Turn

disruption into
opportunity
Get ready for the
technology trends
that will reshape your
business in 2019
Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

The biggest technology trends that

businesses should look to profit from
Take advantage of the opportunity

The world of enterprise technology never stays still for long - and this year has been no different. As we look towards a new year, there are several
trends that we have forecast as the most important for businesses of all sizes to be aware of, and to profit from.
Empowering employees, the use of accurate data, intelligent and connected applications, and technology delivered as-a-cloud-based or managed
service are all at the forefront of the technology trends for 2019. They present a big opportunity for businesses in every sector, to improve internal
processes, the services they provide customers, and the ability to develop and grow.

The trend forecasters

As one of the world’s leading systems integrators and managed service providers, we have a commitment to driving technology transformation
to help businesses all over the world achieve more. We intimately understand the role new technology can play, and we work with experts across
industries to help our clients make the best decisions for their businesses.
Annually, we take the work we do throughout the year—collaborating with IT and managed services experts and partnering with technology leaders—
and forecast the technology trends that we expect to have the most influence on the enterprise in the coming months.
If you would like to read more about our insights and forecasts you can do so on our website, free of charge. Learn more about the specific trends
and how your business can get a head start on competitors.

This e-book provides a summary of the seven trends we believe businesses should be focusing on most in 2019.

For further information visit: dimensiondata.com/2019techtrends

 Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

This e-book provides a

summary of the seven trends
we believe businesses should
be focusing on in 2019.
Our technology specialists
discuss their areas of expertise.

For further information visit: dimensiondata.com/2019techtrends

Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

Technology futures
‘Easier access will accelerate adoption of game-
changing technologies.’
The application of game-changing technologies is becoming more pervasive, and their
adoption across industries is growing steadily. Over the last year we have seen artificial
intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotics, and virtual and augmented reality
start to converge to deliver compelling outcomes for many businesses. This trend is set to
accelerate in 2019.
The increase in adoption of these innovative technologies comes down to our improved
understanding of how and where to use them. But it also comes down to better access to
them. Vendors such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are embedding these capabilities
into their platforms at an affordable cost.

Ettienne Reinecke, Group

Chief Technology Officer

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 Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

One of the innovative technologies that has seen a lot of investment over the last year is blockchain. And over the next few
years we expect identity management to move into a blockchain environment, offering a solution to many of the current
challenges and, in addition, opening up an entire new value chain, centred on identity.
Another topic set to dominate over the next 3-5 years is data value management – where the value of the data that is
generated by a company’s existing activities will supersede the value of traditional revenue activities. It will become one of the most
important investment areas due to its monetary value potential, but also a major driving force in investment to create more data.
Following on from 2018, the rate of technology-driven mergers and acquisitions is set to continue at an even faster pace. As the
tech giants put the squeeze on OEMs, consolidation among vendors seems inevitable.

Key figures

45% 12.9% 40%

The percentage of work activities across The compound annual growth rate of the The proportion of addressable market that
industries that could be automated, with identity and access management market. original equipment manufacturers are already
the increase of robotic process automation Predicted to grow from USD 8.09 billion USD reduced to competing for in certain segments.3
adoption, saving USD 2 trillion in global 14.82 billion by 2021.2
workforce costs .1

Go here to explore more details on the #Technologyfutures2019

1 https://www.pwc.com/us/en/outsourcing-shared-services-centers/assets/robotics-process-automation.pdf
2 https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogeraitken/2018/01/07/blockchain-to-the-rescue-creating-a-new-future-for-digital-identities/#724046e05492
3 https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/dotcom/client_service/Automotive%20and%20Assembly/PDFs/McK_The_road_to_2020_and_beyond.ashx

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Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

Technology services
‘Platform enabled services are critical to empower
standardisation and scale for service offers and delivery models.’
Businesses are now looking to service providers to deliver defined business outcomes. We
have seen a market evolution where enterprises have been unable to reach their new desired
business outcomes with the traditional service level performance of their IT services. In 2019, we
expect to see providers re-think the way services, specifically managed services, are taken
to market. This will be established through:
• moving away from single tower services towards Full Stack service providers
• increase in popularity of adoption-based contracts
• consulting services
• Client Success Management
One of the ways service providers can deliver these more defined business outcomes is through
innovation. And in the next year we will see their commitment to innovation as part of their service.
There will be an increasing expectation around the IT partner’s ability to deliver relevant market facing
or internal operational innovation or ‘co-creation’.

Dan Greengarten, SVP, Sales,

Managed & Cloud Services

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 Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

Platform enabled services are now critical to empower standardisation and scale for service offers and delivery models.
As their IT environments become more diverse, companies will rely on more standardisation in service management –
and they’re increasingly achieving this by using partners who deliver platform-based service management.
As competition increases, regulation tightens and security threats become more sophisticated, consulting services that help
clients achieve flexible technology capabilities that can adapt quickly to changes in a company’s environment will be in
higher demand.
Another service in higher demand will be transformative service as a route to rapid digital transformation. As
businesses struggle with legacy systems and look to find solutions they often choose shadow IT as quick fix. This brings
up governance and security issues, but also, in the long run, fragments their IT environment and further slows
their digitalisation progress. Instead, transformative managed services is emerging as the preferred route to rapid
digital transformation – with 60% of organisations choosing to execute their digital transformation plan through
outsourcing and partnering.

Key figures

75% 60% 38%

Of today’s IT service providers will become The percentage of companies who choose to Of C-level executives see co-creation
irrelevant by 2022 if they do not focus on digitally transform with the help of outsourcing with third-party technology experts as essential
outcome-based services.4 and partnering .5 to their business’s ability to thrive in the future.6

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4 https://blogs.gartner.com/rene-buest/2018/08/22/service-providers-must-act-now-stay-relevant-cloud-first-world/
5 Dimension Data. Digital Means Business report. 2018. Available online: https://www.digitalbusinessbenchmark.com/
6 https://www.fujitsu.com/uk/about/resources/publications/digital-disruptionreport/co-creation/

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Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

Digital workplace
’In 2019, we believe that organisations will take more proactive steps
to engage with and empower their employees, with emphasis on how
technology can empower their everyday lives.’

In 2019 IT teams will make a concerted effort to better understand how employees work and how
technology can empower them. Specifically:
• their everyday tasks
• how they collaborate in their teams
• where they access the information they need
• areas of compliance they need to be aware of

Alex Bennett, Group Senior Vice President Go-to-Market –

Customer Experience and Digital Workplace

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Artificial intelligence and machine learning will play a significant role in how IT teams can engage and empower entire
organisations. By gaining the right insights they can point out to an employee that the tools and applications available
deliver everything they require to carry out their job function.
Alongