokers
will act as the central verification service
eliminating the risk of manipulation –
especially in clinical trials – and ensuring
integrity of data.
Virtual assistants
Innovations, such as virtual assistants, will
have a significant important role to play
in patient compliance. This might be both
during clinical trials and once the candidate
drug has been approved and released to
market. Carried on a smartphone or a 3D
visualization, the avatar may remind the
patient to take their medication or simply
provide help and advice.
Wearable computing
Just a few years into the future and we will
see the speed at which pharmaceutical
companies gather, combine and explore
information continuing to increase – during
research, in the manufacturing plant and
across the entire pharmaceutical supply
chain. Patients participating in clinical trials
will be more connected and sharing more
information than ever before. Smartphones,
wearables and other smart sensor devices
are constantly collecting information on
health KPIs (oxygen levels, blood pressure,
blood sugar levels and more) and storing it
in the cloud.

These technologies also have a vital role to Streaming analytics

play in production plants where they help
determine configuration or maintenance
requirements, prescribing a course of
action that will both ensure optimal
production levels and ensure failing parts
Real-time streaming analytics gives
organizations a means of extracting
intelligence from data as it emerges so that
intelligence can be derived and acted on
at a moment’s notice. It ensures a clinical

132 #AscentLookOut
 Pharmaceuticals

Key Enablers in Pharmaceuticals

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3D printing
Prescriptive analytics

5G networks Privacy-enhancing
technologies

Advanced data
visualization Self-adaptive security

Augmented reality Semantic technologies

Cloud Service
Social network analytics
Integration

Distributed analytics Streaming analytics

High performance Trusted information

computing brokers

Internet of Things Virtual assistants

Pattern-matching
technologies Wearable computing

Ascent Look Out 133

Market views

Retail

Old school loyalty programs are on their 2.5 billion new users will come online
way out in next 5 years
Social is growing as part of the omni- 84% of smartphone owners use
channel mix phones instore
Ecommerce will account for 8.8% of all
Retail is now borderless
retail by 2018
IoT will have a significant economic 26% of purchases are impacted by
impact on retail social

Key Market Challenges

Customer For online shoppers, delivery speed and

Experience
Technology has revolutionized the way
we shop. The internet not only opens
up an opportunity to access information
and compare prices, it also offers a wider
choice of where and how to shop – both
locally and overseas. Powerful social
networks can either advocate or destroy
a brand. Mobile devices provide instant
access to information at any time and from
anywhere.
In store, new types of shopper have
emerged: the informed shopper and the
leisurely shopper. And since individuals are
likely to exhibit some aspects of each type
of shopper during each trip to the store,
retailers need to cater to both.
The informed shopper begins their
shopping journey online, trawling the
internet to learn about the product of
their desires: its pros and cons, where it's
available and the best deals. Armed with
knowledge and questions, they visit the
store to learn more about and experience
the product. They expect their in-store
experience to be slick and uncomplicated,
to easily find the answers to their questions.
And should they make up their mind to
purchase the item there and then, they
expect a good deal and speedy check out.
Failing that they might turn to their mobile
to purchase the product from a competitor.
The leisurely shopper, on the other hand,
visits the store purely for entertainment: to
shoot a few basketball hoops, learn about
their favorite stars or for their toddler’s
birthday party.
flexibility are becoming increasingly
important. They want their products
delivered faster and to be given more
delivery options: not just post or click-n-
collect, but also pick up from a nearby
store.
Whether online or instore, customers
expect a rich, personalized and accessible
shopping experience that is seamless
across physical and virtual stores.
Furthermore, retailers need to adapt to
the increasingly rapid change in customer
preferences and context. Continuity and
ubiquity of stock will be key to achieving
this ‘responsive retail’.
The final payment step will also be
important in the overall shopping
experience. Mobile, contactless payments
will make it easier to pay and eliminate
waiting times.
Business
Reinvention
The number of direct-to-consumer retail
channels grows and with it the progressive
disintermediation of retailers. Marketplaces
allow new entrants to reach the customer
easily without their own online platform.
Some larger online retailers are also
leveraging marketplaces to extend their
own products and services offerings.
Elsewhere, the cloud is enabling an entirely
new type of retailer. With no physical stores,
inventory or warehouses, they connect the
customer directly with the services they
need: the manufacturer, the store and/or
the delivery provider. In India, for example,
one such retailer is connecting customers
with grocery stores and delivery organizers
to provide a service that offers a wide
range of groceries to their front door.
Traditional retailers are responding by
offering value-added services; transforming
their brands into trusted partners that
customers can turn to not just for products,
but also advice. Modern health food stores,
for example, are helping customers analyze
and understand their individual health
and nutritional needs while sport apparel
brands are providing advice on improving
sports performance.
These additional services will help to build
brand loyalty by making the brand more
relevant to customers rather than just
providing a product. Getting closer to the
customer, will enable retailers to not only
learn more about the customer’s current
needs and desires, but also anticipate
customers’ future needs and identify new
sales opportunities. These services also
help ensure retailers only push relevant
offers and information, bringing added
value to their customers.
As well as reinventing their brand identity,
retailers are also reinventing their high
street stores, transforming them to provide
a real experience of their products and
brand by allowing customers to try-touch-
learn about products. What’s more, with the
large range of different store formats and
the rising number of smaller format stores,
shelf space is limited and only a fraction
of the full range of physical products can
be on display. Retailers are using virtual
stores and digital technology to show their
full product range with only a small part
physically present in the store. Digital walls

134 #AscentLookOut
 Retail

‘‘To help them succeed in today’s increasingly diverse and competitive

environment, retailers are looking for new ways to improve efficiency
and reduce costs. They also need to provide their customers with a
consistent high quality experience both instore and online, engaging
Annick
Lemaylleux
with them in a more personalized and meaningful way.’’
Vice President
Head of Global
Retail Market

can even be installed outside of physical
stores to provide customers with virtual
shopping opportunities on their way to
work or while waiting for the subway.
But this is only the start of the story.
Retailers also need to anticipate how and
where tomorrow’s customers are likely to
want to shop: how and why they navigate
through different channels. As customers’
habits and preferences evolve – and the
pace at which they're evolving is getting
faster and faster – retailers will need to be
able to react quickly to accommodate new
behaviors and desires.
Operational
Excellence
To take full advantage of reliable real-time
data to optimize operations and cost,
retailers will need to standardize, simplify
and modernize their IT systems. While
they're doing this they must also invest in
the new technology that will enable them
to both offer their customers a true omni-
channel experience and engage with them
in a more personalized way.
A true omni-channel experience offers
seamless integration across all available
channels. Product names, information,
pictures, prices, returns policies, stock
availability needs to be consistent
whether online or in stores. Ensuring
this is important for building the trust
that increases loyalty and, with it, repeat
business.
And as they become increasingly
dependent on technology, retailers must
also protect their stores and their services
from both virtual and physical attack.
Furthermore, they must protect the
increasing number of electronic channels
through which they engage with their
customers – from laptop and tablets to
smartphones and wearables. To guard
against reputational damage from an
outage or a major data breach, risk must
be continually anticipated, assessed and
managed.

To help them succeed in today’s
increasingly diverse and competitive
environment, retailers are looking for new
ways to improve efficiency and reduce
costs. Both instore and online, they’re
looking for more efficient ways to engage
with customers and to provide customers
with self-service access to information.
Now present on a variety of channels
– their own virtual and physical stores
as well as their partners’ – retailers must
ensure ample stock. Real-time visibility and
optimization of not only stock levels but
also the supply chain, along with real-time
demand forecasting, will be key to ensuring
they have the right products available, in
the right store, at the right time. Online
they have the luxury of being able to see
what pending purchases are in customers’
shopping baskets.
Trust and
Compliance
Retailers need to build trusted relationships
with their customers to encourage them
to share personal information. Without it
they will struggle to understand and target
individual’s needs and desires.
All customers, however, expect retailers
to safeguard that data, to prevent
unauthorized breaches that could see their
personal information fall into the hands of
fraudsters. Stringent protection against its
fraudulent use by third parties remains a
basic condition for a trustful brand. High
standards of data privacy and IT security
management – including leveraging the
strong authentication required to ensure
their customers are who they profess to
be – have to be established and kept at all
times.

Ascent Look Out 135

Retail

Key Enablers Around the store digital signage is also

leveraging 3D visualization technologies, to
Beacons
Indoor positioning systems (IPS) such as
showcase products not physically located beacons help to locate items and people
3D printing
within the store and also turn the shopping in the warehouse and in store using radio
Some personalized products can be
experience into the entertainment waves, magnetic fields, acoustic signals,
created in store thanks to 3D printing: a
experience that is intriguing customers and or other sensory information collected
bespoke toy, item of footwear or ornament,
increasing footfall. Fans of sports brands, for by mobile devices. Instore they enhance
for example. The customer might design
example, move around the virtual stadium customer experience by providing
it at home and then collect the finished
as they watch their favorite athletes personalized videos, offers and more
product from the store an hour later.
compete. on the nearest screen to the customer.
Furthermore, they enhance the shopping
5G systems
Augmented reality experience for the disabled customer by
The next step in wireless communications
In stores, augmented reality lets the providing all these directly to their own
technologies, 5G systems will allow
customer try items on in a virtual changing accessible mobile device.
retailers to enhance the mobile customer
room. As well as allowing the customer
experience with high bandwidth videos
to see how it will fit, the technology offers Biometric technologies
and other media formats that are more
the customer additional information about Biometric technologies – including
engaging. With more bandwidth available
the product. At home, augmented reality contactless credit cards with built-in
they can deliver a true omni-channel
allows the customer can see how the fingerprint scanners and selfies that the
experience wherever the customer is:
product fits in his own environment or store checks against a stored photo of
at home, out and about or in store.
access additional information on a product the customers – are making the payment
from a paper catalog. Pre-checking that an authentication process stronger and
Advanced data visualization
article of clothing fits the shopper well, for easier. Companies are experimenting with
Data can be quickly turned into a real-time
example, reduces the volume of returns. other forms of biometrics such as iris scan
immersive virtual 3D layout of store thanks
It also provides additional marketing technology, but there are concerns about
to 3D visualization technologies. A library
opportunities and increased consumer customer acceptance with this and other
of product images builds a digital replica
interaction. forms of biometrics.
of the store, paving the way for dynamic
merchandising and compliance analysis
New mobile point of sale solutions are Cloud Service Integration
for every store. Workers can rapidly identify
simplifying and speeding up the payment As retailers move their point-of-sale,
where shelves are getting low or even
process while reducing cost and risk. In the inventory management, supply chain,
empty.
store these include mobile wallets, cloud customer relationship management
mobile and mobile card payment. and other key systems into the cloud,

136 #AscentLookOut

3D printing
Cloud Service Integration
Internet of
Things
Context-rich systems
Biometric technologies
Hybrid cloud
Robotics
Mobile and social media apps
Near field communication
Beacons
Geo-location
technologies Sentiment analytics
2016
Cloud Service Integration ensures tight
integration between all these various cloud
services.
Cloud-based federated identity provides
secure federated access to both operational
systems and customer information across
systems. Trusted information brokers
are poised to act as the future central
verification service, eliminating the need for
individual registration and authentication of
each service.
Context-rich systems
Working in tandem with advanced
analytics, context-rich systems bring
together insight on the wider context to
help retailers proactively align content
with the consumer’s needs. These systems
may, for example, adjust content sent to
an individual customer or digital signage
based on anything from the weather
outside to current events, device-type,
network capabilities and more.
5G systems
Edge
computing Privacy-enhancing technologies
Advanced data visualization
Prescriptive analytics
Augmented reality
Distributed analytics
Self-adaptive security
Pattern-matching technologies
Virtual assistants
Wearable computing
2017 2018
Distributed analytics
To engage on a personal level with their
customer, retailers need a single up-to-
date 360° view of the customer, their
purchasing history, needs, desires and
their behaviors. Distributed analytics
provides a comprehensive view of the
customer by analyzing data in situ across
heterogeneous data sources. This single
source of the truth helps stores ensure
every interaction – whether digital or with a
human store assistant or customer service
representative on the phone – is consistent,
relevant and meaningful.
Edge computing
In the future companies may leverage
edge computing to both process relevant
data more quickly and ensure scalability
within the smart connected retail
environment. Indexing data close to the
point of capture, for examples, lightens the
load of centralized servers while making it
highly accessible to the systems that need
Retail
Mainstream
Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging
2019+
© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.
it soon after capture.
Geo-location technologies
Electronic shelf labels (ESLs) also provide
a very precise global product positioning
system since each product in the store is
individually labeled. If a customer is looking
for something they can’t find, a product
search on the store map will find easily
the product thanks to the geo-located ESL
enabled by geo-location technologies. A
NFC tap on any nearby ESL will identify
their exact location in store and direct them
toward the product they’re looking for.
Hybrid cloud
Retailers are looking to enhance that
customer experience further; to encourage
ad-hoc purchases based on the current
context. Hybrid cloud allows companies
to augment customer data stored within
their own private clouds with third-party
information – such as news on trends, hints
and tips or even weather forecasts – so
Ascent Look Out 137
Retail
they can offer the customer timely, relevant
suggestions.
Internet of Things
Embedded sensors in shelves, packaging
and more together form the growing
Internet of Things (IoT). Connected
systems, processes, workers, customers,
stock and shelving transforms the store
into a smart connected retail environment
equipped to respond in real time to
changes in customer demand and
behavior. In the future it will also enable
automatic purchasing, for example. With
products and customers located in real
time, the merchandising becomes dynamic.
ESLs, for example, allow retailers to display
and update prices remotely across the
store, without the need for staff intervention
at the shelf edge – generating significant
and recurrent operating cost savings.
The ESLs not only allow dynamic pricing,
varying price by time of day, but can also
enable interaction with customers’ smart
phones to access product information or
enable personalized offers.
Mobile and social media apps
The cloud is a key enabler for business
transformation in the retail industry.
It allows retailers to offer customers a
truly omni-channel experience across
all channels and locations. Whether the
customer engages with the retailer in a
physical, on the PC or through mobile
and social media apps, the systems they
interact with and the data these systems
use will be the same.
Near field communication
Stores' use of near field communication
(NFC) is expanding rapidly from its initial
adoption as a means of secure contactless
payment. Customers tap an NFC tag on
a table, shelf – or anywhere else it can
be embedded – with their NFC enabled
smartphone or smartcard to receive
advertising, offers, coupons, loyalty points
or even information on a specific product.
Pattern-matching technologies
Pattern-matching technologies help
companies leverage the vast volumes of
data available today to identify hidden
customer habits, identify untapped
marketing opportunities and better
understand their customers – as well
identify and then address potentially
fraudulent behavior patterns, including
potentially fraudulent behaviors.
138 #AscentLookOut
Prescriptive analytics minimize overcrowding in specific regions
By analyzing a comprehensive up-to-the- of the store.
minute picture of the customer and their
context combined with well-understood Wearable computing
customer habits, expectations and buying Warehouse employees can track a product
behaviors, prescriptive analytics suggest hands-free through modern wearable
which promotions the retailer should offer devices. These wearables infuse insights
a customer to maximize their shopping with the real-world, blurring the lines
basket. Prescriptive analytics also has a between digital and physical. They provide
role in helping retailers gauge the expected the same detailed information on stock
future profitability of each customer levels and location that the robots have
relationship. Online it helps with optimizing available to them.
checkout-funnels and maximizing
conversion rates.
Privacy-enhancing technologies
As customers share more information with
retailers privacy-enhancing technologies
(PET) control disclosure of data, helping
establishments to manage privacy risk by
ensuring compliance with data protection
legislation and regulation.
Robotics
In the warehouse, robotics helps with
laborious manual tasks such as order
picking. Instore, always abreast of the
real-time location and current stock levels
of all of a shop's wares, robots become a
useful source of information and can be
used in customer service to engage with
customers and help them find items.
Self-adaptive security
With retailers managing and sharing
more and more of their data and services
securely through their private clouds,
the dynamic access control enabled
by self-adaptive security ensures staff,
partners and customers have access to
the information and systems they need to
access, but only when they need it.
Sentiment analytics
Social media provides customers, retailers
and brands with more than just an
opportunity to express needs, desires and
concerns; social is also becoming a new
peer-to-peer shopping platform. Sentiment
analytics allows retailers to obtain valuable
feedback on consumer satisfaction and
ideas for innovation.
Virtual assistants
Customers are greeted by a virtual
assistants as they enter the store. The
avatar provides the customer voice- or
text-based information on their mobile. It
not only responds to customer queries,
but advices the customer about the length
of the queues, where to pay and more,
creating a novel interaction that draws
the customer in. For the retailer it helps to
 Retail

Key Enablers in Retail

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3D printing Internet of Things

5G systems Mobile and social media

apps

Advanced data Near field

visualization communication

Augmented reality Pattern-matching

technologies

Beacons Prescriptive analytics

Privacy-enhancing
Biometric technologies
technologies

Cloud Service Robotics

Integration

Context-rich systems Self-adaptive security

Distributed analytics Sentiment analytics

Edge computing Virtual assistants

Geo-location Wearable computing

technologies

Hybrid cloud

Ascent Look Out 139

Market views

Telco

OTTs’ growing share of industry value Global mobile subscriptions will grow
chain revenues to 8.5bn by 2019
Network equipment hindering Mobile service revenues will reach
innovation time-to-market $1.1tn by 2019
The industry will continue to By 2017, half the world’s population
consolidate through M&A transactions will be mobile Internet subscribers
Regulatory uncertainties continue to M2M connections are forecast to
unsettle the industry reach 1bn by 2020

Key Market Challenges

Customer by establishing deeper one-to-one of devices; by providing the end-to-end

Experience
The experience and expectation of Telco
customers, both consumer and business,
has changed significantly in recent years
thanks mainly to mobility, smartphones
and the innovative new services offered
by over-the-top providers. Customers
expect personalized services and real-time
engagement. They want new mobility
solutions to be easy to use and deliver a
compelling and seamless journey – from
online shopping through mobile checkout
to after sales engagement, for example.
Telcos must ensure their products and
services make customers’ lives better
and easier while delivering on service
availability, latency and jitter, performance
and security guarantees. They must offer
customers access to the services they need
on-demand.
Delivering this superior end customer
satisfaction requires business and IT
to be fully aligned and optimized, with
seamless interaction between IT and the
Telco networks. It also needs Telcos to take
ownership of new perimeters, such as the
end user device and app in the case of
Wi-Fi calling. After all, customers are looking
to Telcos to connect them to everything,
everywhere – including their over-the-top
services – at any time.
Telcos’ growth will depend on their ability to
win new customers in emerging countries
and to increase average revenue per user
(ARPU) with relevant new products and
services in developed countries, while
successfully retaining existing customers
relationships. Gaining a clear understanding
of what customers are interested in,
what they like and dislike, and how their
expectations are changing has become an
imperative.
The emerging markets are characterized
by high demand and promising
growth that is not necessarily linked
to technological developments. These
include SMS-based transactional services
in Africa and WeChat-based commerce in
Asia. Third-party services, such as banking
for unbanked individuals, will help get
customers on board. Over-the-top services
are only relevant where data connectivity
is available.
Conversely, in developed geographies,
extreme competition, high customer
expectations, competition from over-
the-top providers and consumer-friendly
regulation are making the market difficult.
The lower churn here correlates to high
product output. To maintain their position
in these markets, Telcos must close the
Net Promotor Scores gap with over-the-top
providers by managing and accelerating
their response to new customer
expectations while being clear about their
offerings.
The ‘one-to-one’ relationship between an
individual and his/her connected devices
is now a ‘one-to-many’ relationship thanks
to PCs, tablets, wearables, connected TVs,
beacons and more. The smartphone, for
example, will act as a hub for sensors in
the new connected world. Telcos have
an opportunity to open new business
streams by collecting, correlating, analyzing
and monetizing the real-time customer
data generated by this growing number
services customers will want. They might
leverage it to deliver new value-added
services themselves or offer it to third
parties.
In the retail and services sector, for
example, consumers are demanding digital
services that are more contextual while
retailers and service providers are hungry
for a magical all-in-one omni-channel
solution. Telcos can empower these B2B
clients to do business over any device and
any network according to the real-time
context.
After all agile connectivity, with its ability
to rapidly flex to address ever-changing
capacity and latency requirements, is a key
enabler for diverse industries' new digital
services.
Business
Reinvention
The Telco climate continues to be
as volatile as ever: voice margins are
decreasing, the end of roaming charges
mid-2017 threatens to cut into existing
revenues and net neutrality threatens to
limit Telcos’ ability to differentiate traffic and
tariffs. Mergers and acquisitions are plentiful
across Europe.
In response, Telcos must continually
create new business openings, new
streams of sustainable revenue and novel
go-to-market modes. This may mean
fundamentally changing the nature of
their business and of the services they
provide: monetizing data, offering over-

140 #AscentLookOut

‘Telcos must continually create new business openings, new streams
of sustainable revenue and novel go-to-market modes in order to take
advantage of the new opportunities in an increasingly connected world.
This may mean fundamentally changing the nature of their business
Oliver Kleinhenz
Vice President
and of the services they provide.’’
Global Market
Telecom &
Technology
the-top services, becoming part of the
media revolution, buying TV channels
or becoming a gateway to third-party
products such as games, for example.
They should take advantage of their
strengths – network ownership and access
to devices in particular, as well as means
for monetization – to enable them to do so.
Active intelligence and open innovation will
be key.
But, traditionally, time-to-market for Telcos'
innovations has been hampered by their
reliance on network equipment providers
(NEP). New features and services are
often dependent on changes to network
equipment hardware and, as such, can take
up to 18 months to implement – hampering
their ability to compete with over-the-top-
providers.
Telcos can no longer afford to act in
isolation. They need to adapt new business
models that necessitate close cooperation
with third parties.
The significantly reduced latency offered
by Telcos' next generation of networks,
may lead to partnerships with over-the-top
providers, for instance; it will be vital for
ensuring these providers' services meet the
growing expectations of their ever more
demanding customers. Augmented reality
and connected car services, for example,
need responses in near real time. Their
success depends on networks with latency
of no more than a couple of milliseconds –
significantly lower than the 50 or even 100
milliseconds available today.
In fact, global Telcos may form partnerships
with smaller local Telco service providers
too. With local players managing and
providing access to the networks, the
global giants could leverage their scale
to negotiate great deals with over-the-
top-players. Their role would transform to
service lifecycle orchestration, connecting
over-the-top service providers and local
Telco players. This would require significant
organizational change.
Unlike many other sectors, Telcos have
access to an exceptionally high proportion
of real-time data. Companies must fully
exploit that data to build the personal
propositions that will drive customer loyalty
and boost spend. Integrating customer
and network data and exploiting real-time
data will help them to rapidly deliver the
new services and exceptional value their
customers demand, providing regulations
and customer concerns around privacy
allow it.
Only the technology giants, Google in
particular, have access to similarly large
volumes of data. Already exploiting its full
potential, these giants have the potential
to compete with Telcos by offering tailored
services based on their customer insight.
With so much happening and so fast,
working in open and agile partnerships
becomes more important than ever.
These new business models with their
open approaches represent a real cultural
shift for Telcos. Areas of specialist Telco
innovation can become a bridge into new
joint business opportunities with not only
retailers, banks, payment service providers
and local and regional government bodies,
but also with the sensor and machine-
to-machine technology players who will
play a crucial role in enabling a connected
‘Internet of Things’ world.
Telco
Operational
Excellence
Agility – the ability to reconfigure operations
instantly – and effective, resilient and
scalable operations will be vital to survival
in tomorrow’s volatile Telco landscape.
High levels of back office automation are
needed to ensure new services are efficient
and cost-effective. Furthermore, sharing
new radio access network infrastructures
among several operators in high density
areas will help contain Capex.
But real excellence will increasingly depend
on a Telco’s ability to understand and
exploit the relationships between multiple
commercial and operational information
sources, and to compete with over-the-
top providers within the bounds of net
neutrality principles.
Exploiting the new cross-over between
commercial systems (BSS) and operational
systems (OSS), for example, will create
immediate and lasting business
differentiation; it’s an under-used gold
mine with high business potential. Both
areas need to seamlessly contribute to
an active service catalogue that defines
which Telco (and non-Telco) assets needs
to be orchestrated and which assets need
to be harvested to extract added value for
customers and business value for the Telco.
Furthermore, cross-over must also expand
beyond Telcos’ own data and be the basis
for partnerships that enable new services
to be developed.
As yet, few Telcos have taken this area of
cross-over anywhere near its potential. This
capability will be central to the fight-back
Ascent Look Out 141
Telco
against over-the-top service providers who
simply do not have access to the essential
operational intelligence that is so important
to the Telco. After all, network and product
performance have a direct effect on
profitability and customer satisfaction.
The key value-generating OSS and BSS
domains also need to be further optimized
and re-engineered. OSS systems need
to be able to manage and orchestrate IT
and network assets together in real time –
both within transactions and on-demand.
Instead of pushing only pre-defined Telco
assets, BSS systems need work in real time
to expose and monetize the granular Telco
and non-Telco assets and offer the bundles
that are now being pulled on-demand by
the end customer.
Meanwhile, with IT operations delivering a
significant portion of the Telco value chain,
the industrialization of IT operations is
key to reducing cost. Telecom companies
would benefit from raising the maturity
levels of their operational processes and
service delivery.
Network sharing also has a role to play
in reducing operational cost, improving
margins and freeing up funds to invest in
innovation. But before new approaches
can be adopted, network and IT assets
should be harmonized, consolidated and
rationalized to both maximize their value
and ensure these heterogeneous networks
are run efficiently and cost-effectively.
Trust and
Compliance
The phone has become the most personal
of all possessions. Our contacts, photos,
videos, texts and tweets are now an
intimate part of our lives. Our engagement,
payments, usage and sensors all leave long
trails in cyberspace.
For every Telco, reputation rests on respect
and private value for customer data at
a time when that data is more valuable
142 #AscentLookOut
than ever before. Our usage patterns, in complex scenarios. Automated trust
buying preferences and habits are of high frameworks allows for greater control
interest to commerce and advertisement of business partners and also of Telco’s
companies at a time when mobile own performance. They not only foster
advertising is set to grow exponentially. innovation, but also align with forthcoming
While Telcos have the opportunity of regulatory aspects related to the rights of
building new business models around consumers.
privacy, they must be mindful that
customers’ loyalty will be significantly In actual fact Telcos are the only parties
determined by the way their private data is able to create a real data service for millions
being used and protected. of users, simply because they're able and
willing to take security, privacy and other
Users are increasingly appreciating regulatory requirements into account.
the value of a personalized digital This key differentiator is enabling Telcos
environment. In the future, users may be to become a very powerful player in the
willing to share privacy information far digital economy.
beyond today’s boundaries if they obtain
corresponding value in return. At the
same time, they're going to become much
more discriminative about the brands and
institutions they trust. To gain that trust,
Telcos must give their customers absolute
transparency about what is being done
with their data: the ability to control who is
doing what and when (including a full opt
out) and the physical protection of their
data.
Irrespective of the value that enterprises
offer in return for private data, stringent
protection against fraudulent use by third
parties remains a basic condition for a
trustful brand. High standards of data
privacy and IT security management have
to be established and kept at all times. That
means risk must be continually anticipated,
assessed and managed. As more and more
devices become connected, security will
be key. What if a hacker gains access to a
customer’s cameras, sensors or devices in
their home?
Telcos must also protect their services
from virtual and physical attack. Customers
depend on a reliable and highly-available
infrastructure. In parallel, Telcos need
not just to be able to meet all regulatory
conditions, but must be seen to do so
by offering ever higher levels of public
transparency.
Trust among business partners is also
essential in order to boost cooperation
 Telco

5G networks

Mainstream
Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging

High performance computing

Context-rich systems
Cloud Service Integration

Mobile edge computing

Self-adaptive
Internet of Things Pattern-matching security
technologies
Streaming analytics

Network function Prescriptive analytics

virtualization LPWAN
Software-defined eSIM Innovation Value Webs
networking
Augmented reality
DevOps Hybrid cloud
Sentiment analytics

2016 2017 2018 2019+

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers cabin. Embedded cameras relay pictures

back to base to record activities or tap into
a customer whose network has dropped
five calls in the last week; the system will
the insight of a specialist engineer. proactively send an apologetic text and
5G networks
appraise the call center of the situation.
Today’s innovations are increasingly
Cloud Service Integration Take another customer who regularly
dependent on IP connectivity and IT-based
As customer demands for an end-to-end connects to the Wi-Fi network in a specific
software delivery across personal area
landscape of cloud-based functions rises, coffee shop; the system sends him a
networks, local area networks, metropolitan
Cloud Service Integration allows IT and coupon to encourage him to download the
area networks and wide area networks.
business processes to be seamlessly operator’s Wi-Fi calling app.
Tomorrow’s innovations will be dependent
connected. Telcos are increasingly acting
on the low latency offered by 5G networks.
as service brokers, either complementing DevOps
The combination of SDN and NFV is
their own cloud services with third-party Software-defined networking (SDN) means
levelling the path for the introduction for
services or providing an amalgamation Telcos can introduce the DevOps approach
5G, which will also enable dynamic network
of third-party services to offer an active they use for development into their
reconfiguration based on analytics.
product catalog comprising of bundled network layers. By enhancing collaboration
offers. between software developers and IT
Augmented reality
operations, the DevOps approach reduces
Out in the field engineers access vital
Context-rich systems time-to-market and cost while improving
information hands-free through modern
Behind the scenes context-rich systems quality.
wearables, improving productivity and
combine network diagnostics with real-
safety. Augmented reality provides
time customer intelligence and contextual Embedded SIM
step-by-step instructions on equipment
information to proactively anticipate Whether man or machine, connected
maintenance or performance histories or
individual customer’s needs while things can access online resources,
even details on how to unlock a secure
promoting operational excellence. Take communicate and share their insight

Ascent Look Out 143

Telco
wherever and whenever they need to –
without ever needing to switch between
Wi-Fi and mobile networks as they move
location. The embedded SIM (eSIM), which
allows customers to manage multiple
mobile network operator subscriptions, is
easily integrated into any ‘thing’.
High performance computing
To deliver the coverage and service
performance of fixed, mobile and cable
TV networks customers expected today
while, at the same time, offering meaningful
customer service, Telcos must tie network
data with customer information in real
time. Firstly, network data is processed in
an instant through streaming analytics
supported by high performance
computing, automatically alerting support
teams to any network issues. Prescriptive
analytics are then deployed to provide
service performance details for individual
customers and identify the course of action
that will minimize disruption for each.
Hybrid cloud
Telco operators are offering enterprises a
hybrid cloud desktop environment that
not only connects to the Telco network, but
also to the enterprise network and cloud-
based productivity tools offered by third-
party providers. Telcos are responsible for
provisioning and activating the machines,
along with enabling user credentials,
connectivity, routing and firewalls at the
enterprise customer’s site.
Innovation Value Webs
With the Telco network a core enabler of
many of the technological innovations
we're seeing today – from smart cities to
mobile commerce and banking – operators
are building partnerships and alliances
beyond traditional borders to exploit these
new opportunities. Innovation value webs
are helping Telcos enhance collaboration
and communication across the wider
partner ecosystem. Their new agile and
smart business platform that goes beyond
elastic connectivity and transport capacity
encourages the open and participatory
approach to innovation that is crucial to
building a marketplace of new ideas.
Internet of Things
Besides serving end users, networks need
to cope with the billions of connected
devices that will share information
seamlessly across the Internet of Things
(IoT). IoT business opportunities for
Telcos and their partners are many and
varied: from environmental, health or
traffic monitoring to improving comfort in
144 #AscentLookOut
buildings or managing energy demand,
for example. Their success will depend on
improved flexibility and quality enabled
by smarter networks with increased
programmability.
LPWAN
Businesses, consumers and ‘things’ are
better connected and better informed than
ever before. Future IoTs will see data sent
over a combination of the pervasive 5G
and IoT-optimized low power wide-area
(LPWAN) networks.
Mobile edge computing
Mobile edge computing (MEC) has
introduced computer processing and
storage capabilities into the cellular base-
station. In doing so, it provides Telcos with
a new ecosystem and value chain, opening
up their networks to authorized third-
parties to deploy innovative applications
and services towards mobile subscribers,
enterprises and vertical segments.
Network Function Virtualization
Telcos are already adopting Network
Function Virtualization (NFV) to cut
cost, improve agility and accelerate the
deployment of new applications and
services. NFV replaces aging monolithic
appliances provided by telecommunication
equipment manufacturers with open
source software running on commodity
servers.
Pattern-matching technologies
With cyber and communications security
climbing ever higher on the world’s
agenda, streaming analytics combined
with pattern-matching technologies are
helping Telcos identify and address unusual
behavior patterns – particularly those that
may result in a distributed denial of service
attack.
Prescriptive analytics
Whereas previously predictive modeling
helped Telcos plan for the future by
forecasting churn and acquisition; today
Telcos are leveraging prescriptive
analytics to ensure they offer the right
product to the right customer segment
at the right time. Prescriptive analytics go
beyond predictive modelling by accurately
predicting how customer segments will
response to new products or service
changes and prescribing the optimal
course of action.
Self-adaptive security
Consumers now see the cloud as the place
to store their ever-growing digital histories,
appreciating that they can now access that
content from anywhere and on any device,
whenever they need it. With consumers,
companies and machines sharing sensitive
and personal information over today’s the
ubiquitous networks that provide access
to cloud environments, operators must
ensure high levels of security and privacy
protection. Contextual dynamic access
control provides access to information and
systems only when they're needed.
Sentiment analytics
Social media, with its continuous narrative
of emotion, has long been somewhere
Telco customers can call for help or simply
discuss their issues and experiences
with their friends and family. Telcos are
employing social media and network
analytics not only to understand general
customer issues and desires, but also
to identify network outages and gather
intelligence on individual customers.
Its sentiment analytics allows them to
quickly identify and respond to individual
customer’s gripes and any other
reputation-damaging sentiment.
Software-defined networking
Software-defined networking (SDN)
makes the network more programmable
and easier to manage, enabling cost
reductions and new features. Its multi-
tenancy capabilities allow Telcos to offer
policy-driven and virtualized network ‘slices’
to customers according to their business
requirements. Telcos can, for example,
provide high quality network services
directly to one customer for their network
streaming and a lower quality of service
to another customer who is using the
network to connect sensors.
Streaming analytics
Advanced Big Data analytics are helping
Telcos retain customers and enable growth
in both saturated and emerging markets.
To gain the complete customer picture vital
for delivering a truly personalized omni-
channel experience, Telcos are making use
of real-time streaming analytics to derive
customer intelligence from their multitude
of diverse systems.
 Telco

Key Enablers in Telco

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inv ss

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Cu

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Bu

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5G networks LPWAN

Augmented reality Mobile edge computing

Cloud Service Network function

Integration virtualization

Pattern-matching
Context-rich systems
technologies

DevOps Prescriptive analytics

eSIM Self-adaptive security

High performance Sentiment analytics

computing

Hybrid cloud Software-defined

networking

Innovation Value Webs Streaming analytics

Internet of Things

Ascent Look Out 145

Market views

Travel, Transport and Hospitality

Connected vehicles key for traffic data Car-sharing membership growing at

collection CAGR of 19.9%
Smart Cities will include billions of Smart railways market growing at
things by 2020 20.8% to 2020
90% of world’s data created in the last Intelligent transportation systems
2 years market almost $39bn by 2020
37% of corporate revenue from digital
More people live in the city than outside
channels by 2020

Key Market Challenges

Customer points or assistance – are becoming

Experience
Modern technologies give travelers access
to information on services, disruptions,
timetables, prices, directions, hotels and
the local environment when they need
it most – when they’re on the move.
Mobile self-service tools allow them to
buy tickets, book seats and rooms, set
preferences, change their plans and
check-in – simplifying planning, booking
and ticketing. Together these should make
travelling easy: the journey effortless, the
visit straightforward and the information
needed timely and accessible.
But travelers often have to switch between
multiple apps to get what they need. This is
frustrating when they need to quickly figure
out which train to catch or how to get to
the hotel. They want a consistent and easy-
to-use interface that allows them to engage
seamlessly with all providers through the
most suitable channel.
As technologies evolve, organizations will
need to offer the same information and
services on new channels as they emerge.
Travelers making plans with friends,
family and colleagues will welcome apps
and services on channels that enable
collaboration. These, in turn, will allow
organizations to offer group discounts, taxi
sharing and much more.
As companies look to convert travelers
into loyal customers, delivering information
that is accurate, easy-to-understand and
personalized will be crucial. Aspects, such
as quietness or pleasant views, or specific
services – such as baby trolleys, charging
increasingly important for travelers.
But transport operators are still striving
for the illusive single view of the customer
needed to provide the consistent and
tailored services travelers need and expect.
While modern smartphones, GPS devices
and digital ticketing allow organizations to
automatically capture data about how, why
and where people travel, understanding
what data needs to be captured and how
to derive value from it's challenging.
Business
Reinvention
Digitalization, new technologies and the
increasing connectedness of people are
fundamentally changing the sector. New
mobility platforms, for example, allow
customers to purchase ‘mobility packages’
that grant a defined volume of access to
public transport, car and bike sharing and
also taxi services at the same time.
Meanwhile, new meeting services facilitate
seamless event planning that might include
everything from accommodation and
unique culinary experiences to advanced
collaboration technologies. Behind these
paradigms, an integrated service provider
combines diverse third-party services.
Interoperability and standardization are
crucial to success of these new offerings.
Digital technologies have also enabled
start-ups to fill the travel space with their
new services. Uber is running the world’s
largest taxi fleet without owning cars,
Airbnb an extensive accommodation
business without owning property and
Citymapper a map without any of its own
data. These services signal the sector’s
move into the ‘sharing economy’, which
sees users actively offer services as well as
use them. Cargomatic may even apply the
principle of the ‘sharing economy’ to local
trucking. New disruptors – such as cashless
flat-fare bus service Leap and Chariot,
which selects new bus routes through
crowdsourcing – build on taxi service Lyft’s
experience that 90 percent of journeys
made using its app have someone else
wanting to make a similar trip within five
minutes.
Going forward, companies old and new
will need to leverage the knowledge and
experience of both the technological
and non-technological players in the
transportation field to meet present
challenges around demand, sustainable
growth and providing pertinent information
on time and on place. Alliances outside of
the traditional ecosystem of partners might
then reveal some unique services – such
as meeting spaces on trains, coffee shops
on buses or retail opportunities that also
provide travelers shelter from the weather.
With access to customer data critical
to innovative services, companies will
increasingly depend on those partnerships
that extend their insight; but the real-
time data integration with partners that
is required is only partly achieved today.
Major disruptions, such as the sudden
impact of snow on railways in mountainous
regions, currently present major challenges
in communicating consistent messages
to travelers, particularly if many parties are
involved.

146 #AscentLookOut

‘‘As companies look to convert travelers into loyal customers, delivering
information that is accurate, easy-to-understand and personalized will
be crucial.’’
Alisdair Wright
Vice President
and Global Market
Head, Travel,
Transport &
Hospitality
Operational
Excellence
To provide customers the service
excellence they expect while controlling
cost, companies must streamline their
operations across their entire systems. For
traveler transport, these include timetable
planning and real-time monitoring, runtime
calculation, resource management, asset
planning, crew scheduling, reporting,
cross-border management, co-operative
planning, to name a few. In Europe, the
complex ecosystem of operators and
infrastructure providers requires common
standards along with collaboration on key
planning and real-time performance data.
In the rail sector, many European railways
are investing in the ‘European Train Control
System’ (ETCS). By replacing conventional
signals by ‘in cab’ signals, ETCS allows more
trains to run safely down the track. It has
also led to a huge reduction in the number
of signal boxes and signaling staff required.
The speed, efficiency and imagination with
which companies can gather, combine and
explore information is becoming ever more
vital for managing operations effectively
and enhancing customer services across
all sub-sectors. A modern back office that
provides a real-time end-to-end view across
both customer and operational data –
along with mobility solutions – will be key
to empowering the next generation of tech-
savvy employees as agile new entrants
threaten to take market share.
This is putting tremendous pressure on
aging technology and on companies’
ability to integrate historically gathered
Travel, Transport and Hospitality
information of varied quality. Revamping
existing legacy systems may soon no
longer be an option. Replacing will be the
only way long-standing companies can
move forward as systems reach end of life.
But change often takes a long time.
Moving to the digital world is challenging,
particularly where there are a lot of
historical assets and often limited data on
them. Much of the technology needed
already exists now. The challenge is how to
introduce it in a joined up way across such
a large fragmented industry such as rail.
As more and more of their aging workforce
reaches retirement, companies will find
it difficult to retain the specialist skills
their legacy systems require. Companies
would do well to ensure business critical
knowledge and skills are transferred to the
next generation of employees so it's not
lost as workers retire.
This next generation of workers has
grown up with social software and expects
to leverage their natural skills in social
collaboration to also improve productivity,
efficiency and innovation. Organizations
should ensure their workforce is as well-
equipped and trained as the traveler.
There's little point in transport users having
a significant understanding and ability with
technology when the workforce is unable
to deliver on that understanding.
Trust and
Compliance
Travel and transport companies hold a very
special place in their customers’ lives and
businesses. Their ability to keep travelers
and their luggage safe is essential to life
in the modern world. To protect these
services, organizations must shield them
from the increasingly diverse virtual and
physical threats that need to be foreseen,
understood and prevented.
As systems become increasingly
dependent on IT and automation,
they become increasingly vulnerable
to cybercrime. Unsolicited access to
operational data, for example, might
result in market distortions, security risks,
diminished privacy protection, and more.
Customers will only offer their trust and
loyalty to companies whom they trust
to protect their data and secure their
payments. The transport sector, like others,
is vulnerable to data breaches. Examples
include the breach of data held by Go cards
smart travel card service that affected
school pupils. Providing transparency on
who their data is shared with and for what
purpose will be key – it's fundamental to
the existing European data protection
framework.
Companies will need to be mindful that
the customer chooses to share their
information and increasingly expects value
in return. Ultimately, customers are most
likely trust their data with the company that
also delivers the most value. If they irritate
customers with irrelevant advertising,
for example, companies will lose the
insight they need not only to personalize
engagement, but also to boost sales
through higher-margin upselling.
Trust must be built with and amongst
partners too. To drive innovation
companies must inspire confidence to
Ascent Look Out 147
Travel, Transport and Hospitality

ensure trusted exchanges develop within

newly-formed alliances. This will require a
modern IT environment that enables safe,
secure, effective and efficient collaboration
and communications.

Vital for helping build trust with both within

expanding ecosystems, sustainability and
carbon emissions continue to be important
in the transport and hospitality industries.
Companies would do well to ensure their
compliance with sustainability regulations.
Not only are passenger transport
organizations bound by the need to
comply with legislation and regulations,
they're also bound by the promise that they
have made with their customers. Breaking
that promise would cause an undeniable
breach of trust that could cause a scandal
on par with the Volkswagen emissions
scandal.

Governments have made commitments

to provide more sustainable transport too.
The EU framework for emissions to 2020,
for example, aims to cut greenhouse gas
emissions from transport by ten percent
from 2005 levels and to ensure ten percent
of transport fuels to come from renewable
sources.

148 #AscentLookOut
 Travel, Transport and Hospitality

Mainstream
5G networks Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging

Machine learning

Autonomous vehicles

High performance computing

Prescriptive analytics
Pre-emptive security technologies
3D Printing

Wearable computing Context-rich systems

Privacy-enhancing
Gamification technologies
Streaming analytics Distributed analytics
Internet of Unmanned aerial
Things vehicles Semantic technologies
Peer-to-peer platforms
Near field Advanced data
communication visualization
Innovation value webs

Open Data
Virtual assistants

2016 2017 2018 2019+

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Key Enablers Advanced data visualization

Planning services are more focused on
safely along the highway. Services such
buses, trains and deliveries will become
ensuring the right resource is in the right more cost effective and less dangerous,
3D printing
location at the right time for the right decreasing traffic on the roads. Traffic
Individuals will soon be able to create some
cost. Energy usage will be a key feature in management will evolve to leverage these
personalized products at home, eliminating
optimizing staff and moving assets. Real- connected vehicles.
the need for freight services, thanks to 3D
time 3D visualization solutions provide
printing. Currently beyond the individual’s
visual representations of the performance Context-rich systems
price range, these technologies are
of the plan. Behind the scenes context-rich systems
primarily being used for manufacturing
proactively anticipate each user’s
light weight vehicle components.
3D visualization technologies also individual needs, adjusting content based
Maintenance departments can quickly
provide a real-time, immersive picture on anything from the traveler’s location,
printing any parts whenever and wherever
of the infrastructure, with advanced preferences and current travel plans to their
they're needed.
analytics supporting major decisions on device-type, network and input capabilities
maintenance and renewals that bring – or even congestion on their journey
5G networks
major savings. or local weather at their destination.
With pervasive 5G networks, limitless data
Ergonomics are improved and apps appear
allowances, significantly reduced roaming
Autonomous vehicles front of screen exactly when needed,
charges across Europe, travelers are happy
As connected autonomous vehicles helping tourists move around unfamiliar
to remain connected to these services no
take to our roads, these advanced cyber- cities more easily.
matter where they are. This is particularly
physical systems with their advanced
important for some disabled travelers who
computing and machine learning Distributed analytics
rely on an internet connection to access
capabilities use information provided by Analytics running across distributed
assistive technologies.
embedded sensors to guide themselves platforms belonging to various partners

Ascent Look Out 149

Travel, Transport and Hospitality
give operators and managers holistic
insights on traveler usage, buying behavior,
needs and preferences. Derived from these
distributed analytics platforms, deeper
intelligence allows transport operators to
offer their customers tailored deals that
drive loyalty. These analytics also help
rail companies to better understand the
complex interactions in control rooms,
improving how they manage disruptions
and reducing dependence on individual
expertise.
Gamification
For the next generation of workers,
gamification (application of game playing
elements to other activities) is motivating
them to want to learn, to take ownership of
their learning and to maintain their focus
on the learning task in hand. It provides
the real life simulations that enable them
to experience and learn to manage diverse
situations.
High performance computing
In rail, for example, advanced analytics
improves the integration between control
room decisions and subsequent short-term
timetable changes. Behind the scenes,
high performance computing provides
the computing power needed to analyze
millions of events in real time.
Innovation Value Webs
Innovation value webs are helping
transport companies facilitate open
innovation within that wider partner
ecosystem. Their new social business tools
encourage the participation needed to
develop new ideas.
Internet of Things
Combined with sensors and geo-location
technologies, machine-to-machine (M2M)
technology continually transmits diagnostic
data to a central control center to form
an Internet of Things (IoT). On top of
that mobile devices provide insight into
train, traffic and pedestrian movements;
smart pavements and smart roads relay
information on crowds and congestion;
and smart tagged parcels improve
postal service efficiency, while reducing
manual errors. Operators use this insight
to deliver dynamic up-to-the-minute toll,
parking, accommodation and journey
pricing mechanisms based on time-of-day,
congestion, demand and even carbon
emissions.
Machine learning
With the help of advanced machine
learning technologies, travel companies
150 #AscentLookOut
can spot and even predict disruptions
in their services and take measures to
correct them. They're learning about how
people use transport and accommodation
over time whilst taking advantage of
novel situations, such as major events or
incidents, to enhance their understanding
of demand or flow.
Near-field communication
New sources of income rely on simple,
effective and secure personal payment
solutions. Mobile wallets based on near-
field communication (NFC) technology are
proving to be the most popular solution.
These contactless solutions simplify
payments for travelers with mobility or
cognitive impairments.
Looking further, just about any electronic
identifier can be used for travel or
hospitality, provided it can be read and
verified against a hub that ensures it has an
entitlement. This dematerialized ticketing
concept means a traveler never needs to
buy a ticket again; they simply pay for their
journey and accommodation. The identifier
can also be used for travel-related services,
such as taxis or meals, making the entire
travel experience seamless.
Open Data
New online and mobile services based
on Open Data from the General Transit
Feed Specification (a common format
for public transportation schedules and
their associated geographic information
originally developed by Google), amongst
other sources, join up all modes of
transport to provide the comprehensive up-
to-the-minute information travelers need to
get where they’re going.
Peer-to-peer platforms
Driven by real needs and reliant on ease-
of-use, trust and accurate information, new
peer-to-peer services based on innovative
business models have the potential to
disrupt the market. Peer-to-peer platforms
and their associated social channels and
mobile apps allow individuals to connect
with their peers to turn idle rooms in
homes, seats in cars, spaces on driveways,
unused truck space and more into a viable
source of income.
Prescriptive analytics
The answer to complex operational
challenges will no longer be dependent
upon human experts. Systems based on
advanced prescriptive analytics suggest
actions that might avoid service disruption:
a list of tasks that will give service remedy.
Control room operators then become
problem managers. Furthermore,
prescriptive maintenance programs
extend the life of assets, eliminate major
breakdowns and ensure sound parts aren’t
replaced unnecessarily.
Pre-emptive security technologies
A proactive security approach that is
helping to prevent cyberattacks. Trusted
probes look for evidence of specific
suspicious behaviors. These pre-emptive
security technologies help companies
anticipate threats. Behind the scenes,
advanced analytics and high performance
computing together analyze millions of
events in real time.
Privacy-enhancing technologies
Personalized customer services that
process personal data coming from
different sources related to the traveler’s
daily activity follow a privacy-aware
approach that leverages privacy-
enhancing technologies. Privacy-aware
approaches require a change in the way we
think, analyze and implement privacy, from
a passive manner to a proactive manner.
Semantic technologies
In the hospitality sector, semantic
technologies help employees understand
customers' requests better and provide
a better level of service. For instance, the
customer can ask for something in his
own language without the need to train
personnel in every language.
Streaming analytics
With the volumes of real-time operational
data growing at an unprecedented speed,
streaming analytics platforms ensure
transport operators and hospitality
providers have a precise picture of demand
and operations throughout the day. Traffic
control centers, for example, can respond
more quickly to accidents, adverse weather,
incidents or other difficulties, and can even
take proactive steps to stop problems
before they occur.
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Transport operators rely heavily on data
on the status of their infrastructure to
keep it in tip top condition. With assets
spread far and wide across fields, over
mountains and even deep within tunnels,
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have
relieved engineers of hazardous, time-
consuming and costly inspection activities.
And when people are on the line or heavy
traffic threatens to cause disruption, these
‘drones’ can pinpoint the source of the
 Travel, Transport and Hospitality

problem far quicker than any human could,
with onboard cameras relay videos and
photos back to base, while sensors gather
data on the environment. Drones may also
have a role to play in rural parcel deliveries.
Virtual assistant
Travelers are greeted by a virtual assistant
as they enter the bus, hotel, train or any
other travel-related facility. This assistant –
who knows their preferences and agenda –
guides them to their room or seat or, in the
event of an emergency, to the nearest exit.
During the journey or stay the assistance
offers additional relevant information and
services to enhance the overall experience.
Wearable computing
Travelers rely heavily on alerts from their
mobile devices and wearables to provide
timely warning of delays to their journeys,
suggest alternative routes or means of
transport and provide access to transport
or services. Wearables are the digital/
physical interaction frontier with mobile
acting as the control tower. Together they
provide a seamless experience.

Key Enablers in Travel, Transport and Hospitality

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Near field
3D printing communication

5G networks Open Data

Advanced data
Peer-to-peer platforms
visualization

Autonomous vehicles Prescriptive analytics

Context-rich systems Pre-emptive security

technologies

Privacy-enhancing
Distributed analytics
technologies

Gamification Semantic technologies

High performance
Streaming analytics
computing

Unmanned aerial
Innovation Value Webs
vehicles

Internet of Things Virtual assistants

Machine learning Wearable computing

Ascent Look Out 151

Market views

Utilities

Smart grids revolutionizing the volume Global smart grid data analytics
of data available market to triple by 2022
Consumers are becoming power Smart gas market worth $11 billion
producers by 2019
New demands from electric vehicles Revenue from the home energy sector
and smart cities to more than double by 2023
Smart meters are transforming meter- 27% of EU energy consumption from
to-cash renewables by 2030

Key Market Challenges

Customer
Experience
The smart grid is the vision for the future
of energy; it’s changing the way utilities
manage their networks. Driven by data, it
allows utilities to build better relationships
with their customers, gain control of
the low voltage network and optimize
distribution and the mix of renewables.
Customers play a more active role but, to
do so, they require more choices and more
information.
With the smart grid and its multitude of
smart devices revolutionizing the volume
of data available, companies will have
better insight into the way customers
behave, consume and, sometimes, produce
energy. The connected home and Industry
4.0 connected factory, for example, offer
both retailers and distributors a great
opportunity to learn about individual
customers and their behaviors, then
enable real-time systems based on this
insight. Connected home pilot projects are
everywhere, even in countries that have
not yet started rolling out smart meters.
After many years during which customer
management and relationships were really
poor, utilities are investing in improving the
customer experience and reducing the
churn rate. They’re demonstrating value for
money for customers and regulators and
getting value from social media and mobile.
Today’s digital customer expects an
engaging, personalized digital service
in return for sharing more and more
information with their utility provider. Both
retailers and B2B2C distribution companies
must transform into a customer-centric
business. Leveraging the new inflow of data
will allow them to offer their customers
the services they want, drive customer
behaviors and build enduring customer
relationships. A personalized service
that includes suggestions on what to
use when to minimize cost, for example,
would be particularly valuable to industrial
customers.
Utilities must also empower the customer,
not only providing them with the
information they want, but also enabling
them to manage their own interactions –
at any time, from anywhere and on their
channel of choice. Automatic payments
services and alternative bill formats are
important for disabled customers, for
example, while in some countries peer-
to-peer comparisons allow customers to
compare their own consumption with their
peers.
If utilities don’t act there’s a real risk
the technology giants, who are also
gaining deep insight into customer
behaviors and consumption through
their connected home gadgets, will jump
on the opportunity to deliver new utility-
related services to customers. In doing so
they would starve utilities of insight into
customer behaviors, diminishing their
ability deliver to the new services that are
vital for cultivating loyalty.
Business
Reinvention
Every utility faces an extraordinary period
of transition. New economic, operational
and political issues are forcing utilities
to take action. Companies also face a
whole new landscape that includes smart
grids, sustainable and renewable energy
management, electricity storage, electric
vehicles and the connected home.
Governments and shareholders are
urging companies to reinvent the way
they operate. The European Commission’s
2030 climate and energy framework, for
example, targets a 40 percent reduction in
EU greenhouse gas emissions, 27 percent
of energy consumption from renewables
and 27 percent improvement in the EU’s
energy efficiency by 2030.
With the cost of fossil energy production
rising, some countries are halting nuclear
power generation. And with long-term
infrastructure capital expenditure growing
and gas prices falling, several companies
are separating – or potentially spinning
off – up- and mid-stream businesses.
This will allow them to be more engaged
in the areas where they see the most
value: optimizing the more agile grid
management parts of their businesses and
the integration of renewables.
Today's global energy market is shifting
from a model dominated by large
centralized power plants owned by big
utilities to a mix of distributed energy
generation facilities: smaller residential,
commercial and industrial power
generation systems, many of which use
renewable resources. This decentralized
model – which sees consumers become
power producers (or prosumers) – is
becoming increasingly common in Europe.
Micro-grids, the most relevant example,
contain loads and distributed energy

152 #AscentLookOut

Jérôme de Parscau Mauro Grimoldi
CEO Atos Worldgrid, Global E&U
C&SI E&U Market Account
Head Management
Leader
resources that can be operated in a
controlled, coordinated way, either while
connected to the main power network
or while islanded. New technologies and
business models – such as those designed
to keep prosumers as customers – are
helping to balance loads, smooth variability
and integrate diverse resources.
In the virtual power plant (VPP) model, an
energy aggregator gathers a portfolio of
smaller generators and operates them as a
unified and flexible resource on the energy
market or sells their power as system
reserve. VPPs add the supply and demand
flexibility that will be increasingly necessary
for accommodating fast ramping periods
and address corresponding supply forecast
errors.
Multi-sided markets are also reinventing
the utility business. There are already
some pilots for smart household electrical
appliances. Non-commodities products
– such as light bulbs and boilers – are
being sold in a pay-per-use mode, with all-
inclusive maintenance, controls and more.
As electric vehicles and smart cities mature,
new back office systems will be needed to
manage and process the new volumes of
data being produced. The insight derived
from this data will allow utilities to offer
consumers new value-added services.
Examples include a service that locates
the nearest electric vehicle recharging
station. Core platforms are emerging,
but it’s a complex ecosystem with many
stakeholders, including cities and car
manufacturers, amongst others.
At the heart of these multi-sided business
models, utilities consume relevant data
from third-party partners and build
‘‘With the smart grid and its multitude of smart
devices revolutionizing the volume of data available,
companies will have better insight into the way
customers behave, consume and, sometimes,
produce energy.’’
innovative services by combining this
intelligence with their own customer insight
and forecasts for demand on the grid.
Thermatics information from a solar panel
manufacturer, for instance, could enable
a service that automatically configures
a prosumer’s solar panel to optimize the
power it produces.
New services and operations will have an
impact on trading systems. Trading must
find ways to leverage and monetize the
real-time data now available so that utilities
can cash in on the increasing volatility.
Operational
Excellence
Utility companies are under unprecedented
pressure to reduce cost and increase
operational efficiency right across their
chains of operation. With the margin for
price increase in the end product limited,
cost needs to be addressed urgently to
prevent it eroding competitiveness.
Meanwhile, overall demand is rising. While
growing fast in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia,
India and China countries); in the west
significant government investment in green
and renewable energy has led to expensive
overcapacity, especially tied to the cost of
conventional power plants.
Volumes of non-conventional energy are
growing in the US and Europe. Distribution
companies are facing new challenges: they
must optimize their network operating
costs, inject renewables in a way that
avoids network failure and cope with the
additional strain electric cars and other
innovations will add.
Utilities
Completely new grid structures are now
being set up, largely in emerging countries
such as China and India where many
regions are being supplied for the first time.
More developed markets, such as Brazil
where the vast majority of households
already have electricity, are modernizing
their systems to increase supply reliability
and reduce commercial losses. Smart grids
will play a key role ensuring a sustainable
and cost-efficient energy supply in these
regions.
As smart meters transform meter-to-cash
by giving customers access to more data,
utilities will be forced to diversify plan
prices, services and consumption. This will
only increase complexity at a time when
companies need to reduce meter-to-cash
times. Meter-to-cash processes need to be
optimized to ensure companies maximize
value from their assets.
The growth in micro-generation and rise
in number of smart devices attached to
the grid increases the complexity of the
network and distributors’ challenge of
balancing supply with demand. It’s also
undermining the traditional advantages
associated with building large centralized
power generation, such as economies of
scale. Utilities must adopt a more proactive
role, leveraging available data to optimize
network operations and cost.
But many legacy assets installed during
past growth booms and are now operating
at, or beyond, their designed life span. With
the cost of renewing them high, utilities
must find a cost-efficient way to extend
their useful life.
And with the workforce aging too, utility
companies are leveraging technology to
Ascent Look Out 153
Utilities

reduce overall staffing make and make
those that remain more productive,
concentrating on their core business.
They're faced, however, with a clear
problem of knowledge transfer.
performance, quality and consumption,
amongst other things. New tools and better
systems are needed to allow companies to
report in a more systematic and effective
way.

Utilities are responsible for protecting the

Trust and increasing volumes of customer data they
Compliance hold. Examples include the large number
of indicators stored in customer data
repositories that ensure a complete profile
of the customer’s usage and charges are
Energy is the life blood of our society.
available for renewals. Equally, utilities
The well-being of our people, industry
must make better use of that data in
and economy depends on safe, secure,
combination with real-time data to help
sustainable and affordable water, heat and
them become more effective in identifying
light. Utilities’ ability to sustain relationships
non-technical losses.
of trust has become more important than
ever.
Also responsible for protecting their
services from virtual and physical attack,
Regulatory compliance, for example, is now
global electric, gas and water utilities have
a public expression of responsibility and
begun the journey toward creating security
trust in our new digital society as regulatory
infrastructures. Organizations view risk,
bodies scrutinize how fast the energy
reliability and safety as key requirements of
transition is happening. Utilities need to be
the enterprise. A combination of regulatory
agile to rapidly comply with the changing
pressures, operational costs and market
regulatory environment. The increasing
changes has led leading utilities to adopt a
volumes of data now available will allow
proactive stance in security. This requires
companies to accelerate their respond to
organizational realignments, budget
requests from regulatory bodies.
reprioritization and targeted technology
upgrades.
Moreover, many utilities operate on behalf
of a municipality or regional government.
They must be transparent about

154 #AscentLookOut

High performance computing
Pattern-matching technologies
Internet of
Things
Streaming analytics
Wearable computing
In-memory computing
Machine-to-machine
Workforce management
Geo-location technologies
Social media Hybrid cloud
analytics
2016
Key Enablers
3D printing
Back at base, the vast engineers’ store
rooms that were once full from floor to
ceiling with parts of all different shapes
and sizes are virtually nowhere to be
seen. Modern 3D printing technology
has virtually wiped them out. When an
engineer is assigned to a job, any parts
he may need are created there and then.
Utilities no longer need to spend money
upfront on parts that may never be
required.
5G networks, LPWAN
Whereas once data from the connected
home was transmitted over Wi-Fi to a
router and via broadband to the utility’s
distribution center, all data is now simply
sent over a combination of the pervasive
5G and IoT-optimized Low-Power Wide-
Area Networks (LPWAN).
Prescriptive analytics
3D printing
5G networks
LPWAN
Cloud Service Integration
Distributed Self-adaptive security
analytics Edge computing
Augmented reality
Context-rich systems
Autonomous vehicles
Trusted information brokers
Innovation value webs
2017 2018
Augmented reality
Out in the field engineers access vital
information hands-free through modern
wearables, improving productivity and
safety. Augmented reality provides step-
by-step instructions on how to maintain
equipment, equipment maintenance or
performance histories or even details on
how to unlock a secure cabin. Embedded
cameras relay pictures back to base to
record activities or tap into the insight of a
specialist engineer.
Autonomous vehicles
Engineers are using their wearable devices
to communicate with the unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs) that they now use
to inspect plants. Often referred to simply
as ‘drones’, these UAVs have relieved
engineers from hazardous inspection
activities and saved utility companies a
great deal of time and expense. Onboard
cameras relay videos and photos to the
operator, while sensors gather data on
Utilities
Mainstream
Early adoption
Adolescent
Emerging
2019+
© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.
the environment – on temperature and air
quality, for example.
Cloud Service Integration
As systems move into the cloud, Cloud
Service Integration increases agility by
connecting cloud-based services. Cloud-
based federated identity services simplify
the extension of identity and access
management across hosted systems,
particularly diverse systems brought
together by company mergers and
acquisitions.
In the future trusted information brokers
will act as a central verification service to
avoid the need for individual registration
and authentication of each cloud service.
Context-rich systems
Designed around the user experience,
context-rich systems bring together
insight from diverse systems to proactively
anticipate each customer’s individual
Ascent Look Out 155
Utilities
needs. These systems may, for example,
adjust content based on anything from
where a customer is in their billing cycle
to their location, device-type, network and
input capabilities – or even weather and
events local to the customer.
Distributed analytics
Analytics running across distributed
platforms give utilities an end-to-end
view across high-, medium- and low-
voltage networks. These distributed
analytics platforms provide the converged
intelligence and visibility that allows
utilities to make better informed decisions,
minimizing any risk of disruption to supply.
Leading-edge utilities are including the
whereabouts of engineers, their shift
patters, SCADA data and budget forecasts
in this picture.
Edge computing
Edge computing processes critical data
near to its source to ensure it’s available in
real time. In the event of an emergency, the
control center can understand the situation
in real time and quickly divert appropriate
engineers to deal with the problem.
Geo-location technologies
Combined with geo-location technologies
and radio frequency identification (RFID)
tags, sensors ensure engineers are safe
– that they’re wearing safety equipment
correctly, their equipment is performing
optimally and the environment around
them doesn’t pose any risks. The data
gathered can be gathered to form a 3D
visualization of the situation out in the field,
which will help to improve safety.
High performance computing
Integrating information on networks,
people and budgets has further enhanced
visibility and with it project and incident
management. High performance
computing helps utilities process the vast
volumes of data now available.
Hybrid cloud
Cloud computing has been helping utilities
to reduce cost and carbon footprint for
some time; customer and usage data is
managed securely under an internally-
managed private cloud. Companies
are increasingly adopting hybrid cloud
services to enhance customers’ utility
information with external data, such as
weather information, settings for their
smart meter or home automation device,
or even a mapping service that locates the
nearest available car charging station.
156 #AscentLookOut
Innovation Value Webs
With so many new possibilities emerging,
innovation value webs are helping
utilities facilitate open innovation beyond
the enterprise borders, enhancing
collaboration and communication across
the wider partner ecosystem. The new
social business tools that lie at their core
encourage the participation required to
develop the new marketplace of ideas.
Internet of Things
The vision of a connected home is fast
becoming a reality. Customers – particularly
disabled customers – appreciate being able
to control their heating remotely using
an app on their smartphone, smartwatch
or even from within their connected
car. Recent innovations are integrating
customers’ social media accounts and
utility data with the smart appliances,
heating and water systems that are already
connected to the Internet of Things (IoT).
Winters are less of a worry these days. If a
connected sensor were ever to identify a
burst pipe, social technologies would swiftly
alert customer and utility company. With
customer data also connected to the IoT,
a utility maintenance engineer can be sent
straight to the property.
In-memory computing
Billing is a long process. Meter-to-cash can
be improved. Utilities are launching trials of
in-memory solutions such as SAP HANA to
improve the quality of invoicing, reducing
errors and unbilled revenues.
In-memory technologies for ERP or vertical
applications for utilities can change the
way a business user works and free up
their time to evaluate the quality of outputs
such as invoices, reports, balance sheets,
scheduling of activities and more.
Machine-to-machine
Emergencies are few and far between
these days. Smart, data-driven prescriptive
maintenance programs not only eliminate
major breakdowns, they also extend the
life of assets while ensuring perfectly
good parts aren’t replaced unnecessarily.
Machine-to-machine (M2M) technology
continually transmits diagnostic data from
machinery in the field or in the plant to
an intelligent system in the central control
center.
Pattern-matching technologies
Pattern-matching technologies supported
by high performance computing will
help companies identify hidden usage
patterns and untapped energy efficiency
opportunities and better understand
their customers. They will also help
with identifying and address customer
behaviors that might result in non-technical
losses.
Prescriptive analytics
Advanced prescriptive analytics
determine maintenance requirements and
prescribe a course of action that will ensure
equipment is repaired or replaced before
it fails. What’s more, an engineer assigned
to a maintenance task knows exactly what
is involved and which parts are required –
reducing repair times and costs.
Self-adaptive security
While trusted information brokers provide
utilities with the confidence to share
information with new service partners,
dynamic access control ensures partners
and employees alike have access to the
information, systems and locations they
need to access, but only when they need it.
Social media analytics
Now the primary channel for engaging
with utilities, social media is also
somewhere customers can call for help or
simply discuss their issues and experiences
with their friends and family. Utilities
companies are employing social media
analytics to identify network emergencies;
understand general customer issues and
desires; identify and respond to individual
customer’s gripes; gather intelligence on
individual customers and quickly address
any reputation-damaging sentiment.
Streaming analytics
The immense volumes of real-time data
coming from millions of smart meters
are processed in an instant on numerous
streaming analytics platforms, which
ensure utility companies have a clear
picture of the precise demand throughout
the day.
More agile than ever before, utilities act on
the intelligence provided by these smart
grids in almost real time to optimize supply
to business and residential customers
alike. This continual and real-time insight
gives customers better insight into their
consumption, which, in turn, is helping to
optimize meter-to-cash processes.
Wearable computing
Customers are able to interact seamlessly
with their utility company across a wide
variety of channels – online, mobile, social,
wearables and more.
 Utilities

Workforce management
Workforce management is helping to
reduce cost, especially when full-integrated
with: geoportals managing network
and assets information; ERP systems
managing economical and financial data;
MRP systems managing resources and
scheduling of maintenance activities; reflected in a huge amount of money with
customer portals and CRM systems a very quick pay-back period.
managing demand rising from the final
customers; and finally mobile systems
able to dispatch work orders, report work
done and manage emergency calls. Saving
arising from this kind of projects will be

Key Enablers in Utilities nc l

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3D printing Internet of Things

5G network In-memory computing

Augmented reality LPWAN

Autonomous vehicles Machine-to-machine

Cloud Service Pattern-matching

Integration technologies

Context-rich systems Prescriptive analytics

Distributed analytics Self-adaptive security

Edge computing Social media analytics

Geo-location
Streaming analytics
technologies

High performance Wearable computing

computing

Hybrid cloud Workforce management

Innovation Value Webs

Ascent Look Out 157

Tech Trends
The Tech Trends will Doing so will help you
help you understand the come up with novel
possibilities that lie ahead. ideas that match the
Learn more about the new opportunities and threats
and emerging technologies currently surfacing.
that form the basis for
tomorrow’s leading edge
solutions.
Tech trends

Technologies that will Impact your

Business

Smart Machines

Advanced Robotics
Quantum
Computing
Maturity
Brain-Computer Interface
Mainstream
Autonomous Memristors 5G Early adoption
Vehicles
Cognitive Computing Biocomputer Adolescent
Swarm Computing Emerging

Internet of Everything

Self-Adaptive Security
3D Printing Exascale
Privacy-Enhancing
Technologies
Ubiquitous PIM

SDx
Blockchain
Insight Immersive Fabric-Based Computing
Platforms Experience
Wearable Computing Virtual Assistants
Deep Natural User
Interfaces Context Broker
Learning Semantic
Technologies
Digital Workplace
Edge Computing Distributed
Web-scale Trusted Devices Social Networks
Computing
Wireless Power
LPWAN
WebRTC
In-Memory Computing Location-Based Plastic Transistors
Cloud Service Services NG
Containers
Integration
Advanced Data Visualization IPv6
Biometrics Digital Signage
NFC Open Source Hardware

2016 2017 2018 2019+

© Atos 2016. All rights reserved.

Time of impact Business Impact Maturity

2016 Look today at how solutions could
address these needs.
2017 Consider potential solutions by
running pilots, for example.
2018 Understand now. Consider potential
implications and how these could be
addressed.
2019+ Follow for now. Watch how it's
evolving.
Transformational Likely to require
transformational changes within
organizations.
High Will have a high impact at work and in
people's home lives.
Medium Will impact organizations'
processes & services or affect users' &
consumers' lives.
Low More likely to require minor
improvements than radical changes.
Emerging Mainly seen in academia and a
small number of specialized markets.
Adolescent Discussed more widely by
analysts and thought leaders.
Early adopter Clients are starting to look
for solutions.
Mainstream There's a clear need and
many clients are implementing solutions.

The radar diagram provides a pictorial view of our findings, allowing you to quickly understand how disruptive emerging technology is
likely to be and the actions you might consider taking. Polar co-ordinates depict the likely time to impact your business along with the
potential size of the impact, while colors represent the current maturity of each topic.

160 #AscentLookOut

Each trend has been analyzed from three perspectives: potential size of impact on your business;
likely time to impact your business and maturity.
3D Printing
Concept
Definition
Also referred to as additive manufacturing,
3D printing is a manufacturing approach
that materializes 3D objects from virtual
designs created using CAD (Computer
Added Aided Design) programs. The size of
objects that can be printed extends from
nanoscale to buildings.
To create parts the 3D printer superposes
layer upon layer of material using various
additive processes until the entire object
is created. Each layer is effectively a thinly
sliced horizontal cross-section of the
eventual object.
Applications
• Rapid prototyping — making fabricating a
part or model, often designed using CAD
tools, quick and easy
• Rapid manufacturing — inexpensive
production of a small number of parts
• Mass customization — manufacturing
unique objects personalized directly by
users through a web-based interface
• Maintenance — creating parts for vehicles,
aircraft, machinery and more
• Casting — creating foundry patterns for
casting parts
• Retail — allowing consumers to purchase
and download a product design to print
at home
• Healthcare — creating bespoke
replacement knees, hips, ears, blood
vessels, heart valves and other body parts
• Pharma — creating personalized pills
Trajectory
Impact
• Alters the product supply chain,
eliminating the need for both component
and end product transportation
• May spawn a new wave of manufacturing
relocation across the globe as
components can be created anywhere
• Simplifies customization while reducing
material waste and accelerating lead
times
• Allows vehicle and aircraft manufacturers
to create lightweight parts to help
improve fuel efficiency
• Helps reduce the cost of cast parts while
Tech trends
enhancing precision lifecycle maintained.
• Improves after sales maintenance by • Issues may arise relating to the
making replacements immediately intellectual property of models and CAD
available designs.
• Lowers the investment barrier for people • 3D printing could mean countries’
needing to manufacture small series of international trade strategies for goods
objects become difficult to enforce.
• Allows individuals to design and share • Tracing the use of raw materials in
objects in the same way they share specific value chains will likely become
content within the Creative Commons more complex with 3D printing.
movement or software pieces in the open
source movement
5G
Concept
Evolution
Definition
• 3D printing was initially dedicated to
5G represents the next generation of
prototyping in the manufacturing industry
communication networks and services. It is
during the early stages of product
not intended to be an evolution of legacy
development.
communication technologies, but a novel
• A drop in the price of 3D printers, the
approach for fulfilling the requirements of
appearance of open hardware initiatives
future applications and scenarios. As such,
and the general ‘Do It Yourself’ movement
legacy 4th generation LTE technologies
spread 3D printing to the open source
continue to evolve in parallel.
and ‘makers’ communities.
• CAD object design libraries are starting
Applications
to appear, allowing people to share,
• Connecting trillions of smart devices — on
customize and print their own objects at
the Internet of Things (IoT)
home.
• Providing massive broadband access —
• Amazon and other players have
for high quality TV or video streaming to
opened a 3D printing store online with
mobile devices, video conferencing and
commercial 3D printers and scanners,
other applications
printer filaments, CAD software and more.
• Enabling extreme real-time applications —
• Advances in 3D printing means
including augmented reality
composite objects made of multiple
• Delivering ultra-reliable applications —
materials can also be printed.
including e-health and energy services,
• Research into new materials with high
manufacturing control and connected
mechanical properties, such as steel or
vehicles
titanium, has opened new uses in new
• Providing life-line communications —
sectors, such as aerospace where SpaceX
including emergency calls during a
created the first 3D printed rocket parts.
natural disaster
• Progress is also being made in printing
• Enabling vehicle communications —
bio-materials as well as other materials
improving traffic safety, assisting drivers
such as concrete, glass, plastic, metal,
with real-time traffic conditions, enhancing
ceramic and foodstuffs.
vehicle reliability and more
• Progress is also being made toward high-
volume printing.
Trajectory
• Complementary 3D scanning technology,
Impact
which collects data on shape and size of
• Offers high levels of network flexibility
objects, is making it easier to create initial
and dynamic network reconfiguration
designs.
based on analytics enabled by Software-
Defined Networking (SDN) and Network
Issues
Function Virtualization (NFV)
• 3D printing systems will need to be linked
• Delivers higher levels of security and
to current manufacturing systems to
improved user privacy control
ensure end-to-end visibility of the product
• Expected to cut network latency to
Ascent Look Out 161
Tech trends
around one to two milliseconds, enabling
innovations such as the connected car
• Expected to improve wireless capacity
1,000-fold and, as such, deliver the
capacity needed for mobile video
streaming, video conferencing and more
• Projected to save up to 90 percent on
energy, mainly from the radio access
network
• Forecast to connect more than seven
trillion wireless devices serving over
seven billion people in the IoT
• Accelerates new service time-to-market,
potentially reducing the average creation
time cycle from 90 hours to 90 minutes
Evolution
• Current research is focused on the 5G
network’s architecture, functionality and
capabilities.
• First 5G deployments are expected
around 2020.
• In the meantime, legacy 4th generation
LTE technologies are continuing to evolve,
offering a fully IP-based, integrated system
providing high speeds indoors and
outdoors, with premium quality and high
security.
• LTE-A (LTE Advanced), for example, offers
increased speeds, performance and
capacity along with higher densities than
its predecessor.
Issues
• Various regions around the world
are currently competing to lead 5G
standardization activities.
• 5G must accommodate a wide range
of use cases from diverse verticals,
each with advanced requirements
around latency, resilience, coverage and
bandwidth.
• These use cases need to be considered
in the early phases of the standardization
process and, as such, non-Telco
companies (automotive, IT services,
consumer goods, health and others) need
to be included too.
• 5G is a combination of diverse
technologies, the maturity of which will be
varied when 5G is first deployed.
A • Data visualization could evolve
Advanced Data Visualization
Concept
Definition
As the volume of data grows, we need
ways to easily grasp its implication. Visual
representations (data visualization
technologies or dataviz) are one of the
162 #AscentLookOut
more natural ways to understand patterns
and relationships in complex data sets.
Many solutions also enable interaction with
these data sets (manipulating the data and
changing viewpoints, for example), allowing
us to explore them in more depth, reveal
hidden relationships, find relevance among
a large number of variables and more.
We also need a means to explore the
massive volumes of near instantaneous
data provided by our increasingly
connected world. With a growing number
of data sets no longer static, advanced
dataviz solutions enable the visualization
and exploration of rapidly-evolving real-time
data sets.
In some cases, visualization can go
beyond the 2D screen, providing a 3D
representation within augmented and/or
reality environments or even immersive
'caves'.
Applications
• Scientific computing
• Engineering
• Finance
• Health
• Pharmaceuticals
• Big Data projects
• Social network diagrams
• Geographical diagrams
Trajectory
Impact
• Improves decision-making, particularly in
enterprises
• Extends the work done by the Data
Scientist
Evolution
• Initially, visualizations were limited to
specific types of business charts provided
by productivity and Business Intelligence
(BI) solutions.
• Big Data increased the need for intuitive,
visual ways of traversing content. As such,
many of today's BI products now include
advanced data visualization capabilities.
• Open source data visualization tools are
progressing quickly, but often basic and
less user-friendly.
significantly with advances in human-
computer interfaces. Immersive systems
that include advanced 3D graphics, for
instance, are already being employed
in the astronomy and health science
fields as well as for analysis of complex
economic data, such as on the stock
market.
• In time, advanced data visualization tools
will be democratized through mainstream
solutions.
• Data sets are no longer static and, as
such, being able to visualize and explore
real-time (or quickly evolving) data sets is
useful and sometimes necessary.
• The paradigm of the data warehouse
is progressively becoming obsolete: as
the volume of available data increases,
rather than digging into three years, three
months or even three days of historical
data, we will need to explore massive
amounts of nearly instantaneous data.
Issues
• High interactivity visualization can be
quite complex, demanding very specific
knowledge.
• Even as tooling improves, data
visualization is still relatively low-level and
often requires some degree of coding.
• Badly used or understood, visualization
can provide incorrect outcomes and
misdirection.
Advanced Robotics
Concept
Definition
The field of robotics is gathering a lot
of momentum, thanks to advances in
artificial intelligence (AI) and computer
vision (artificial vision computer systems
implemented in software and/or hardware
that are able to perceive, process and
understand visual data such as images and
videos).
Today's advanced ‘intelligent’ robots are
autonomous and able to make informed
decisions around their own actions. They're
also increasingly connected, able to interact
with their environment and other smart
machines as part of the Internet of Things.
Not necessarily humanoid, today's robots
are mostly machines or even vehicles, such
as autonomous cars.
Applications
• Industrial processes — such as for
repetitive tasks or precise guidance
• Services and knowledge workers
— including at work, in public or in
hazardous environments
• Surveillance — particularly in harsh or
dangerous environments
• Fire prevention — including detection and
extinguishing
• Industrial inspection — such as network
repairs
• Cleaning, sorting and delivery — of mail,
for example
• Robotic doctors — allowing doctors to

diagnose, and even operate on patients
from a remote location
• Care — including of elderly people
• Autonomous vehicles — such as self-
driving cars
• Spacecraft — including planetary
navigation
• Agriculture — including sheep-shearing
• Social, entertainment, sports or even
teaching
Trajectory
Impact
• Improve safety by replacing workers
in dangerous activities, such as fires or
nuclear power plant accidents
• Increase efficiency with AI systems
recognizing, learning and optimizing
otherwise imperceptible mathematical
patterns to maximize efficiency and
minimize cost
• Maximize productivity as robots do
not tire and can, therefore, maintain
a consistent level of performance
indefinitely
• Reduce cost as the only outlays required
are the initial purchase price and
subsequent maintenance
• Enhance flexibility by rapidly adapting to
constantly changing work environments
• Improve customizability by taking the
form factor most suited to the job
Evolution
• Robotics has a long history, mainly
related to factory automation.
• Advances in AI, improved connectivity
and distributed computing models (cloud)
brought new life into the field.
• Robots are becoming smarter, moving
beyond doing repetitive tasks in factory
scenarios to making informed decisions
around their actions.
• Many large planes are now essentially
robots, flying themselves with pilots only
really needed to reassure passengers.
• Japan has historically pushed robotics to
compensate for both a lack of workforce
and increasing dependence as its
population ages.
• New entrants, including Google with its
expertise in AI, are betting on advanced
robotics.
• New use cases, military drones for
instance, are becoming increasingly
important and their profile is rising.
• We may one day see a war fought by
robot armies.
• The future will likely see robots gain social
intelligence, artificial emotions and more
natural interaction.
Issues
• The media's portrayal of ‘robots’ often
presents a distorted view of the truth.
• "Moravec's Paradox" is still true: robots
are very good at complex tasks, but fail
(sometimes quite miserably) in day-to-day
tasks, such as climbing stairs or opening
doors.
• Staff may resist as robots' role moves
from facilitating human labor to
supplanting it.
• Connected robots, like other connected
devices, are raising concerns around
privacy.
• In personal scenarios, such as situations
relating to health and finances, people
prefer a human touch.
• Badly designed smart machines that
don't function as expected could
potential bring about serious unwanted
consequences.
• Industry experts and scientists are
concerned about the consequences of
reaching the Technological Singularity —
the point where machines would be more
intelligent than humans.
Autonomous Vehicles
Concept
Definition
Autonomous vehicles is an emerging
field arising from the interaction of
transportation vehicles and robotic
capabilities that include environmental
sensors, context awareness and
autonomous decision-making using
artificial intelligence. These self-driving
vehicles rely on these technologies to
enable them to drive themselves while
recognizing and responding to their
surrounding environment.
Major players in this space include both
automotive and technology companies,
who are both competing and/or
collaborating.
Applications
• Personal transport — including the
autonomous (and semi-autonomous) cars
created by Google and Tesla
• Industrial surveillance and transport —
especially in harsh, wide or difficult to
access environments such as mines,
pipelines or traffic jams
• Urgent, specialized transport — including
aerial drones for search and rescue
• Unmanned parcel delivery drones — such
as those created by Amazon and Google
• High-volume logistics — including
autonomous lorry platoons with just one
driver controlling several vehicles
Tech trends
• Agricultural transport — such as for crop
monitoring and cattle control
• Military transportation and surveillance —
especially in dangerous environments
Trajectory
Impact
• Reduces the number of accidents caused
by human error
• Optimizes the number of vehicles on the
road
• Accelerates point-to-point logistics
• Minimizes risk in military and other
dangerous scenarios
• Extends transport to those unable to
drive, including children, seniors and
individuals with disabilities
• Makes expensive services, such as aerial
photography, affordable
• Offers alternative to current means of
transportation
• Opens up new opportunities for novel
services based on collaborative uses
• Expected to have transformational
impact in automotive, insurance, energy,
health, defense and city planning
• Projected to have greatest impact
once vehicles are fully automated as
mutualization will be much easier
Evolution
• The long-term goal is for fleets of
autonomous vehicles to complement or
even replace traditional, human-manned
vehicles.
• Though still very active in their R&D
phase, these companies are already
testing autonomous vehicles.
• The main R&D focus is around helping
drivers reach their designated destination
effortlessly, though they also want to
ensure drivers feel satisfied and safe.
• Governments are beginning to play a
more active role, crafting regulations and
providing funding for R&D.
• Wide adoption is predicted to be around
2020, but that may be a bit optimistic.
Issues
• Cost: Sensors used in autonomous
vehicles, such as the LIDARs that
illuminate the surroundings with a laser
and analyze the reflected light, are still
expensive.
• Complex environments: The variability
of conditions (weather, environment and
other actors) is extraordinarily complex.
• Testing: Tests are very promising, but
have mostly been carried out under
controlled conditions.
• Safety: Safety requirements are very high
since human lives are at risk.
• Regulations: Regulations for autonomous
Ascent Look Out 163
Tech trends
• vehicles are almost non-existent. Creating
them will be a complicated process.
• Ethics: As with all fields related to artificial
intelligence and robotics, ethics play an
important role where machines make
tricky decisions that may put lives in
danger.
B biochips.
Biocomputers
Concept
Definition
Biocomputers are computers that use
biological materials such as DNA and
proteins to perform computational
calculations that involve the storage,
retrieving and processing of data. They
leverage the capabilities of living beings,
relying on nanobiotechnology to engineer
biomolecular systems that provide the
computational functionality.
Applications
• Performing living processes — based
on complex biomolecular interactions
involving biomolecules coded by our
DNA
• Providing advanced bio-templates for
bacterial and viral analysis — sparking
other biomechanical technologies since
it's currently the only self-replicating
computing technology we know of
• Executing calculations that require
extreme parallelism — which can be
achieved by billions of molecules
interacting simultaneously with each
other
• Solving problems that cannot be
deterministically solved in polynomial
time
• DNA shows promise as a mechanism for
long-term storage of information
Trajectory
Impact
• May offer an alternative to silicon-based
systems — potentially faster, smaller
and more energy efficient for some
specialized problems
• Potentially offering massive parallelism,
massive storage and high levels of
artificial intelligence alongside low waste
and low energy usage
• May also provide a whole new field of
innovation in healthcare and life sciences
— such as detecting cancerous activity
within a cell and releasing an anti-cancer
drug upon diagnosis
164 #AscentLookOut
Evolution
• Less than a decade ago, the California
Institute of Technology invented a basic
logic gate inside living yeast cells using
RNA molecules (molecules that, like DNA,
carry genetic information).
• The IMEC world-renowned
nanoelectronics research center in
Leuven, Belgium, is directing research into
• A few years ago, Stanford University
made the final component needed
to build biocomputers available by
developing the first biological transistor,
called ‘transcriptor’, using DNA and RNA.
• In February 2016, parallel computation
was achieved in protein filaments with
biological agents.
• Biocomputers may offer some interesting
applications in the future.
Issues
• Today, biocomputers are still a very
prospective field of research.
• Despite being able to execute a high
number of multiple parallel computations,
the DNA-computer biocomputing
approach has a slow processing speed
with a response time that may be hours
or days, rather than milliseconds.
• Biocomputing results are much harder
to analyze than results from a digital
computer.
• There is growing public concern around
biocomputers' relationship with genomics
and, as such, the potential for biological
catastrophes.
Biometrics
Concept
Definition
Biometrics refers to the detection and
measurement of specific measurable
human characteristics. These can be
used, with a certain degree of certainty, to
differentiate individuals. Accuracy can be
further improved by combining several
different biometric mechanisms into
‘multimodal biometric systems’.
Well-known examples include fingerprints,
retinal blood vessels, iris recognition and
voice recognition, though there are many
other human characteristics that can be
used to identify an individual and may be
useful in certain situations. These include
heart rate and walking pace. And while
DNA provides the ultimate biometric, DNA
analysis currently takes too long to make it
a viable option at this moment in time.
Applications
• Identifying and authenticating individuals
— since biometrics are unique
• Enabling multi-factor authentication
— when combined with other security
mechanisms such as smart cards
• Offering an alternative or complementary
security mechanisms — such as
fingerprint recognizers in smartphones
• Enhancing consumer device security —
particularly for smartphones
• Providing strong security in defense or
homeland security scenarios — including
detecting suspects at borders and crowd
control
Trajectory
Impact
• Enables strong authentication since
biometrics are unique and difficult to
reproduce
• Provides advantages over passwords
for access control and security systems
since biometrics don’t require any
memorization
Evolution
• Some biometric systems, including
fingerprint scanners, have a long history
behind them.
• Advances in both sensors and
recognition software meaning false
non-match rates (that disturb legal users)
and false match rates (that are a security
risk) are improving — though there's a
trade-off between cost, response time,
convenience and reliability.
• Local use of biometric systems in trusted
personal devices is now more acceptable.
• Also driven by the reducing cost of
biometric systems combined with their
integration with authentication and
authorization standards in software,
biometrics are gaining popularity in end
consumer devices.
• Advances in artificial vision are improving
biometrics based on pictures or video —
including facial recognition.
• Behavioral or passive biometrics exploits
dynamic characteristics — including
keystrokes, mouse moves and even
complex body movements such as gait —
enabling continuous authentication.
• Future trust and compliance models
will likely leverage a combination of
biometric-based security and new smart
phones capabilities in the never-ending
quest to ease access control.
Issues
• Biometrics requires specialized
equipment for capturing the biometric
characteristics.

• Accuracy rates vary substantially
among different biometric mechanisms
and performance varies among large
populations. A small proportion of users
face recurrent difficulties.
• As such, biometrics is best suited
as a complement to conventional
authentication methods.
• Applicability for identification is more
limited since determining who a person is
and checking that it is one given person is
difficult because of the tolerances needed.
• Mistrust is still strong because it's very
personal and you can't change it like you
can a password.
• In addition, privacy concerns may lead to
user acceptance or regulatory issues.
• Biometrics may raise ethical and
social implications for Corporate Social
Responsibility imperatives.
• Biometric systems can be tricked. Facial
recognition systems can be fooled by
using 2D or 3D masks, for instance. Anti-
spoofing technologies are emerging to
address this problem.
Blockchain
Concept
Definition
Blockchain is a form of distributed database
that uses cryptographic techniques to
ensure records are stored sequentially and
tamper-proof.
Public, private or community, blockchains
provide an alternative to a centralized
ledger maintained and controlled by a
single entity. In doing so, they enable a new
model that allows trust to be established in
a peer-to-peer network without needing a
trusted third party.
Applications
• Financial applications — including book-
keeping, cryptocurrencies and securing
transactions
• Non-financial applications — including
(to some degree) managing intellectual
property (anteriority), digital identities,
electronic health records, along with
voting, supply chain authentication and
smart contracts
Trajectory
Impact
• Changes the value chain by removing
gateways and intermediary processes
in favor of direct trusted transactions
between users — including merchants,
services providers and customers
• Challenges industries where a central
ledger was mandatory — such as banking
or insurance
• Disrupts domains where a trusted third
party was required
• Enables the emergence of industries
where a central ledger was needed but
impossible to put in place
Evolution
• Blockchain became well-known for
its use as a public ledger for Bitcoin
transactions and supporting various other
cryptocurrencies.
• Its application has now widened to
include diverse applications in almost all
domains.
• Organizations, mostly industry but also
some governments, are investing heavily
in building proofs of concept for specific
use cases.
• Ethereum, a platform that enables
the creation and automation of smart
contacts, is an example of one of the
more sophisticated implementations.
• Blockchain technology company R3
is leading a consortium of 40 banks in
testing the use of blockchain solutions to
facilitate the trading of debt instruments.
• The Hyperledger Project, a collaborative
effort created to advance blockchain
technology, aims to identify and address
important features for a cross-industry
open standard for distributed ledgers.
• Blockchain protocols are evolving to
extend functionality, address security risks
and increase capacity.
Issues
• Blockchains, including Bitcoin, still
remain widely experimental and lack a
retrospective view.
• Blockchain cryptography is currently
not post-quantic and could therefore be
threatened by quantum computing.
• Security depends on the diversity and
independence of a blockchain's nodes. As
such, a single player controlling a majority
of nodes could theoretically circumvent
some security mechanisms.
• The 'proof of work' uses a considerable
amount of computing power and energy,
though more energy-efficient alternatives,
such as 'proof of stake' or 'proof of burn',
are being sought and explored.
• Improvements are needed to ensure
the volume of transactions required
for mainstream applications can be
effectively handled.
• Different blockchains may be required for
different use cases.
Tech trends
Brain-Computer Interface
Concept
Definition
The brain-computer interface (BCI) is a
direct communication pathway between
the brain and an external device based
on neural activity generated by the brain.
While the majority of approaches use
invasive devices, the most promising
initiatives are based on non-invasive
approaches. Here, electroencephalogram
or EEG devices record the brain activity.
EEG's fine temporal resolution, ease of use,
portability and low set-up cost has made it
the most widely studied potential candidate
for a non-invasive interface.
Applications
• Initially, simple detection of specific
external signals and very basic interaction
with objects
• Today, mainly used for assisting,
augmenting or repairing human cognitive
or sensory-motor functions — for
controlling prosthetics, for instance
• Also gaming — where crude EEG devices
are already available as gaming controls
• Later, providing more advanced
communications — including speech
recognition focused on basic phonemes
and language patterns
• In the future, enabling communication,
interactions with computing devices and
more
Trajectory
Impact
• Allows people to interact with computers
and devices without actions or
movements
• Offering a completely new
communications channel — especially
non-invasive technologies and
more advanced interactions (mainly
communication)
• Impacting almost all aspects of man-
machine interfaces — in both our personal
and professional lives
Evolution
• First invented in 1924, research labs have
since pursued EEG-based BCI extensively.
• During the 1970s, research used
primates while invasive methods allowed
prosthetics mechanisms to be controlled.
• Advances in neuroimaging resolution and
EEG capabilities have allowed devices to
be controlled more precisely.
• Initial consumer devices were crude
and mainly used for gaming and stress
control.
Ascent Look Out 165
Tech trends
• Recent advancements showed that
EEG-based BCI can accomplish tasks on a
similar level to invasive BCI.
• It could eventually become one of the
most advanced method for interacting
with computers and devices.
Issues
• Invasive methods require complex
medical procedures and may have
undesired side-effects. Ensuring a
permanent connection with specific areas
of the brain is difficult as the connection
may decay, for example.
• Non-invasive EEG is still at the early
stages of research.
• Brain activity is permanent and, as such,
it's not easy to isolate significant signals.
Non-invasive techniques will require
additional effort.
• The brain is incredibly complex (more
than 100 billion of neurons) and analyzing
patterns based on electric signals is
really challenging and compounded with
individual differences.
• Longer term, there may be ethical risks
such as the potential for mind-reading
and mind-control.
C additional capacity as and when needed
Cloud Services Integration
Concept
Definition
The new computing continuum will be
a heterogeneous environment based on
the decentralization and federation of
diverse computing entities and resource
typologies. These will include multi-cloud
(and cloud federation) models with their
diverse, decentralized and autonomic
management and hybrid cloud models
that cross boundaries between internal and
external cloud services or between public,
private and community providers.
Cloud Service Integration (CSI) provides
a flexible means for assembling these
various cloud-based elements in support
of business process that transverse IT
domains. Compute workloads are deployed
across multiple cloud environments to
provide an optimal delivery model.
Applications
• Global business — enabling the dynamic
coordination of computing loads across
geographies
• Integrated manufacturing — supporting
information transparency and
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collaboration between MES/MOM, ERP
and PLM systems
• Industry — helping gas companies,
for instance, optimize extraction by
enabling tight integration between the
gas turbine manufacturer’s PLM cloud
service, the company’s own private asset
management cloud service and a sub-
surface analysis cloud service
• Enhancing information services —
allowing organizations to augment their
own services with public third-party
services, such as weather or traffic
• Business continuity — reducing the cost
of disaster recovery while enhancing
flexibility and the agility
Trajectory
Impact
• Helps companies balance functionality,
flexibility and investment protection
• Reduces cost by eliminating the need
for hardware to absorb peak demands,
reducing overall management cost and
energy consumption
• Accelerates computing resource delivery
while improving resource availability and
optimizing resource utilization
• Helps small and medium cloud
companies handle peak-loads, acquiring
• Brings workloads closer to where
demand is, eliminating unnecessary
latency
• Ensures compliance with national
regulations when customers have specific
restrictions about the legal boundaries in
which their data and application can be
hosted
Evolution
• Simple multi-cloud capabilities were first
made available through APIs.
• These are now evolving into a global-
scale service-based architecture.
• ServiceNow played a key role in showing
industry how the various service
providers can be brought onto a single
platform.
• With private cloud now becoming
mainstream, companies are looking at
hybrid cloud models.
• In the longer term, the majority of
companies are likely to adopt a multi-
cloud strategy with services from multiple
providers.
• The future will see a wider variety of
service delivery venues available, allowing
users to schedule and automate delivery
of their workloads to the most suitable
clouds.
• Trusted Information Brokers — the
evolution of today’s cloud-ready identity
federation services — will ensure
seamless authentication and access
control for information and services.
They will use characteristics belonging
to the information requester — such as
age, organization or citizenship — while
ensuring that proprietary or personal
information is not spread unnecessarily.
Issues
• Compatibility across services is
still an open issue, compromising
further advance of inter-cloud service
provisioning. Cloud market leaders are
yet to widely adopt any standardization
efforts, but multi-cloud may be the market
force that pushes that adoption, breaking
down current vendor lock-in.
• Multi-cloud environments increase the
complexity of service level agreements
since providers rely on diverse services
from a more complex cloud ecosystem.
Existing contracts will need to be
analyzed and extended so chains of
contractual relationships can be
automatically established across multiple
and heterogeneous cloud providers.
• Multi-cloud environments will need virtual
networks to be set up across multiple
cloud providers. Yet poor network
performance is a roadblock for wider
cloud adoption, while cloud federation
requires extensions to the concept,
techniques and primitives of cloud
networking.
• The constant changes in security
parameters enabled by dynamic multi-
cloud management models is amplifying
current security concerns.
Cognitive Computing
Concept
Definition
Cognitive computing can be seen as an
integration of algorithms and methods
from diverse fields such as artificial
intelligence, machine learning, natural
language processing and knowledge
representation that enhances human
performance on cognitive tasks. Breaking
traditional boundary between neuroscience
and computer science, cognitive
computing is able to learn, to understand
natural language, as well of reasoning up
to interacting more naturally with human
beings than traditional programmable
systems.
Cognitive computing systems have three
main types of capability:
• Systems with engagement capabilities
change the way humans and systems

interact, extending human capabilities by
providing expert assistance.
• Systems with evidence-based, decision-
making capabilities continually evolve
through new information, outcomes and
actions.
• Systems with discovery capabilities
uncover insights that even the most
brilliant human beings might not discover,
finding connections by understanding
the vast amounts of information available
around the world.
Applications
Applications of Cognitive Computing are
multiple and will continue to expand:
• Expert assistance — solving tasks or
long-term projects, answering questions,
making suggestions, revealing patterns.
Examples include personal assistants.
• Intuitive communication — understanding
a person's real intent, attitude, meaning,
emotions and mood to suggest effective
communication strategies in digital
experiences. Examples include marketing
and sales campaigns, TV advertising,
political campaigns and matching the
call agent to the caller's personality in call
centers.
• Accessibility for the impaired —
specialized devices with embedded
software responding to simple intuitive
gestures such as finger pointing and
reading signs, papers, books, labels and
products.
• Intelligent narratives — providing
automated, yet natural language,
insightful summaries out of complex
information. Examples include natural
language explanations of analytical
conclusions.
• Predictive customer engagement —
leveraging knowledge bases linked to
CRM systems to understand customers'
data, discover patterns, infer relationships,
anticipate customer needs and actions
and, thereby, predict the optimal
engagement strategy.
Trajectory
Impact
• Redefines the nature of the relationship
between people and their increasingly
pervasive digital environment
• May allow machines to take over
mundane activities, transforming jobs,
companies, industries, markets and
economies
• May open the door for new opportunities
and business models around cognitive
modelling, human touch interpretation
and more
• Paves the way for smart machines with
reasoning abilities analogous to the
human brain
Evolution
• Computers using artificial intelligence
have been a field of academia and
research labs since the 1960s.
• But the world lacked the digital
infrastructure, algorithms and knowledge
bases to underpin such systems — until
recently:
-- The scale of computing power and
storage has now reached critical scale.
-- Huge new sources of structured and
unstructured digital data are available
for algorithms to ingest, analyze, and
compare.
-- Artificial intelligence improvements
in voice, text and vision can all be
leveraged by new sensors that create
even more context and data that can
be symbolically processed and acted
upon.
-- Software is everywhere and mobility
opens opportunities for highly
contextual software.
• The full scope of the processes and
domains that will be impacted by
cognitive computing is still elastic and
emergent.
• As an expert assistant, cognitive
computing may one day act virtually
autonomously in various problem-solving
scenarios.
Issues
• Cognitive computing requires unique
skills, such as natural language processing
and machine learning.
• Systems will be limited to the expertise
and data they are exposed to.
• Concerns have been raised around
privacy breaches and machines replacing
the human workforce.
• Enterprises are not yet ready for
computer systems as partners.
• Business and the end user must be
trained on what to expect from the world
of cognitive computing — where failure is
accepted and learnt from, for instance.
Containers
Concept
Definition
Containers are a lightweight virtualization
technology that provides applications
with an isolated environment inside
a single operating system instance.
Containers provide users and applications
running inside them with the illusion
and experience of running on their own
dedicated machine.
Tech trends
Applications
• Offering end-to-end application
management, from prototyping and
development to production
• Porting workloads across service
providers
• Encapsulating solutions
• Enabling software-defined everything
solutions
• Delivering adaptive applications or
Infrastructure-as-Code where workloads
react and reconfigure themselves to
accommodate changes in the underlying
infrastructure
• Enabling software componentization for
solution architectures, including micro-
services
Trajectory
Impact
• Allows applications to be pre-packaged
in ready-to-use and easy-to-deploy
containers
• Improves service delivery (greater
flexibility, maintainability, reliability, fault
tolerance and security), opening the door
to concepts such 'Zero Downtime' and
'100% SLAs'
• Reduces cost and enhances capacity
management through workload
consolidation and improved resource
utilization
• Facilitates interoperability among cloud
offerings
• Plays a key role in enabling the
cloud-native approach for deploying
applications on cloud
• Integrates well with emerging
architecture (micro-services) and
development (DevOps) models
• Cuts the cost of testing and quality
assurance processes
• Improves troubleshooting capabilities
Evolution
• The base technology has existed for
many years in Unix-based operating
systems, such as Linux or Solaris.
• Containers gained visibility in the
market through Docker, which provides
a lightweight alternative to virtualization
technology that is very well integrated
with development tools and cloud
deployments.
• Containers are becoming the preferred
model for software packaging and
distribution.
• The container market is gaining a
certain degree of standardization and
interoperability.
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Tech trends
• There are many innovation activities in
the field, including:
-- Advanced workload scheduling
-- Trusted containerized computing
-- Native support in embedded devices
-- Optimized base operating system for
containers
-- Integration with other cloud
technologies
Issues
• The technology ecosystem is still young
and experiencing extreme volatility in its
evolution:
-- (Too) many tools with diverse and
questionable maturity degrees
-- Standardization and interoperability
activities are still limited
-- Support for some legacy technologies
is limited
-- Stronger security models needed
• The transition and transformation from
virtualization to containerization will
require changes in processes, practices,
skills, culture and organizational
boundaries.
Context Broker
Concept
Definition
Context brokers collect and store diverse
data, then leverage analytics to deduce
context from the interactions among
the data before triggering actions based
on that contextual information. In doing
so they effectively empower data by
extracting its meaning in relation to other
pieces of data, bringing the full potential to
data that might otherwise be leveraged in
isolation.
Context brokers play a critical role in the
delivery of context-enriched services, which
use information about a person or object
to proactively anticipate the user’s needs
and serve up the most appropriate content,
product or service.
Applications
• Acquiring context-related information
from multiple sources — including
smartphones, sensors, the connected car
and objects in your home and office
• Reasoning-based actions — analyzing
context and acting based on the results,
such as a map inside an electric vehicle
prioritizing gas stations that have electric
charging points
• Marketing — serving up relevant offers
based around the customer's current
context
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• Administrative functions — such as
privacy and user preference management
• Business support — including
transactions, metering and payments
Trajectory
Impact
• Increases the agility, relevance and
precision of IT services
• Drives revenue generation and
increases customer loyalty through
IT-enabled business models that include
subscriptions, advertising and more
• Enhances user experiences by ensuring
personalized services are more
relevant, particularly when combined
with advanced analytics such as
recommendation algorithms
• Enables the introduction of context-
enriched services in mobility and the
Internet of Things (IoT) where information
push is favored over pull and end-device
processing might be limited
• Increases the potential for economic
growth in domains such as smart cities,
smart manufacturing, smart agrifood,
smart energy and domotics
Evolution
• Context brokers are expected to play
a key role in the future IoT landscape,
assisting enterprises looking to enter the
mobility space, in particular providing the
answer to complexities around sourcing
and federating content.
• Their central position and access to
diverse information creates significant
potential for combining with leading-edge
analytics algorithms.
• Investment in accelerator programs such
as FIWARE is expected to boost potential
for the creation of many of the key
technologies needed to support a broad
context broker uptake.
Issues
• Users may have different needs in a
similar situation according to their state
of mind and, as such, determining what
is most relevant to them is extremely
difficult.
• Acceptance and usage will depend on
assurances around personal privacy and
protection against information leakage.
• Distributed yet correlated events can
be difficult to associate, such as those
coming from multiple devices controlled
by the same person for instance.
• The quality and complexity of the data
analyzed may vary since it comes from
multiple data sources and in diverse
formats.
• Current solutions lack real-time
aggregation and filtering.
D
Deep Learning
Concept
Definition
Deep Learning is a branch of machine
learning with its roots in neural networks
where multi-layered neural network
algorithms attempt to model high-level
abstractions in data.
Currently most applications use supervised
learning, where a network is trained with a
large set of labeled data examples for each
category (for example, an image of a cat is
labelled ‘cat’) to produce a model that can
then be used for mapping new samples.
Unsupervised learning, on the other hand,
is where machines identify objects, text or
images without having been specifically
trained on a related dataset.
Some Deep Learning models build multi-
dimensional spaces from texts. Here the
network ‘discovers’ hidden semantic
relations between words and places them
according to their proximity. For example,
in a word space created from historical
books it would determine that ‘King’ -
‘Male’ + ‘Female’ = ‘Queen’. Other models
follow patterns learned from examples to
generate text or optimize a sequence of
actions to achieve a goal.
Applications
• Image and speech recognition — such as
voice commanded systems, self-driving
cars, face recognition, video surveillance,
image tagging and visual diagnosis
• Text recognition — including automatic
translation, sentiment analysis, keyword
extraction, summarizing text, automatic
question-answering machines and
information retrieval
• Action planning — including generating
marketing planning
• Gaming — such as chess or Go
• Robotics — helping robots learn about
objects without human assistance, for
instance
• Fraud and security — primarily detecting
anomalous behaviors
Trajectory
Impact
• Has enabled significant progress in
challenges such as large-scale image
processing and automatic speech
recognition
• Outperforms all previous techniques for
image and speech recognition, allowing

thousands of categories to be recognized
quickly with unprecedented accuracy
• Provides very efficient approach for
Natural Language Processing and text
mining such that it is likely to replace
other rules-based techniques
• Offers a breakthrough approach to
understanding and planning
Evolution
• A breakthrough in neural network
algorithms in the mid-2000s made
building and training very large and
multi-layered networks in a massively
parallelized form possible.
• Neural networks were then combined
with other machine learning and artificial
intelligence techniques to perform
complex tasks.
• Deep learning models were pre-trained
to reduce initial investment in terms of
sample and setup times for initial models
for new applications.
• Computer architectures were then
optimized based on single precision
graphics processing units and field-
programmable gate arrays.
• A Google Deep Learning program beat a
human champion at the game of Go.
Issues
• Demand very specialized and scarce
resources.
• Black boxes that provide answers but
don't give hints about the reasoning
behind the result.
• Different problems need different
algorithms, so it is not always easy to
reuse them.
• Over reliance may give a false sense
of security, and create problems with
incorrect results.
• Results may lead to undesirable social
outcomes: encouraging discrimination
against specific populations, for instance.
Digital Workplace
Concept
Definition
The digital workplace is a combination of
asynchronous messaging, real-time voice
and video communications, screen shares,
content and context. Those elements of
content and context are provided through
documents, pictures, URLs, sound and
video.
At its very simplest, the digital workplace
can be seen as the merge of three areas
into a single workplace experience:
• Unified communication (UC) around
voice and video
• Modern team collaboration around
documents and projects
• Events coming from existing business
or office applications such as scheduled
meetings, incoming orders or new sales
leads
It may also include enterprise social
networking, shared drives, conferencing,
note taking, presentations, task
management and content management.
Though there are, in actual fact, many
different capabilities and functionalities
available in such collaboration and
communication environments. Every day
new relevant technologies and solutions
appear.
Applications
• Fields of application are broad, but
include the examples below
• Connecting internal employees to solve
a specific problem, managing specific
internal projects, documents and
workflows and converging knowledge
across functional areas
• Building communities for partners,
customers or on-demand workers and
simplifying collaboration with peers,
customers and partners
• Improving customer experience
within customer support, marketing
engagement and partner enablement
and driving insights from customer-facing
teams
• Handling time-critical team working
tasks effectively — including emergency
calls within next generation 112 and 911
solutions
• Helping to save lives and rebuild
communities in severe disaster scenarios
• Making Homeland Security more
effective
• Providing intelligent assistance
• Enhancing virtual reality applications
• Enabling the practical application of
sensing devices
Trajectory
Impact
• Provides a single tool for collaboration
and communications, bringing
conversations and content together in
one place
• Improves productivity and enables
contextual communications
• Significantly reduces the burden of email
by moving email out of workflows
• Drives deeper customer insight, seamless
interaction and innovation across the
entire customer experience ecosystem
Tech trends
Evolution
• Traditional tools were purely focused on
the internal or external collaboration while
unified communications (UC) tools did
not address team collaboration around
documents and vice versa.
• Established messaging and UC
applications evolved while new native
digital workplace products began to
emerge.
• UC solutions and team collaboration
solutions converged, driven by increasing
frustration with email.
• Some UC vendors are already offering
digital workplace solutions.
• Digital workplace solutions could benefit
from other emerging technological areas
such as:
-- Exascale computing — sharing real-
time simulations, for instance
-- Big Data analytics — analyzing existing
data and sharing dashboards among
the team, for instance
-- Deep Learning and artificial intelligence
— finding related data, images and text
similar to features or problems defined
by the team, for instance
• The architecture of the digital workplace
is still evolving, moving from centralized
systems with light clients toward more
intelligence at the workplace itself.
• The development of cloud and mobility
has led to the new architecture evolving
once more.
Issues
• Change management is vital in new
collaboration initiatives, to ensure the
adoption needed to deliver return on
investment.
• Knowledge workers have a tendency to
resist change for change's sake, but will
happily embrace change that makes their
jobs easier and their results better.
• External collaboration and communication,
along with the massive number of
collaborator tasks, may need personalities
and shared data to be validated.
• Standards need to be defined to address
issues such as privacy and ethics,
particularly for emergency applications.
Digital Signage
Concept
Definition
Digital signage uses electronic technologies
to display information or deliver content.
Content can be adapted to context, such as
whether there are people watching or just
passing, and the signage can interact with
users, through a touch interface or a motion
detection system, for example.
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Tech trends
Applications
• Advertising — including offering
promotions and encouraging return visits
• Entertainment — at theme parks,
museums, cinemas and more
• Displaying information — such as news,
weather, directions, traffic, pricing,
menus, programs and even emergency
information
• Improving visibility — including offering
the shopper all variants of an article in the
virtual store
• Enhancing the retail experience —
allowing the user to try new garments
virtually (when combined with
augmented reality)
• Providing information — in kiosks and
vending-machines
Trajectory
Impact
• Offers a more flexible alternative to signs
and posters
• Increases the effectiveness of signage
• Improves the user experience through
the interactivity it provides
• Makes an entertainment experience
more exciting
• Can be updated easily and instantly, and
managed remotely and centrally
• Allows content to be dynamically adapted
to the context and the audience
• Enables richer, immersive user
experiences through advanced multi-
touch, 3D rendering engines and
responsive designs
Evolution
• Early digital signage used video
projection or LED walls to deliver digital
content but was costly and there were
issues with visual quality.
• Digital signage moved from simple
information displays to interactive and
immersive devices.
• Large flat, high-definition screens (plasma,
LCD) have boosted use of digital signage.
• Kiosks and digital signage are converging
and quickly becoming an integral part
of the omni-channel digital experience,
particularly within retail.
• Convergence with mobile applications
and augmented reality will provide an
even more interactive and personalized
user experience as rich and interactive
content becomes increasingly important.
• Analytic capabilities are being
incorporated. These measure the clicks,
navigation and interactions that help
retailers maximize impact and improve
the user journey.
170 #AscentLookOut
• Digital signage is moving into the cloud
and the Internet of Things (IoT). It will
soon be able to interact with beacons,
sensors and wearables.
• Artificial intelligence and Deep Learning
are being explored to allow digital signage
to help and interact with users better.
• Transparent screens that include LCD
displays are emerging. When the screen
is turned off, the glass looks like a window;
turn on, the image appears.
• Glasses-free 3D and holographic images
are emerging, but with limited traction so
far.
• Screens that are bendable and can, to a
certain degree, be adapted to different
shapes are a subject of intense research.
These flexible screens rely largely on
existing OLED (organic light emitting
diode) or AMOLED (active matrix light
emitting diode) technologies.
Issues
• The domain is still young. What effective
digital content looks like and what the
key success factors are is not yet fully
understood.
• Equipment is more expensive than
conventional displays; although cost has
to be balanced with benefits.
• Delivering a multi-channel experience
increases implementation and integration
risk and complexity.
• Rich content and rich immersive and
responsive user experiences add
additional complexity and cost.
• The growing variety of devices and
their diverse form-factors and operating
systems is also increasing complexity.
Distributed Social Networks
Concept
Definition
Distributed social networks (DSNs) refer to
social networking platforms developed by
social network initiatives and operated in a
federated and distributed mode. Many such
projects are federated under the ‘federated
social web’ banner.
Critical social networks functions (such as
personal information sharing, messaging,
relationship management and content
sharing) are enabled by emerging open
standards and protocols.
Although DSNs may have similar use
cases to centralized social networks, they
have a stronger emphasis on privacy and
control of personal data. Many try to ensure
(personal) data is owned by the end-user
rather than under control of the system/
server administrator. Their peer-to-peer
operating model and focus in privacy
means they tend to be focused in specific
scenarios.
Applications
• Privacy-oriented communities of interest
• Ephemeral or temporal communities
• Inter-organizational communities
Trajectory
Impact
• Eliminate the risk of being locked into an
integrated solution
• Provide better control on the data
exposed through social networks,
enhancing data security and privacy
• Make creating business revenue difficult
since personal data is owned by the end-
user
Evolution
• Domination of integrated social networks
such as Facebook led to worries about the
control of personal data and the monetary
interest of social networking companies.
• Startups, such as Diaspora, proposed
distributed models, standards and
protocols to guarantee data ownership
to users, evolving established standards
in the digital identity, instant messaging,
telecommunications and web worlds.
• However, these initiatives struggled to
grow significantly to compete with the
established giants.
• Diaspora, for instance, still exists as a not-
for-profit, open source project.
Issues
• DSNs are still heavily influenced by their
background and lacking in maturity and
standards.
• Knowledge sharing and the sense of
discovery, the most important elements of
social networking, have been exchanged
for privacy.
• The censorial workload users encounter
doesn't facilitate inclusion.
• Where large communities do exist,
migration from existing networks is likely
to be slow.
• There is additional competition coming
from emergent communication
technologies, such as messaging
platforms.
• Legislation around consumer privacy
might make existing social networks
adjust their attitude, eliminating the need
for DSN.
• Finding a healthy DSN business model is
not easy since personal data cannot easily
be harvested and used to make money.

E Impact
Edge Computing
Concept
Definition
The growth of the Internet of Things
(IoT) and the emergence of ever-richer
cloud services together call for data to
be process at the edge of the network.
Edge computing is also referred to as
fog computing, mesh computing, dew
computing and remote cloud. It moves
applications, data and services away from
the centralized model of cloud computing
to a more decentralized model that lies at
the extremes of the network.
Ubiquitous (and sometimes autonomous)
devices — including the laptops,
smartphones, tablets and sensors that
may not be continuously connected to the
network — communicate and cooperate
among themselves and with the network
to perform storage and processing tasks
without the intervention of third-parties.
Edge computing covers a wide range
of technologies: from wireless sensor
networks and mobile data acquisition to
distributed peer-to-peer ad-hoc networking
and processing and more.
Applications
• Connected vehicles — with their wide
variety of interactions and connections
(including car-to-car, car-to-infrastructure
and wireless and mobile networks)
• Industry 4.0 — ensuring smart factory
initiatives are scalable
• Smart cities — allowing cities to scale
data-driven citizen services
• Smart home — releasing the burden on
internet bandwidth as a growing number
of smart devices share more and more
information
• Online shopping — manipulating the
frequently changing shopping cart closer
to the consumer
• Mobile commerce — such as mobile
business models for finance, advertising
and retail, bringing affordable scale to
potentially computationally-intensive
analytics
• Mobile healthcare — including health
monitoring services and patients’ records
management systems
• Resource-intensive end-user applications
— including augmented reality, mobile
gaming, media streaming, home
multimedia sharing
Trajectory
• Brings computation and storage closer
to the source of the data, ensuring the
results of analytics and other processing
are rapidly available and highly accessible
to the systems that need most them
• Addresses latency issues detected in
large Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios
• Conserves bandwidth and reduces
privacy and security risks by eliminating
unnecessary network transmission as
an increasing number of 'things' and
connected devices generate growing
volumes of data
• Lightens the load of centralized cloud
servers
• Expected to enable a broad spectrum
of use cases and applications for which
traditional cloud computing is not
sufficient
Evolution
• Networks were combined with typical
cloud principles to create decentralized
and dispersed cloud platforms.
• Growing volumes of IoT-created data
are increasingly being stored, processed,
analyzed and acted upon close to, or at
the edge, of the network.
• Edge currently relies on specific vendor
solutions.
Issues
• Applications written for an edge scenario
will often need to work on heterogeneous
environments.
• Data reported from different things
may come in a variety of formats.
Standardization is needed to enable
interoperability among devices and
sensors within both edge and traditional
cloud environments.
• The potentially thousands, or even
millions of small devices and sensors,
in edge computing set-ups will require
a new style of device management.
This may potentially need to be
decentralized and able to scale to degrees
unprecedented in today's existing cloud
architectures.
• Envisaged as multi-tenant, edge
computing set-ups will require specific
isolation mechanisms to avoid security
and privacy concerns.
Exascale
Concept
Definition
Exascale supercomputers refer to high
performance computing (HPC) systems
that are capable of at least one billion billion
calculations per second (one exaFLOPS)
Tech trends
— a thousand-fold increase over today's
petascale supercomputers. It provides a
major step forward in addressing the new
challenges of the 21st century at a time
when all sectors (but particularly industry,
academia and science) are demanding
increasingly powerful computing systems
that may leverage cognitive computing for
resolving problems involving ever-growing
volumes of data.
Exascale is believed to be the order of
processing power of a neural network as
big as the human brain and, as such, is the
target power of the Human Brain Project.
Applications
• Smart cities with high-quality urban
services — managing city-level traffic,
monitoring the motion of citizens around
city, providing data-driven real-estate
valuations, monitoring disease spread and
more
• Climatology — delivering finer-grained
and more reliable predictions and
understanding the exact location and
time of severe weather phenomena
• Environment-friendly engines —
simulating combustion chamber
performance with more precision
during the design phase to reduce CO2
emissions, fuel consumption and noise
levels
• Genomics — including enabling predictive
diagnosis, more efficient treatments and
customized dosing
• Oil and gas exploration — using
simulations to predict whether oil wells
will fulfill expectations more accurately
before drilling begins, for instance
• Agriculture — reinventing to meet 21st
century demand by developing precision
agriculture and reducing pesticide use
while taking into account climate change,
ground quality alteration and plant
behavior
• Astrophysics — such as gaining a better
understanding of our solar system and
universe and calculations for future space
missions
Trajectory
Impact
• Helps resolve challenges brought about
by demands for intensive computing and
analysis of massive datastreams
• Enables the resolution of complex
problems that are currently impossible to
solve within a reasonable time
• Increases productivity and
competitiveness by easing time-
constrained processes and speeding up
decision-making
Ascent Look Out 171
Tech trends
• Allows products to be designed faster
and more efficiently
• Helps with anticipating multi-dimensional
phenomena such as climate change by
allowing them to be simulated to a finer
level of detail
• Will also advance consumer electronics
and business information technologies
through its innovations in power
efficiency and reliability
Evolution
• Exascale is vital for helping to resolve
challenges in research, applied science,
industry and society.
• Large countries have set ambitious goals
to become leaders in exascale, building
large dedicated research programs and
associating high performance computing
(HPC) vendors
• In Europe, the European Commission
is supporting several exascale projects
under its Horizon 2020 program.
These are aligned with the Strategic
Research Agenda proposed by the
European Technology Platform for High
Performance Computing (ETP4HPC) and
pioneered by Bull, the technology brand
from Atos. Bull announced the first open
exascale-class supercomputer range (Bull
sequana x1000) at the end of 2015.
• In the US, exascale research is supported
by a National Strategic Computing
Initiative (NSCI).
• In Japan, the RIKEN Advanced Institute
for Computational Science is planning an
exascale system for 2020.
• China has also strong ambitions in
exascale
Issues
• Exascale is dependent upon a new
generation of supercomputers for tackling
its four main challenges:
-- Power consumption needs to be
reduced.
-- Compute will need to be able to cope
with massive data pools, rising from
petabytes to exabytes.
-- Application performance, with a tens
of millions-way parallelism, needs to
be accelerated.
-- Systems will experience various kinds
of faults several times a day because
of their massive number of critical
hardware and software components.
Self-healing system (resiliency) are
required.
• A new generation of massively parallel
software is also needed to extract more
parallelism, handle increasingly hybrid
configurations and support greater
heterogeneity.
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F • Fabric-based computing is initially
Fabric-Based Computing
Concept
Definition
As the server landscape becomes
more software-defined, the fabric-based
computing model comprises a mesh of
interconnected nodes that work together
to form a fabric that appears unified when
viewed from a distance.
The nodes consist of loosely-coupled
virtualized storage, networking, processing
and memory functions alongside
peripherals, each of which can scale
independently of all other nodes. These
resources can be repurposed easily or even
automatically. Datacenter infrastructure
management (DCIM) layers, and potentially
applications, dynamically negotiate their
resource requirements with the datacenter
services provisioning layer.
In contrast to grid computing, fabric
solutions are not aimed at a specific
scenario.
Applications
• Enabling the fully software-defined data
center with its improved agility and
reduced time-to-execution
• Addressing the sometimes near-real-time
demands of Big Data and contextual
smart mobility
Trajectory
Impact
• Provides a fully-meshed physical network
upon which the software-defined data
center can define its services
• Provides the high levels of granularity
needed to adjust resources to perfectly
match requirements
• Aims to address problems that inhibit
full-scale virtualization of the entire data
center
• Reduces the number of physical changes
required and decouples them from
service provisioning
• Allows deployments and configuration
changes to be executed in near real time
• Means IT resources can be rapidly
aligned to changing business demands
• Optimizes performance and power
consumption
• Expected to increase overall resource
utilization to over 80 percent on average
• Reduces cost through better resource
utilization and automation
Evolution
being developed alongside specific
architectures to address performance or
point issues.
• The Open Compute Project, which
aims to generate cost-effective generic
hardware for large users, is leveraging
fabric-based approaches.
Issues
• Fabric-based computing requires radical
architectural changes to the data center
— including higher switching speeds on
the physical level and networks defined
by software.
• Operating systems and hypervisors need
to be able to fully leverage the scalability
and the granularity of fabric-based data
centers.
• Application development frameworks will
need to be fabric-aware.
• Current solutions are largely proprietary,
with limited hardware interoperability and
customized management interfaces.
• Standards are required to prevent fabrics
from becoming the new mainframes,
with vertical silos and a significant cost of
change.
I
Immersive Experience
Concept
Definition
An immersive experience is one that is
totally absorbing, that allows users to
disconnect from the real world and lose
themselves in a simulated dimension.
Immersive experience technologies
encompass a wide range of devices that
assist in making the experience more
absorbing and, by doing so, make the
technologies more invisible to the user.
These include:
• 3D displays — display devices that create
the perception of depth
• Haptic devices — which add the sensation
of touch
• Holographic user interfaces — laser-based
volumetric displays where users interact
with holographic images
• Virtual reality (VR) — digital simulations of
real world environments
Applications
• Entertainment — including movies, TV
and gaming
• Health — used by surgeons and
radiologist and to ease remote operations

• Maintenance — assisting engineers in
their diagnosis
• Marketing — for demonstrations
• GUI — 3D applications and websites
• Natural interfaces — for user input and
feedback
• Visualizing data
• Conferencing
Trajectory
Impact
• Enables a more natural interaction with
computing devices
• Transforms computing devices into
information appliances, which give the
user a more positive feeling
Evolution
• The first haptic input devices were
created a while ago, but with no true
purpose.
• The first generation of consumer virtual
reality products are now available, but
it will take a little time for these to be
integrated into work activities.
• As information appliances, solutions will
become more invisible over time.
• Next-generation haptic feedback systems
will make VR more realistic (and thus
immersive).
• The display (VR) and input (haptics) will
become increasingly attached to the
human body.
• Eventually these may be superseded by
cybernetic implants.
Issues
• Immersion levels will be limited by the
quality of the information available.
• New conceptual thinking is needed to
identify fitting immersive experiences.
• High levels of computing power
are required to drive high-definition
immersive displays.
In-Memory Computing
Concept
Definition
In-memory computing is a computing style
where the central memory of the computer
or networked computers running
applications acts as the primary data store
for the — potentially multi-terabyte — data
sets used by those applications. These
applications then use traditional hard-disk
drives to persistently store in-memory data
to enable recovery, manage overflows
situations and transport data to other
locations.
Applications
• Providing near real-time access to
information (not only data) — in seconds
instead of hours/days such as connected
living, e-commerce, CRM and ERP
• Providing intensive analytics — in
domains such as Business Intelligence,
Big Data and insight platforms for CRM,
Industry 4.0, smart cities, supply chain
planning and security intelligence
• Providing complex event processing — in
domains such as High Frequency Trading,
predictive monitoring, intelligent metering
and fraud and risk management
• Edge computing — leverages in-memory
computing platforms to enable local IoT
data to be analyzed in real time, which in
turn allows decisions to be made in the
moment.
Trajectory
Impact
• Drives business transformation and
opens up new opportunities
• Provides faster processing for ever-
increasing data volumes
• Boosts performance by enabling low
latency application messaging, mixing
transactions and analytics on same data
set, shortening batch processing and
delivering real-time contextual event
correlation and processing
• Frees organizations from non-productive
activities such as data consolidation and
reconciliation
• Enhances agility, enabling companies to
operate in real time
• Simplifies next generation digital
processes — including unified data
analysis
• Accelerates processes, up to 1000x faster
with deeper analytics for immediate
insights to actions
• Boosts strategic decision-making, making
it easier to leverage predictive tools that
can detect trends and simulate outcomes
Evolution
• SAP has taken the strategic decision to
move all its applications to its SAP HANA
in-memory platform.
• Others are progressively following suit for
strategic, time-sensitive applications.
• Open source solutions are emerging in
this space, Alluxio for instance.
Issues
• In-memory computing enabled
applications are hardware intensive,
requiring new generation ultra-high
memory capacity servers to handle
massive data volumes with perfect quality
of service and security.
• Leading servers vendors are innovating
to support this move, leveraging
technologies often derived from high
Tech trends
performance computing.
• Among them, bullion servers from
Atos are recognized today as the most
powerful x86 servers in the world in terms
of speed and memory.
Insight Platforms
Concept
Definition
Insight platforms are the third generation
of business analytics platforms, following
the first generation (Business Intelligence),
which focused on performance-tracking,
and the second generation (Big Data
analytics), which focused on behavioral
analysis.
This combination of new and existing
technologies collects and analyses massive
data sets from connected environments in
real time, rapidly transforming that data into
actionable (prescriptive) insights. Examples
include:
• Streaming analytics — analyzing data in
motion in real time to accelerate time-to-
insight
• Distributed analytics — analyzing data in
situ within a distributed architecture
• Prescriptive analytics — which makes
predictions based on its Big Data analysis
and then suggests decision options
Applications
• Industry 4.0, smart cities, smart utilities,
connected healthcare and smart grid —
collecting and analyzing data from billions
of sensors to proactively improve user
experience, optimize assets value and life,
create new services and reduce risks
• Secure operations — collecting and
analyzing data from all IT and security
components to detect threats and attacks
and execute defensive measures on the
fly
• Defense and homeland security —
collecting and analyzing data from
diverse sources to make and execute the
optimal tactical and strategic decisions
• Retail and marketing — collecting and
analyzing data about customer needs,
desires and behaviors to proactively
improve user experience and create new
services
Trajectory
Impact
• Enables intelligent automation that is able
to sense, predict and adapt to people,
business and things in real time
• Allows analytics to be linked to business
outcomes
• Are expected to be the cornerstone of
the Internet of Things (IoT) and at
Ascent Look Out 173
Tech trends
• the heart of future digital strategies, as
organizations' digital nervous systems
Evolution
• At an early stage of their development,
insight platforms are considered a critical
technology for the future.
• For prescriptive analytics in particular
they will increasingly leverage the
learning capabilities of cognitive
computing.
• These platforms are expected to be
embedded within large-scale solutions,
such as IoT and Industry 4.0, while also
available as customizable platforms.
• Both independent software vendors and
Open Source communities will provide
components, while integrated solutions
will come from integrators and SaaS
providers.
Issues
• A broad set of capabilities are needed for
building these platforms:
-- Advanced ability to collect, aggregate
and clean data from billions of sensors
in real time
-- Extreme computing power to analyze
and create meaning from Exabytes
of information on the fly or for rapid
simulation
-- Advanced algorithms for automated
or human decision-making
-- Real-time orchestration of prescriptive
insight to action, strong embedded
security
• Large enterprise platforms will often
need to be customized for corporate and
government specific processes.
Internet of Everything
Concept
Definition
The Internet of Everything (IoE) is a
ubiquitous communication network
that effectively captures, manages and
leverages data from billions of real-life
objects and physical activities. It extends
the Internet of Things (IoT) by also
including people, processes, locations and
more.
Networks of spatially distributed
sensors and actuators (nodes), each
with a transceiver and a controller for
communicating within a networked
environment, detect and monitor events
(sensors) or trigger actions (actuators).
Each has a unique identifier and the ability
to transfer data over a network without
human-to-human or human-to-computer
interaction.
174 #AscentLookOut
Sensors and actuators vary in size and
price, with some available on a microscopic
scale. As such, they can be embedded into
many different objects and deployed in
many different environments — including
adverse environments in remote locations.
Sensors may include capabilities such
as GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi or internet access.
Some are even capable of detecting the
approximate location of other nodes.
Examples include heart monitoring
implants, biochip transponders on farm
animals, electric clams in coastal waters,
automobiles with built-in sensors or field
operation devices that assist fire-fighters in
search and rescue.
Applications
• Automating operations
• Monitoring asset health, wear and location,
traffic or the environment
• Enhancing healthcare
• Providing surveillance and security,
including early warning systems
• Acquiring information about movements
and/or terrain parameters
• Managing energy or water usage
Trajectory
Impact
• Provides large amounts of data for analysis,
enabling businesses to make better-
informed decisions.
• Ensures data availability by automatically
rerouting data in the event of a node failure
to optimize availability.
• Enables numerous value-adding services
across healthcare, retail, city management
and more.
Evolution
• The concept of the IoT first became
popular in the late 1990s as a follow-up of
ubiquitous computing.
• The development and cost reduction
of wireless and mobile networks and
low-power micro-controllers, which
progressively made it possible to connect
anything to the internet, brought the IoT
to life.
• While it was initially most closely associated
with machine-to-machine in manufacturing,
energy and utility industries, its now covers
a much broader, nearly universal scope.
• Projections predict 100 trillion connected
devices in the world by 2030. As such,
broader adoption of IPv6 is required to
overcome the IPv4 addresses scarcity.
Issues
• Security, privacy and trust must be
considered in developing IoT/IoE
solutions.
• Companies must decide what data to
store and how to store it, ensuring they
have sufficient storage for both personal
data (consumer-driven) and Big Data
(enterprise-driven).
• IoE will significantly increase demand
on datacenter resources and may
even mean data processing, network
connectivity and network bandwidth
need to be re-architected.
IPv6
Concept
Definition
IP (Internet Protocol) is the main
communication protocol underlying
networks such as the Internet. IPv6 (version
6) was designed in the 1990s as the
successor to IPv4.
IPv6 includes adjacent features, such as
address assignment, network renumbering
and auto configuration. It addresses some
of the shortcomings of IPv4 by providing
support for multicast, manages of mobile
data traffic more efficiently. Additionally,
IPv6 embeds several configuration and
discovery mechanisms that were added to
IPv4 after its standardization.
Applications
• Real-time networking — as required by
autonomous vehicles, remote tele-surgery,
industry automation, video-streaming and
voice over IP, overcoming the artificial
bottleneck imposed by IPv4on many of
these use cases
• Mobility — providing unlimited scaling at
routing level, with 5G mandating IPv6 as
critical
• Internet of Everything — providing nearly
unlimited addressing
• A platform for innovation — since it
performs better, is simpler and easier to
deploy than IPv4
Trajectory
Impact
• Allows more connected objects to
connect to one another outside the span
of a local area network
• Is vital for the sustainability of the internet,
mobile internet and IoT-related business:
-- A 128-bit address space means the
number of possible IP addresses
increases from a few billion with IPv4
to 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses
(36 trailing zeros).
-- Addressing is basically free, which
is particularly important for IoT
deployments where the number of
objects to address may be very large.

• Includes hierarchical addressing, IPsec
authentication and security, and improved
ability to carry multimedia data.
• Simplifies administration and eliminates
the need for workarounds such as
Network Address Translation (NAT).
Evolution
• IPv4 was deployed in 1981 and IPv6 in
1999.
• The IPv4 address space became
completely allocated in February 2011.
• Tunneling mechanisms and gateways
were standardized by the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF) to bypass
IPv4 limitations and deal with the IP
address shortage.
• Migration to IPv6 has started in many
different areas, mainly on central
infrastructures, though the uptake of pure
IPv6 is taking longer than expected.
• The fraction of IP traffic using IPv6 is still
significantly lower than IPv4: around 26
percent of US applications are IPv6 native
and 10 percent of Facebook's global traffic
uses IPv6, for instance.
• Some of the networking community are
advocating a global switch.
• The number of applications is growing,
increasing the need for the IPv6 protocol.
Issues
• The transition, which was announced
in 1995 and supposed to last until year
2000, has been much slower than
expected.
• Although support for IPv6 in major
operating systems facilitates this
transition, many legacy devices cannot be
updated to support IPv6 and will not be
replaced overnight.
• Technologies such as Carrier-Grade
NAT and recent regulatory moves are
helping IPv4 survive, thus harming the
deployment of IPv6.
L with location-based context simpler.
Location-Based Services NG
Concept
Definition
Geographical information systems
(GIS) capture, store, analyze and display
information referenced according to its
geographical location. The next generation
takes the third dimension into account. This
3D (spatial) representation provides a much
more realistic representation of the world.
Spatial data can be gathered from a
wide array of sources, including global
positioning satellites, beacons, Wi-Fi
hotspots, remote sensors and visible light
communication (VLC) sources such as Li-Fi.
Visualization technologies allow companies
to extract insights from this spatial data.
The most basic use cases push content
or activate or deactivate functionality
based on geofences or address lists. More
advanced spacial (3D) analytics uses a
user’s or an object’s exact geographical
position to deliver contextualized
information and services
Applications
• Identifying and understanding assets and
customers — anything from simple store
locators to real-time displays of delivery
driver locations or dense pipe networks
• Securing sensitive data — through
geofences
• Enabling local experiences — such as
triggering an offer when a customer
enters a store
• Studying sound propagation, lighting
(shades) or rain flow
Trajectory
Impact
• Improves customer intimacy as
customers come to expect contextual
products and services based on their
current location
• Drives innovation beyond the industries
that have traditionally used GIS
• Increases brand preference by delivering
personalized customer experiences
• Increases revenue by enabling more
effective marketing that influences
purchasing decisions
Evolution
• Big Data technologies have made the
storage and processing of large spatial
data sets economically feasible and
scalable.
• Cloud has made augmenting solutions
• New tools are making spatial analytics
more widely available.
• The popularization of smartphones, as
well as glasses and other wearables, will
strengthen this market.
Issues
• Location technologies in general, and
beacons in particular, are immature.
• Traditional location technologies only
provide a sufficient level of accuracy
on the third dimension when they are
combined.
• GPS is generally unusable within
Tech trends
buildings. Integration with indoor
positioning is required to ensure
continuous positioning.
• Accurate indoor positioning requires
specific equipment.
• Spatial analytics consume a vast amount
of computing resources.
• When it comes to targeted marketing,
insights such as past behaviors,
preferences, needs and situations are
needed to deliver relevant messages to
individual customers, however, the more
accurate the technology, the lower its
reach.
• In addition, smart contextual messages
can be difficult to deliver at scale.
• Proximity-based marketing and in-store
location tracking are already raising
privacy concerns.
LPWAN
Concept
Definition
Also referred to as ultra-narrowband,
Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN)
wireless communication technology has a
low power requirement and a long range,
but a low data rate.
LPWAN was designed to enable objects
that don't have a powerful source of energy
to be connected, primarily to the Internet
of Things (IoT). After all, most objects
connected to the IoT only need to transfer
small amounts of data, such as commands
and statuses, and that operation only
requires a small amount of power.
Applications
• Metering — gas and water in particular
• Monitoring — including waste, parking,
land, livestock, forests and pipelines
• Tracking — items such as containers,
bicycles, pets, indoor assets
• Fault signaling — such as with smart
home appliances and alarms
• Control — street lighting and plant
machinery for instance
Trajectory
Impact
• Allows millions of objects to be
connected at low cost
• Are a simpler and more effective
solution for IoT than traditional cellular
networks, which were designed for high
performance data transfer
Evolution
• Early LPWAN adopters first appeared in
2014.
• Country and global-sized networks are
already being deployed.
Ascent Look Out 175
Tech trends
• Waste monitoring and telemetry systems,
whose refresh period is between one
and four measures per day, are already
working with LPWAN solutions from LoRa
or Sigfox.
• Remote surveillance operators have
started using LPWAN to monitor alarm
systems as a more reliable alternative to
GSM.
• Although expanding quickly, geographical
coverage is still limited.
• LPWAN is expected to become
mainstream around 2017.
Issues
• There are currently multiple LPWAN
standards and this is impacting
interoperability.
• For the IoT to really take off, LPWAN
modem cost needs to drop below $1,
provisioning below $2 and data cost to
zero.
M Concept
Memristors
Concept
Definition
Memristors are non-linear, passive electric
components that have a resistance that
varies according to the history of the
flow of electric charge through them. The
component's resistance reflects this history,
hence its name combining "memory" and
"resistor".
Memristor-based memory is non-volatile,
with a density higher than 100 terabytes
per cubic centimeter, high speeds and low
power requirements.
Applications
• Providing advanced memory technology
such as non-volatile random access
memory
• Delivering fast, compact and low-power
neuromimetic elements since memristors
function using a continuous range while
transistor-based logic only knows zeros
and ones
• Implementing neuroplasticity by forming
neuromemristive systems, a variant of
neuromorphic computers
Trajectory
Impact
• Allow neural networks to move from
computer simulations and onto their own
physical implementations
• Have a longer term potential in
neuromorphic systems
176 #AscentLookOut
• Could outperform traditional computers
at a fraction of the energy cost as
compact neuromemristive systems
Evolution
• First coined in 1971 as a name for a
theoretical passive electrical component
to supplement the resistor, capacitor and
inductor.
• The first physical example was created
in 2008, paving the way for concrete
applications.
• Experimental organic neural networks
based on polymeric memristors are being
created.
Issues
• Memristors are still experimental.
N • Physical controls — where physical inputs
Natural User Interfaces
Definition
Natural user interfaces (UI) are systems
designed to make human-computer
interaction feel as natural as possible.
This wide range of technologies allows
the user to leverage everyday behaviors,
intuitive actions and their natural abilities
to control interactive applications. These
might include touch, vision, voice, motion
and higher cognitive functions such as
expression, perception and recall.
Some natural user interfaces rely on
intermediary devices while other more
advanced systems are either unobtrusive —
or even invisible — to the user. The ultimate
goal is to make the human-computer
interface seem to disappear. Examples
include:
• Augmented reality — adding an additional
intelligence layer on top of natural life
• Virtual reality — providing an immersive
digital representation of a real or
imaginary environment
• Mixed reality — merging of real and virtual
worlds to produce environments where
physical and digital objects co-exist and
interact in real time
• Neuro interfaces — enabling a direct
communication pathway between the
brain and an external device based on
neural activity generated by the brain
• Virtual retinal displays — images
broadcast directly onto the retina,
effectively augmenting the real world
• Body monitoring — reading body
language with gestures beyond the hand
and finger
• Haptics — digital feedback mimicking
physical sensations
• Adaptive interfaces/emotion tracking
— changing layouts and elements in
response to the changing context or
needs of the user
• Relational awareness — devices that, as
an agent for the user, are aware of where
the user is in relation to other people
• Affordances — providing a digital
representation of a physical object that
allows the user to take advantage of all
the things they already knows about how
to use that object
• 3D displays — display devices that create
the perception of depth
• Holographic user interfaces — laser-based
volumetric displays where users interact
with holographic images
are translated into digital outputs
Applications
• Voice control — using language to access
a large set of commands
• Conversational agents — allowing users
to interact without prior knowledge of a
system’s commands
• Audio channels — opening up novel
channels for data transmission
• Collaboration — allowing multiple users to
controlling the interface simultaneously
• Utilizing three dimensions — providing
a more direct connection to content by
taking advantage of depth in movement
• Monitoring physical movements —
helping systems (and users) understand
more about themselves in order to learn
and adapt
• Audio security — providing identification
and authentication through voice
signatures
• Visual security — providing identification
and authentication through visual images
• Biometric security — providing
identification and authentication through
other biometrics
Trajectory
Impact
• Reduces complexity for users with user
interface design incorporating more and
more of the components needed to make
user interfaces as natural as possible
• Decreases the level of user training
needed, with training mainly focused
on domain knowledge rather than
interacting with the interface
• Allows computers and human beings
to interact in diverse and robust ways,
tailored to the abilities and needs of an
individual user

• Enables complex interactions with digital
objects in our physical world
Evolution
• The first attempts at natural user
interfaces aim to provide an alternative
to a command-line interfaces (CLI) and
graphical user interfaces (GUI).
• Attention later turned to developing
user-interface strategies using natural
interactions with the real world.
• Touch and voice recognition are now
increasingly appearing next to the more
traditional mouse and keyboard.
• Interfaces have also begun to incorporate
gestures, handwriting and vision.
Issues
We don't yet have the complex
technologies needed to make truly natural
and seamless interfaces.
NFC
Concept
Definition
Near field communication (NFC) allows
devices, such as smartphones and
wearables, to communicate wirelessly with
tags, cards or other devices over a very
short distance. It provides a natural and
intuitive way for devices to interact with
objects from the real world. Smartphones
significantly increase the potential of NFC.
Applications
NFC devices:
• NFC tags — enabling access, providing
related information or initiating a
transaction, for instance
• Smart posters — offering a coupon or
opening a website, for instance
• Contactless or dual-interface smart cards
— delivering file/product updates
• NFC electronic shelf labels — which are
a key enabler of the connected store
NFC-enabled user devices, such as
smartphones or wearables:
• Ticketing — acting as a (wireless) badge,
coupon or ticket
• Payments and micro-payments —
through swipe to pay
• Data exchange — by tapping to exchange
data, such as electronic business cards
• Loyalty — such as picking up information
and rewards
• Security — enabling building access, for
instance
• Printing — such as transferring pictures to
a printer
• Retail — providing access to deals,
product information, inventory and more,
and enabling digital shopping carts and
check-out
Trajectory
Impact
• Standardizes and facilitates the
integration of contactless communication
in end-user electronic devices:
-- Extending the functionality of those
products
-- Making them interoperable with
existing contactless infrastructure
• Dematerializing tickets, coupons, badges
and cards
• Making payment more convenient, with
NFC wristbands gaining popularity in
micro-payments and tap-to-pay travel
• May allow technology companies to
disrupt the payment/transaction value
chain
• Could enhance privacy in the future
smartphone applications
Evolution
• Nokia introduced a NFC capable phone
in 2006.
• Google produced its first Android NFC
phone in 2010.
• Google Wallet, an app that used NFC to
make mobile payments, first appeared in
September 2011.
• Google announced support of Host
Card Emulation (HCE) in Android in 2013,
enabling secure mobile payment and
access solutions.
• Visa and MasterCard added their support
for HCE in 2014, leading to wider adoption
of NFC by banks.
• Apple entered the market in 2014, with
Apple Pay appearing later that year.
• NFC-enabled payments are gaining
increased traction, providing a solid
foundation for NFC’s growth.
• NFC technology has been integrated into
wearables, tablets, industrial handheld
computers and more.
• Non-payment NFC applications are
expected to thrive, particularly in retail.
Issues
• Industry-wide standards are only just
beginning to emerge.
• Lack of consistency across device types
means a solution may not perform
consistently.
• Two different security models (SE and
HCE) exist and devices may need to
support both.
• Trusted Service Management (TSM)
is needed to ensure applications from
different issuers (including Telcos, banks,
transport companies, governments and
cities) coexist securely.
• A lack of maturity and consistency,
Tech trends
coupled with short lifecycles, may lead
to infrastructure assets being refreshed
without NFC as the primary mobile
strategy.
O
Open Source Hardware
Concept
Definition
The open source hardware model extends
the ideas and methodologies popularized
in open source software development to
hardware development. Documentation —
including schematics, diagrams, list of parts
and related specifications — are published
with open source licenses so other teams
can modify and improve them, based on
specific needs.
These are sometimes combined with
more traditional open source software,
such as operating systems, firmware or
development tools. For instance, both Linux
and Android operating systems are being
used in embedded devices.
Applications
• Prototyping new devices, such as
internet-connected sensor devices
• Avoiding vendor lock-in
• Maintaining systems long term, over
decades, through leveraging hardware
design availability
• Providing server and network
infrastructures for internet-scale data
centers, mainly driven by the Open
Compute Project
• Fostering the adoption of industrial
vendors' core technology standards while
attracting an ecosystem of partners
• Accelerating innovation
• Popularizing the distributed fab lab model
proposed by MIT
Trajectory
Impact
• Supports hardware innovation and
standards development
• Enhances long-term maintenance
capabilities
• Enables the creation of low-cost devices
and infrastructures
• Offers alternatives for commercial
data center server and networking
infrastructure
• Allows enterprises to build materials
dedicated to their needs, while fostering
collaborative developments from an open
community of contributors
Ascent Look Out 177
Tech trends
Evolution
• Initially primarily initiated by the open
source community.
• Traction in the enterprise world — from
both industrial users and hardware
vendors — is increasing.
• Interest is expanding across diverse
industries — including processors, servers,
3D printing and prototyping, ambient
information devices, mobile phones,
notebooks and robotics.
• There is a great deal of interest in
emerging countries.
• Open source hardware is expected to
continue to evolve in three directions:
-- Supporting hardware innovation and
standards development
-- Guaranteeing long-term maintenance
capabilities
-- Creating low-cost devices and
infrastructures, including network
infrastructures
Issues
• Business models are adapted to core
technologies, where users and vendors
have a mutual interest in sharing
innovation, fostering standards and
minimizing cost.
• Certification, which beyond small project
communities, is required for many uses
— security or radio electric interference
certification, for instance
• Fabrication occurs in small batches
in small projects making for low cost-
efficiency.
• Intellectual property issues could block
some developments.
P other emergent fabrication technologies,
Plastic Transistors
Concept
Definition
Plastic transistors reflect the advances
in material sciences that provide us with
alternatives to traditional electronics. Based
in organic polymers that have electronic
properties, these include OLED (organic
light-emitting diodes).
These materials are easily printed over
different types of substrates, allowing
complex circuitry to be printed on flexible
plastics — something that is not possible
with traditional electronics.
Applications
• Flexible displays
• Conductive ink
178 #AscentLookOut
• Printable computer circuits
• Transparent circuits
• Wearable computing
• Smart bandages
• RFID tags
• Plastic solar cells
Trajectory
Impact
• Provides the flexibility that allows
computing abilities to be added to
dynamic environments including clothes,
tight enclosures and organic tissues
• Integrates easily with other additive
manufacturing methods, such as 3-D
printing
• Enables the low-cost volume fabrication
that is essential for widely distributed
solutions such as RFID tags
Evolution
• Basic R&D around organic electronics
began during the last quarter of the 20th
century.
• OLED screens and printed RFID
tags are widely deployed today and
popular in consumer devices, including
smartphones and e-readers.
• Other organic electronic technologies
look very promising for cheap and
durable solar energy panels.
Issues
• Poor electronic efficiency, when
compared with traditional electronics,
may impact some use cases.
• In some domains, including health-related
devices, safety issues may limit adoption.
• For the technology to really take off it
needs to be properly integrated with
such as 3D printing in a print-your-own-
electronics model.
Privacy-Enhancing
Technologies
Concept
Definition
Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs)
refer to technologies involved in protecting
or masking personal data (whether
employees, customers or citizens) to
achieve compliance with data protection
legislation and sustain customers' trusted
relationships.
PETs not only protect very sensitive
data (such as credit card information,
financial data or health records), they
also shield the very personal information
(including purchasing habits, interest, social
connections and interactions) that digital
users are keen to allow some services to
leverage, but only provided some privacy is
respected.
As such, PETs reach beyond the
technologies traditionally dedicated to
preserving data confidentiality (such as
access control and encryption); they also
encompass technologies and techniques
for ensuring data usage is limited to the
purposes intended or protected, including
homomorphic encryption, data masking,
anonymization and pseudonymization.
Applications
• Commerce, finance, Telco, public services
and healthcare — any domains where
customers leave sensitive personal data
• Social media and networks along with
collaborative services — also domains
where customers share selected data to a
selected audience
• Personal employee data
Trajectory
Impact
• Gives individuals the confidence to share
or trade access to their personal data for
digital services
• Enables new data monetization business
models while ensuring compliance to
various data protection legislations
• Mitigates the financial and legal risk linked
to regulation violation
• Supports Corporate Social Responsibility
Evolution
• Early work started in the mid-1970s, with
the birth of the concepts of anonymity
and unlinkability.
• Privacy homomorphism technologies
were introduced at that time, but had
many limitations and vulnerabilities.
• A breakthrough fully homomorphic
encryption (FHE) scheme was proposed
in 2009.
• More recently, business focus has been
on mechanisms for digital identity
management with privacy respect.
• Today, simplified schemes (somewhat
homomorphic encryption-SHE) allow
efficient evaluation of some simple and
specific logic functions.
• The domain is evolving along with the
concept of the ‘personal data economy'.
Issues
• The notion of privacy is a culturally
evolving one and boundaries are moving
between generations.
• The notion of consent is essential, but
may not be sufficient over time since
the data you accept to share today may

reveal embarrassing in the long run.
• As a result, the domain is evolving around
two contradictory trends:
-- Some players are arguing that the
very concept of privacy is dead in a
digital world.
-- Nevertheless, public authorities are
frequently pushing new regulations
to (such as the European 'right to be
forgotten') protect customers and
citizens.
Q
Quantum Computing
Concept
Definition
Quantum computers are computation
systems that use quantum-mechanical
phenomena (such as superposition
entanglement) to execute operations on
data. Built over the basic element of the
qubit (which is in a quantum superposition
of states, hence having multiple values
simultaneously), quantum computing's
main advantage is its ability to execute
some types of quantum algorithms
exponentially faster than the best possible
classical computing alternative.
These algorithms are currently undergoing
rapid development and could potentially
one day break significant aspects of
current technologies limitations in
combinatory analysis. Applications range
from decryption to operational research,
optimization, simulation (with quantic
models) and Big Data analysis (neural
networks).
Applications
• Breaking cryptographic standards –
emerging quantum safe cryptography
aims to overcome this threat, deriving
new cryptographic methods able to resist
attacks by quantum computers
• Trading – in the financial sector
• Recognizing patterns – in defense,
homeland security, Telco, utilities and
insurance
• Speeding up lead compound discovery –
in the pharmaceuticals industry
• Accelerating simulations – in the chemical
industry and quantum physics
Trajectory
Impact
• Allows hugely enormous, complex
problems to be solved in a reasonable
amount of time
• Accelerates machine learning and
prescriptive analysis
• Threatens to break several existing
cryptography standards
• May introduce a general uncertainty
around the safety of currently safe
encryption algorithms
Evolution
• The theoretical basis of quantum
computing was established in the last
quarter of 20th century.
• The first real quantum computing devices
were invented around the millennium.
• The first commercial systems based on
quantum technology (D-Wave) reached
the market around 2010.
• Though the current practical
implementation of quantum computers
is limited to a few dozens or hundreds of
qubits, rapid development is underway.
• Big internet companies (such as Google)
recently began testing quantum-based
technology.
• The U.S. National Security Agency, China
and other governments are ramping up
their quantum safe projects.
• Quantum computing (and other
quantum technologies) is expected
to become a flagship project for the
European Union.
• Atos is among the very few companies
in the world to work on quantum
computing, targeting both Big Data and
security applications.
Issues
• Quantum computing poses a threat
to conventional information security
systems, requiring the development of
quantum safe cryptography before the
widespread use of quantum computers.
• Kaspersky’s Labs has dubbed the
unpreparedness for quantum attacks as
the ‘Cryptopocalypse’.
• Trained resources are scarce in this very
complex field and often unconcerned
about quantum computing's impact on
business or society.
• Quantum programming languages are
still very basic and require a different way
of thinking.
• Quantum logic is hampering
development on an engineering level.
• The technology currently requires low
temperatures, physical isolation and other
technical complexities that are currently
more expensive than the computing itself.
• There is uncertainty over the future
performance of the wide variety of
competing quantum computing
architectures.
Tech trends
S
SDx
Concept
Definition
Software-defined anything/everything
(SDx) is an approach that replaces legacy
— and often specialized — hardware
controlled by physical mechanisms with
software running on commodity hardware
platforms. The concept may be applied to
a wide variety of aspect of an IT system
including networking, compute, storage,
management, security and more.
Applications
• Software-defined networking (SDN) —
where a programmable remote controller,
which is decoupled from the physical
network devices, forwards the data
through the network.
• Software-defined compute (SDC or
virtualization) — decouples CPU and
memory resources from physical
hardware to create isolated software
containers (virtual machines) that can be
run simultaneously in the same physical
server.
• Software-defined storage (SDS or
storage virtualization) — decouples
storage functions (including backup and
recovery) from storage hardware with
software automating and optimizing the
provisioning of the storage resources.
• Software-defined datacenter (SDDC) —
has all resources (including CPU, memory,
storage and security) virtualized and
delivered as a service.
• Network Function Virtualization (NFV) —
combines SDC, SDS and SNS as a solution
found within the Telco industry.
Trajectory
Impact
• Raises the level of automation possible in
infrastructure management.
• Optimizes resource usage by making
resources easier to manage
• Enhances performance by enabling
dynamic, on-demand (re)allocation of
resources
• Allows spurious changes of the resources’
state to be reacted to automatically,
improving availability
• Reduces complexity and errors since
there is no need to understand details
around the underlying hardware
• Improves visibility of the status of
resources, enabling the development
of more sophisticated control functions,
services and applications
Ascent Look Out 179
Tech trends
• Allows traditional distributed control to
become logical and centralized
• Cuts cost by improving resource
utilization, opening up commodity
hardware options and reducing system
maintenance time and effort
• Reduces time-to-market for new products
and services
Evolution
• Standardization efforts are already
widespread and expected to continue to
evolve.
• The SDN evolution, for example,
is mainly being driven by the ONF
(Open Networking Foundation) while
being embraced by the IETF (Internet
Engineering Task Force) and the
ETSI (European Telecommunications
Standards Institute).
• Related efforts are ongoing within
industry and the open source community
(OpenDaylight and OpenNFV for SDN, for
instance)
• Companies are tending generally
deploying open implementations and
specifications that may then become
candidates for de facto standards.
Issues
• The transition from legacy systems to
SDx can be complex.
• The centralized logic has the potential to
become a single point of failure. However,
solutions that distribute this logically
centralized control do exist.
• A change in a management policy might
result in temporary loops or errors that
then lead to failures. Ongoing research
aims to tackle this issue.
Self-Adaptive Security
Concept
Definition
With the growth of cloud, APIs and the
Internet of Things (IoT), cybercrime
is constantly increasing in volume,
sophistication and impact. As a result, the
paradigm of security must change. After
the perimeter security of the 90’s (which
emphasized network defenses) and the
in-depth security of the 2000s (which
emphasized multiple protection layers),
cyber defense strategies now evolved
toward new self-adaptive security principles.
This pre-emptive approach to security
moves the emphasis from protection to
real-time detection and response that
adapts defenses immediately.
Technologies and processes incorporate
Security Operation Centers (SOC),
which rely on new generation Security
180 #AscentLookOut
Information and Event Management (SIEM)
technologies enhanced with machine
learning and prescriptive analytics.
Self-adaptive security also relies on new
generations of context-aware security
technologies (including Identity and Access
Management, network security, device and
smart machine security) that dynamically
adapt to threats.
Applications
• Protecting information systems
belonging to boundaryless corporations
and open business ecosystems
• Offering better protection against the
latest generations of threats, including
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)
• Adapting security strategies to the
specific business challenges of individual
organizations within diverse industry
contexts
Trajectory
Impact
• Mitigates attacks (including hacktivism,
cybercrime from mafias, fraud, industrial
espionage and cyberwar attacks) before
they significantly threaten the availability,
data integrity and confidentiality of
systems
• Facilitates forensics by enabling effective
and accurate aggregation of evidence
Evolution
• Experts estimate that detection and
response share will move from less than
30% of IT security budgets today to 75%
by 2020.
• Open platforms are being developing
that will facilitate 2-way communication
among multi-vendor security products.
• Self-adaptive security depends on the
convergence between security and
Big Data technologies, with the notable
addition of machine learning to traditional
SIEM technologies (see 'Insight Systems').
• Solutions are rapidly increasing the
number of data sources (including the
Dark Net) they are leveraging — well
beyond classical security sensors and
devices — to analyze suspicious behaviors
and foresee or detect attacks.
• Self-adaptive security is becoming
increasingly verticalized, taking into
account industry-specific risks in finance,
manufacturing, utilities and other
domains.
Issues
• Self-adaptive security requires strong
and business-driven Governance,
Risk and Compliance analysis to help
systems understand what really must be
monitored and reacted to.
• Seamless communication between
security devices is needed to ensure
contextual information is shared across
internal silos to enable the automated
configuration changes that strengthen
security and block attacks before they
happen.
• Self-adaptive security often relies on
human intelligence for confirming
adaptive actions on the fly after
automated risk detection. This is vital for
avoiding any overreaction to false positive
signals, which may impact the business
in unexpected ways (see Amplified
Intelligence in the CxO agenda).
• The increased focus on rapid detection
and response should not lead to
decreased protection levels. Protection
levels should, instead, be more targeted
and more reactive. As such, end-to-end
security, 'Zero trust' security architectures
and very high security zones for critical
applications (such as 'Application
Resource Islands') are often set up to
complement self-adaptive security.
Semantic Technologies
Concept
Definition
Semantic technologies encompasses
a diverse set of technologies aimed at
helping machines to make sense of large or
complex data sets without being supplied
any knowledge about that data. In essence,
they bring structure and meaning to
information, often by providing machine-
readable metadata that is associated with
humanly readable content specifying its
meaning.
Applications
• Natural-language processing (NLP) —
processing unstructured text content
• Data mining technologies — uncovering
patterns (trends and correlations) within
large sets of data
• Artificial intelligence systems — using
reasoning models to answer complex
questions
• Classification technologies — employing
heuristics and rules to categorize data
• Semantic Web — allowing programs to
fetch specific information and answer
non-obvious queries
• Linked Data — a subset of the Semantic
Web and way of publishing data so they
are interlinked and more useful, enabling
automatic reading by computers
• Semantic data integration — enhancing
analysis and decision making by
combining heterogeneous data sources

• Semantic search technologies — allowing
people to locate information by concept
Trajectory
Impact
• Enable semantics-based technology
automation by providing that meaning
explicitly, so machines don't need to
derive it from within the data
• Help humans and machines understand
and communicate with each other at
the same level as people do among
themselves
• Allow technology to automatically use
services on behalf of a user
• Bring enterprise data integration to the
next level by integrating heterogeneous
sources and augmenting corporate data
with publicly available databases
• Give computers a better way to represent,
exchange and manipulate knowledge
• Increase agility by dealing with
knowledge instead of just data
• Allow computers to learn by themselves
(machine learning)
• Make data collected for a given purpose
usable in other contexts
Evolution
• The RDF (which stores the semantic
metadata) and OWL (which defines
the ontologies which, in turn, specify
information meaning and relationships)
were introduced and later standardized.
• The SPARQL semantic query language
was introduced and later standardized.
• Tim Berners-Lee published his thoughts
on Linked Data on the W3C website
• The Semantic Web at a global scale is
still a dream, but related ideas, concepts,
standards and technologies are being
used on smaller scale to provide
semantically-enriched services.
• Companies are providing commercial
support for semantic solutions and using
them in production.
• Existing and legacy SQL-based data
integration solutions are being turned into
a semantic data cloud.
• Standardization efforts for
transformations (RDB2RDF) are enabling
more valuable information to be retrieved
out of the existing data maze by
combining it with other data sources.
• Companies are increasingly providing
semantic search engines heavily based
on NLP.
Issues
• Ontologies are not easy to design and
their relevance can always be debated.
• Gaining consensus around ontologies is
difficult, even in very specific fields.
• Discarding spurious information in
ontologies is difficult.
• Data providers usually generate revenue
from advertisements that have to be seen
by human beings so may have no interest
in providing semantically-enriched
information.
• A means for automatically establishing
correspondences between vocabularies
is needed for when different data sources
use different concept definitions.
• The Semantic Web is still unrealized
due to the size and complexity of the
ambition.
Smart Machines
Concept
Definition
Smart machines refer to systems
embedded with cognitive computing
capabilities that are able to make decisions
and solve problems without human
intervention. They perform activities and
tasks traditionally conducted by humans,
boosting efficiency and productivity.
Applications
• Autonomous robots or vehicles —
reshaping transportation, logistics,
distribution and supply chain
management
• Expert systems — emulating the decision-
making capabilities of a human to solve
problems that typically require expert
input in sectors such as automotive,
consumer electronics, healthcare and
industrial
• Intelligent virtual assistants — such as
avatars, which provide information and
service assistance to customers
• Sensors — collecting data about our
physical environment without direct
human intervention
Trajectory
Impact
• Increase efficiency and productivity
• Raise earnings and profit margin potential
• Offer a viable alternative to unskilled labor
while augmenting demand for skilled
labor
• Complement tasks that cannot be
substituted by computerization
Evolution
• Prototype autonomous vehicles,
advanced robots, virtual personal
assistants and smart advisers already
exist.
• The explosive growth of sensor-based
data will provide them with more context
about the physical world.
• They will evolve to work more
Tech trends
autonomously thanks to cognitive
computing, advanced algorithms and
artificial intelligence.
• Over time, more machines will enter our
lives and they will become better, faster
and cheaper, according to Moore’s law.
• Advances in artificial intelligence, speech
recognition and machine learning mean
knowledge work can now be automated.
• Machines will make increasingly
significant business decisions over which
humans have decreasing control.
• As such, smart machines have the
potential to significantly impact the
business dynamics of at least one-third of
the industries in the developed world in
the future.
Issues
• CIOs must make the business aware
of the risks and opportunities as smart
machines work more autonomously in
support of business goals.
• There are real concerns that smart
machines will replace both white and
blue collar jobs in industries ranging
from manufacturing and warehousing to
shipping.
• The impact on society will need to be
understood and appropriate action
may need to be taken in areas such as
taxation.
Swarm Computing
Concept
Definition
Also known as swarm intelligence or hive
computing, swarm computing refers to
massively distributed, self-organizing
systems of agents that work collaboratively
towards a defined outcome. Each agent
within the system has a simple set of rules
to follow and only interacts with its local
environment. The aggregate behavior
of the agents leads to the emergence of
‘intelligent’ global behavior.
With the number of nodes comprising the
Internet of Everything (IoE) predicted to
rise and many individual nodes likely have
limited compute capabilities, each would
be complimented by connection to other
objects in a community — thus creating an
IoE swarm.
Applications
• Optimizing logistic chains and
transportation
• Controlling driverless vehicles, optimizing
journey times and road usage
• Coordinating the operation of complex
infrastructures such as smart cities and
distributed power grids
Ascent Look Out 181
Tech trends
• Predicting the behavior of complex
systems, such as transport or logistic
networks
• Providing surveillance in military
scenarios
• Delivering sensor network security
• Managing crowds
• Enabling opportunistic collaboration
• Managing the economics of participation
by helping to engage resources,
encourage contribution and optimize
services
Trajectory
Impact
• Creates a dynamic eco-systems of cyber-
physical devices, each adding to the
collective capability and insight
• Allows operations and interactions to
adapt according to context
• Improves efficiency and reliability of
service provision through:
-- Enabling ad-hoc collaborations, which
help built service networks
-- Optimizing delivery schemes and
communication patterns, which allow
information and services to be shared
and exchanged
-- Creating reliability and dependability
from volatile resources, which help
manage uncertainty
• Allows work to be distributed across
simpler devices (or robots)
• Complements other forms of artificial
intelligence
• Provides a significant step toward
massively distributed computing models
Evolution
• The notion of swarm computing first
emerged in the 1990s.
• Research into algorithms and simulations
began shortly afterwards.
• Swarm computing was first use for
logistics and simulations.
• In time, the miniaturization of mobile
hardware made swarms of micro-robots
feasible
• Currently, swarm computing is closely
linked with robotics, the Internet of Things
(IoT) and distributed cloud models.
• In the long-term, nano-robots swarms
may, for example, prove useful in
medicine.
Issues
• Agent-based programming is complex
and skilled practitioners are not easy to
come by at this present time.
• Integrating swarms with other centralized
control mechanisms is also complex.
• Security is a huge concern, especially
if individual robots within a swarm are
182 #AscentLookOut
under the primary control of different
individuals or organizations.
• Communication protocols need to be
standardized to enable flexible and
dynamic interaction.
• There is a possibility that non-
deterministic behaviors, including
unexpected or out of control ‘emergent’
behaviors, may emerge.
-- Swarm viruses, where swarm behaviors
are influenced adversely by rogue
components, may also emerge. These
would have huge implications in use
cases such as driverless vehicles.
T connected world requires the successful
Trusted Devices
Concept
Definition
Trusted devices are terminals and software-
powered objects and machines that are
made secure and trustworthy in order
to protect data and process availability,
integrity and confidentiality. They include
human interaction devices such as
smartphones, payments terminals as well
as autonomous devices such as smart
homes and smart machines.
Trusted devices rely on high security
design, hardened software and hardware,
and intensive certification processes
provided by trusted third parties (notably
leveraging 'common criteria' norms).
Applications
• Securing human communications and
interactions with digital systems
• Ensuring the protection of critical
infrastructures and automated process
— including smart grid, connected
healthcare, smart cities and transports
Trajectory
Impact
• Provides trusted terminals and smart
machines secured by design and with a
trustworthiness level depending on risk
and process criticality that people can
rely on
• Mitigates risk of hacking and fraud at
a time when cybercrime is becoming
commonplace
Evolution
• Defense grade technologies have already
been introduced into civil terminals,
notably secure smartphones for
governments and CxOs.
• The major trend today is the
strengthening of objects on the Internet
of Things (IoT) that are involved in critical
processes.
• The next evolution is focusing on
securing smart, autonomous machines.
After all, as we become increasingly
reliant on robot surgeons, smart cars
and autonomous drones, absolute trust
becomes vital.
Issues
• Most trusted devices require a
combination of hardware and software
security since software security alone
increases the risk of hijacking.
• Establishing trust in today's increasingly
integration of secure elements (Secure
IoT) and management of huge numbers
of identities (Next Generation Identity &
Access Management and Big Data).
• It may also require embedded contextual
intelligence so that hacking attempts can
be detected and appropriate counter
measures (such as the auto-destruction
of sensitive information) can be taken
automatically
U
Ubiquitous PIM
Concept
Definition
Currently most people use more than four
different information silos to store, manage
and transfer their personal information
— including Google, Outlook, Facebook,
Twitter, WhatsApp, local drives, USB disks,
OneDrive, Dropbox and more.
Ubiquitous Personal Information
Management (PIM) is a new approach
to storing personal information where all
information is stored in a unified storage
system but still accessible and consumable
by multiple applications. The types of
information most suited to ubiquitous PIM
approaches include messages (email, social
network posts, public website responses),
contacts, documents (texts, pictures, video)
and calendars.
Applications
• Enterprise Social Networks — allowing
all applications to use the same storage
layer and exchange/share all information
needed
• Collaboration — providing diverse
collaboration tools access to the same
information, with each tool tailored to

the user's level of expertise and personal
preferences
• Business communications — unifying
communications so users only need to
focus on the dialog and not worry about
the technology
Trajectory
Impact
• Reduces complexity and eliminates
vertical information silos
• Increases usability by making information
more relevant and consistent across a
multitude of applications
• Cuts energy consumption as information
no longer needs to be copied around and
kept in sync
• Unlocks individuals from reliance on
multiple dedicated social networks,
collaboration and communication tools
• Allows individuals to select the networks
and tools that suit them best
• Opens the door to a broad range of novel
products and services
• Is aligned with the Internet of Things (IoT)
Evolution
• Local file systems with applications began
sharing more and more information.
• Mixed local and cloud-based storage
solutions emerged, with some sharing
information, but more of them
exchanging it.
• Mixed local, cloud and ubiquitous
PIM storage solutions then started to
appear, initially combining contacts,
communication, collaboration and
documents through adapters
• Soon, applications will leverage global
ubiquitous storage, with information
exchange between ubiquitous PIMs
standardized
• In the future, people will no longer need
to worry about their information and a
whole new domain of IT applications will
start to flourish.
Issues
• An enormous amount of work that needs
to be done to realize ubiquitous PIM,
but only a few groups and individuals
are working on new ways to store
information.
• In fact, there are huge gaps in the
theoretical know-how needed.
• This current situation will remain
unchanged until the fragmentation of the
current data exchange systems become
more evident.
V the future
Virtual Assistants
Concept
Definition
Virtual assistants are software agents that
perform services or tasks on our behalf.
They understand queries and can answer
them in a natural language. They exploit
artificial intelligence, natural-language
processing, machine learning, voice
processing and reasoning, and knowledge
representation to make human-machine
interactions simpler, more natural and more
appealing.
The tasks and services they perform rely
on written or spoken user input, context
awareness and access to a variety of
online sources, such as weather or traffic
conditions, news, stock prices, schedules
and retail prices.
Applications
• Administrative assistance — such as
in-the-moment advice, querying and
reminding, supporting both personal and
business events
• Ongoing expert assistance — including
longer-term projects or expert work
where their learning capabilities mean
the more context they're exposed to, the
better their assistance becomes
• Customer service assistance — including
in retailing, banking, insurance and
telecommunications where they
supplement or supplant human
customer-service representatives
• Data mining of large structured and
unstructured data sets — discovering
patterns and anomalies, proactively
identifying problems, spotting
opportunities and supporting decision-
making
• Predictive expert assistance —
anticipating events and taking action
before events occur
• Virtual personal shopping assistants
— learning, predicting and serving
consumers' tastes, needs and desires to
help optimize their purchases
Trajectory
Impact
• Decrease cost and increase efficiency
and customer satisfaction in customer
service desks while unifying corporate
image across different channels
• Enhance application usability and
improves information access tasks
• Are expected to manage more and more
Tech trends
of our increasingly complex digital lives in
• May, in that case, transform customer
engagement models with organizations
needing to interact with customers
through their assistant rather than
directly; this would mean interactions
need to be clear and concise — and
would be significantly less susceptible to
emotive advertising
Evolution
• In the 2000s, search engines evolved to
include more context, refining results to
make them more relevant.
• Natural Language Processing (NLP)
systems evolved to allow users to interact
with a computer in conversational
language.
• More computing power became
available, meaning natural language could
be processed cost-effectively.
• The rise of virtual assistants such as
Siri signaled search evolving toward a
more personalized, interactive service
and a gradual shift to an ecosystem of
services mediated by a powerful software
assistant.
• The virtual assistant will next be brought
into the cloud, making it present on
multiple devices: on users' bodies and in
their offices, homes and vehicles.
• Future assistants will be able to detect
exactly where users are.
• Advances in sensors (for example,
microphones, cameras, accelerometers
and GPS in smart phones) will provide
additional context for that assistant to
leverage.
• Virtual assistants are also learning how
to detect emotions via voice analysis or
facial expressions, whether the user was
moving, stationary or in a vehicle.
• Real-time learning capabilities will ensure
assistants remain current, as long as they
have access to relevant data sets, or allow
them to branch out into new fields.
Issues
• The increasing fragmentation and
complexity of our personal data reduces
the level of assistance a virtual assistant
can currently provide.
• Ubiquitous Personal Information
Management (PIM) will help them
interpret all our digital information, but
they currently need adapters to connect
to diverse data silos such as Outlook,
Gmail, Microsoft Live, Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn and even local file systems.
• The user needs to feel in control (for
instance of where their data is used and
by whom) and to be able to trust the
Ascent Look Out 183
Tech trends
• assistant to act in their best interest.
• Virtual assistants that are helping users
purchasing things online will have the
power to boost certain firms and deprive
others.
• The on-going obsolescence of the
human worker by computers and
artificial intelligence applications may
lead to society raising concerns about
virtual assistants as they become more
advanced.
W
Wearable Computing
Concept
Definition
Miniature electronic devices with integrated
sensing, computing and communication
capabilities that are worn on the body. They
leverage the wearer’s context — detected
by embedded sensors — to deliver either
general or specific services that enable
the wearer to act in real time based on the
information they provide.
Although most popular wearables today
are smart watches, wearables can be found
in different places of our body:
• Attached to our wrist — such as smart
watches, bracelets and wrist bands
• Around the head — including headbands
and helmets
• In front of the eyes — such as glasses,
contact lenses, bio-augmentation
• Around the ears — as earphones
• Implanted or embedded chips —
including hearing aids
• On or in the hands — such as gloves or
digital pens
• Smart clothing and textiles — including
bandages, t-shirts, jackets, socks, bras,
belts and shoes
• Embedded in jewelry — including rings
and earrings
• On the skin — as tattoos
Applications
• Cross industry
-- Security — enhancing authorization,
authentication and tracking
-- Field services and maintenance —
integrated with SCADA to help with
trouble shooting, for instance
-- Payments and expenses — improving
mobile capabilities
-- Training — providing support and
recording and sharing activities
-- Condition monitoring — collecting
health or environmental information
184 #AscentLookOut
-- Direct interaction with smart objects
— initiating cloud-based services
-- Information — simplifying access to
resources and sharing knowledge
• Industry specific
-- Healthcare — training doctors,
assisting surgery, monitoring patients'
and doctors' health, recording
treatment, supporting and monitoring
medication regimes
-- Retail — sharing product information,
merchandising, warehousing and
stock management
-- Military and homeland security
— monitoring activities, recording
operations, navigation and identity
recognition
-- Transport — navigation, tracking,
measuring drivers' health
-- Sport — monitoring vital signs,
comparing results, adjusting to
environment and recording activities
Trajectory
Impact
• In combination with cognitive computing,
has the potential to enhance human
abilities
• Allows customer service representatives
to understand individual's desires and
tastes
• Enables the Body Area Network concept
— enhancing the overall picture of the
wearer’s context while the wider IoT
amplifies the device’s knowledge of the
wearer
• Improves performance and cuts cost in
field service and assisted maintenance
• Opens up new business opportunities:
-- Delivering health insights for
marketers to tap into
-- Offering incentives in exchange for
wearable usage and data
-- Connecting mobile payments and
customer loyalty
-- Addressing novel customer problems
that were previously out of reach of
the brand
Evolution
• Wearables were initially used in military,
healthcare and medicine.
• They are now focused mainly on well-
being and activity monitoring for the B2C
market.
• Interest is broadening to new domains
in the B2B market where smart watches,
digital badges and smart bands are likely
to be of most interest initially followed by
smart glasses, emerging intelligent textiles
and embedded accessories.
• Shipments of wearables are expected to
reach more than 60 million by 2017.
• Spending on wearable technology is
projected to reach nearly $20 billion in
2018.
• Wearables may become a fully-integrated
part of our personal and professional
lives in the long term, providing a more
discrete alternative to mobile while also
enhances mobile with additional insight.
• Some see wearables as the next step
toward ambient computing.
Issues
• Interaction is tuned to the device's size,
purpose and ergonomics.
• Devices would benefit from being able
to automatically account for wider
environmental surroundings.
• But advances in wearables depends
on other technological advances —
including in sensors, displays, batteries,
communications and augmented reality.
• The effects of materials on the human
organism (allergic reactions, for instance)
and radiation must be manageable.
• Power management and heat dissipation
is challenging in such small devices.
• Energy — along with a failover strategy
— may need to be available during a
complete usage cycle in some use cases.
• In critical situations, such as medical
tasks, wearables and their users must
abide by legal constraints.
• Wearables need to be transparent on
information transmission, storage and
processing, particularly where data is
shared with a wider ecosystem.
Web-scale Computing
Concept
Definition
Also known as web-scale computing,
hyperscale is a large, distributed, grid
computing environment that can scale-
out efficiently as data volumes and
workload demands increase — sometimes
exponentially. Compute, memory,
networking, and storage resources are
added quickly and cost-effectively.
Often built with stripped down commercial
hardware, hyperscale optimizes hardware.
Potentially millions of virtual servers may
work together to accommodate increased
computing demands without, however,
requiring additional physical space, cooling
or electrical power.
With hyperscale, total cost of ownership
(TCO) is then typically measured in terms
of high availability and the unit price for
delivering an application and/or data.

Applications
• Enabling cloud, distributed storage
and more across the web giants' large
distributed sites
• Supporting businesses that must handle
extremely high volumes of data and/
or process millions of transactions
with minimal downtime — including
banks, retail, mining and oil exploration,
healthcare and pharmaceuticals
• Supporting emerging technologies —
such as cognitive computing and the
Internet of Everything
Trajectory
Impact
• Provides the robust and agile
environment needed to support
tomorrow's intensive data processing,
allowing organizations to maximize the
value of their growing volumes of data
• Offers a common, scalable platform that
easily adapts to the ever-shifting business
and technology landscape
• Delivers space and power savings
through its containerized data center
units
• Requires fewer commercial servers,
cutting hardware and administration cost
• Has the potential to transform how
modern enterprises consume and
manage IT
Evolution
• Public cloud giants such as Google,
Facebook and Amazon first developed
the technology to sustain their dramatic
growth rates and deliver the agility they
required without compromising service
availability or quality.
• Soon other organizations also began
to take advantage of that open source
software.
• Hyperscale is now being explored by
other types of businesses, including those
with smaller and traditional enterprise IT
environments.
• Further technological advances are
paving the way for faster, cheaper and
bigger hyperscale systems.
• It is anticipated that hyperscale may
eventually be adopted by around half
global enterprises.
Issues
• Hyperscale modifies the IT roles and skills
needed by an organization.
• Any serious growth in computing —
including hyperscale — may challenge
energy resources.
WebRTC
Concept
Definition
A collaborative effort by IETF and W3C,
WebRTC is a free, open web standard that
enables platform-independent, web-based,
plugin-free Real Time Communications
(RTC) through standard browsers and on
mobile devices.
In essence, the WebRTC standard defines
media processing software for voice and
video embedded in browsers. It's extensible
and provides a standard API that aligns
with HTML5 along with a mechanism for
passing session data between parties in
communications sessions.
Commercial implementations are available
and differentiate themselves through
defining signaling or collaboration models
and enabling multi-participant sessions.
Applications
• Browser-to-browser communication —
including voice, video chat, conferencing,
screen sharing, customer engagement,
entertainment, gaming and file transfer
and sharing
• Enterprise communication — such as
click-to-call, contact centers, unified
communications and modern team
collaboration
• Education and training — including virtual
classrooms and synchronous learning
• Distributed messaging and coordination
— allowing humans and machines can
interact in a more natural and transparent
way
Trajectory
Impact
• Simplifies deployment and reduces
cost of browser-based communication
solutions by eliminating the need for
proprietary plug-ins and apps
• Standardizes underlying transport
protocols and security mechanisms
• Allows any connected device with a
WebRTC-enabled browser to become a
communication device
• Makes voice and video more readily
available in browser-based applications
• Enhances customer engagement and
increases revenues by opening the door
to rich interactions
• Allows humans and machines to interact
in a more natural and transparent way
• Opens the door to new services that
Telco carriers — who are threatened by
over-the-top voice services — can actively
participate in
Tech trends
Evolution
• WebRTC was initially born in 2011 as a
free, open project sponsored by Google
for enabling RTC communications in
different browsers.
• Firefox, Opera and other browsers began
to support WebRTC just over a year later.
• WebRTC is supported by almost all
major desktop and mobile browsers
and used by a growing numbers of
consumer services, such as Facebook
Messenger, and modern enterprise
collaboration services (such as Unify's
Circuit) to implement voice and video
communications.
• WebRTC is part of HTML5 and, as such,
it's expected to be widely supported
going forward.
• Potentially five billion devices could
be WebRTC-enabled by 2018, with
embedded devices leading novel
WebRTC-based applications.
• Peer-to-peer WebRTC-based video
services will commoditize quickly.
• WebRTC is expected to replace existing
protocols in the long term.
• Enterprise grade multi-participant
WebRTC and integrated collaboration
services will remain compelling for the
next five years.
Issues
• The WebRTC 1.0 standard has not been
finalized yet with the community divided
over some aspects of it.
• The lack of standards for some higher-
level services could lead to compatibility
and/or interoperability issues and
market fragmentation, while offering
differentiation for commercial products.
• Adoption has been slowed by lack of
support from some major browsers.
• Integration with other non-web based
RTC communication platforms requires
additional software.
• WebRTC could lead to new kinds of
security threats that might require new
and innovative approaches.
Wireless Power
Concept
Definition
Wireless power describes the transmission
of electrical power without solid wires,
using electromagnetic fields instead. There
are two types of wireless power: near-field
charging that uses inductive or capacitative
charging and far-field or radiative charging
that uses beams from electromagnetic
devices.
Applications
• Wearables — including smart watches
Ascent Look Out 185
Tech trends

• Health devices — including hearing aids

and pacemakers
• Electric transportation — including cars
and buses
• Customer gadgets — including
smartphones and tablets
• Industry — including assets in factories
and warehouses

Trajectory
Impact
• Allows electrical devices to be powered
where interconnecting wires are
inconvenient, hazardous or simply not
possible
• Solves energy storage issues for the
electric car, while increasing its range and
reliability
• Opens the door to a uninterrupted,
pervasive computing environment where
energy availability is critical

Evolution
• Induction charging is not a new
technology, but its usage is restricted to
very few devices.
• The technology has been evolving to
provide higher levels of charge, at greater
distances.
• Standardization seems to be improving,
with the most important standards
converging in the AirFuel Alliance.
• The explosion of wearables and
sensor networks, and their limited
energy capacities, has made wireless
power transmission a more interesting
proposition.
• Increasing capacities are taking it to
wider domains, including transportation
(for electric vehicles) and healthcare (for
medical devices).
• Tests are underway with special road
lanes wirelessly transferring power to
electric cars while they drive.

Issues
• Energy efficiency needs to be optimized
further by eliminating potential energy
losses.
• Energy management would benefit from
being simplified.
• There are currently several standards,
limiting interoperability.
• Security concerns are limiting its use in
certain environments.
• Social fears are limiting its uptake, though
concerns about its impact on health have
no scientific base.

186 #AscentLookOut
 Tech trends

Ascent Look Out 187

Acknowledgments
Ascent Look Out, Atos’ biennial collaborative horizon scanning publication, combines the insight
from more than 200 subject matter experts working in service lines, industry consultancies, sales,
marketing and communication in 72 countries across the globe. The Editorial Board gratefully
acknowledges all contributors for sharing their knowledge, experience, passion and enthusiasm:
Abhishek Arora
Abjay Jaju
Adam Jackson
Adem Yasar Mulayim
Ahcene Latreche
Ahmet Yavuz Agca
Alan Keler Baldo
Albert Seubers
Alberto Crespo García
Alessandro Brunetti
Alex Caballero Fernández
Alicia García Medina
Alisdair Wright
Aljosa Pasic
Alpha Baro
Aman Siddiquee
Ana María Juan Ferrer
Ana María Piñuela Marcos
Anaïta Sharifi
Andrea Rossi
Andy Wallace
Anne-Flore Agard
Annick Lemaylleux
Antoine Fressancourt
Antonio Santos
Anuj Kulkarni
Arijit Sarbagna
Arwin Visser
Aurora Ramos López
Axel Zingsem
Benoît Couchon
Blanca Jordán Rodríguez
Carlos Veira Lorenzo
Carmen Luisa Padrón Nápoles
Carmen Perea Escribano
Catherine Charbonnier
Celestino Güemes Seoane
César Mediavilla Martínez
Chee Woo Tan
Chris Moret
Chris Shano
Christian Mongodin
Christian Ruess
Christophe Mougin
Clara Wyler
Claude Derue
Colombe Herault
Craig Collinson
Cyril Allouche
Dalila Hattab
Danny Oldenhave
Darío Ruiz López
David Daly
Davide Criscione
Dejan Damnjanovic
Didier Dupont
Didier Joonekindt
Don Rekko
Dorien Wamelink
Egbert Jan Koekkoek
Elsa Prieto Pérez
Elvira León Moreno
Emilie Moreau
Eric Dubois
Eric Mariette
Erwin De Munter
Erwin Dijkstra
Fabricio Imbrizi
Felicia Lobillo Vilela
Fidy Ranaivoarivelo
188 #AscentLookOut
Francesco D’Andria Martin Eek Thierry Caminel
Francisco José Ruiz Jiménez Martin Pfeil Thierry Winter
Francois Robin Martin Wagner Thilo Stieber
Frederik Kerling Matthew Bingley Thomas Collins
Frédéric Oblé Mauricio Elgue Thomas Hoberg
Geramn Herrero Cárcel Mauro Grimoldi Till Kolloge
Gerben Menting Mauro Starinieri Tobias Krimmling
Gerhild Reckerth Mélanie de Vigan Tom Hall
Günter Koinegg Michael Davison Tony Lacy
Hans Boksem Michael Henshaw Valerie Milone
Hendrik Jan Hilbolling Michael Petiot Veronique Lacassin
Herman Boonstra Michael Symonds Will Chataigner
Herman van den Tempel Michel Metselaar William Rice
Hermann Gouverneur Michel-Ange Camhi Wolfgang Thronicke
Herve Barancourt Michiel van der Weijden Wolfgang Weissmann
Hugo Meiland Miguel Angel Puente Pestaña Yaroslav Logachev
Ilknur Chulani Mike Smith Zeina Zakhour
Ivo Luijendijk Mischa van Oijen
Jack Wood Mónica Torres Martín
Jaime Carrillo Aguilera Muneeb Tak
Jan Krans Murli Mohan
Jasper Siegmund Nadia Politou
Javier Buhigas Perez Natalia Jiménez Lozano
Javier García Hernández Nathalie Garcin
Javier Romero Negrin Neil Milliken
Jean-Claude Barbezange Nicolás Notario McDonnell
Jean-Francois James Nicolas Roux
Jean-Marc Cadudal Nicolas Tricot
Jean-Pierre Le Treut Niels de Schutter
Jeroen Vermeulen Nuria Ituarte Aranda
Jérôme de Parscau Oliver Kleinhenz
Jerry Norman Olivier Maas
Joerg Beichter Oluwatimilehin Oke
John Hall Pascal Pediroda
John Menzies Paul Hunt
Jordi Safont Guillén Paul Moore Olmstead
Jörg Beichter Paul Vincent Bonzom
Jos Boesten Pedro Soria-Rodríguez
José Fernando Esteban Lauzán Peter Norell
José Lorenzo Mon Peter Vrenken
Josep Martrat Phil Ridgley
Juan Bareño Guerenabarrena Philippe Duluc
Juan Rico Fernández Philippe Papasian
Juan Sancho Murgui Pierre Cailleux
Julien Decoster Prakash Shrivastava
Kanishka Bhattacharya Purshottam Purswani
Kay Hooghoudt Rainer Deventer
Koen Maris Rajesh Goyal
Kuldip Chiheru Rob Driessen
Lauren Brisson-Pinot Robin Just
Laurent de Jerphanion Rodrigo Díaz Rodríguez
Laurent Gibert Ruturaj Kalagate
Lidia Hernández Álvarez Ruud van der Loo
Louis Assor Sander van de Velde
Luca Benporath Santanu Roy
Luciano Brito Santiago Manso Alonso
Luis Lancos Santiago Ristol Jorba
Lydia Montandon Sebastien Gatti
M Nuria Ituarte Aranda Solofo Ramangalahy
Manish Sharma Sophie Houssiaux
Marc Gustin Souleymane Mane
Marc Llanes Stefan Ried
Marcel van de Pol Stefan Zimmermann
Marcus Muehling Stephan Blachier
Maria Blain Stéphane Janichewski
Marjolein Wenderich Stéphanie Nogues
Mark Fry Steve Peguet
Mark Wilcock Susanne Seßler
Mark Young Sven Vintges
Markus Fuchslocher Sylvie Calsacy
The Ascent Look Out Editorial Board:

Editors in Chief

Luc Barbier Marc Meyer

Head of Portfolio, Innovation & Industry Analyst / Head of Executive & Talent
Third party Advisor Relation Management, Communications
Atos Atos
luc.barbier@atos.net marc.meyer@atos.net
@LucBarbier12

Editorial Board

Francisco Pinheiro Emilie Moreau

Strategic Innovation Program Manager Head of Ascent Thought Leadership
Global Portfolio & Innovation Communications
Atos Atos
francisco.pinheiro@atos.net emilie.moreau@atos.net
@innoFPinheiro @emilie_moreau

Claire Decrocq Jordan Janeczko

Business Partner Head of Innovation - Central Eastern Europe
Global Communications Atos
Atos jordan.janeczko@atos.net
claire.decrocq@atos.net
@Clr_Dcq

Jean-Christophe Spilmont Baerbel Koch-Haebel

Head of Strategy and Portfolio, Global Marketing Manager
Big Data & Security Atos
Atos baerbel.koch-haebel@atos.net
jean-christophe.spilmont@atos.net
@JcSpilmont

Denis Faivre
Head of Innovation Management
Worldline
denis.faivre@worldline.com
@ablivio

Ascent Look Out 189

Ascent: Atos thought leadership
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190 #AscentLookOut
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Interested in discovering more about today’s key technology Atos Innovation Workshops will help you to:
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Ascent Look Out 191

About Atos

Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is a leader

in digital services with pro forma annual
revenue of circa € 12 billion and circa
100,000 employees in 72 countries.
Serving a global client base, the Group
provides Consulting & Systems Integration
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sector, Retail, Telecommunications, and
Transportation.

Atos is focused on business technology

that powers progress and helps
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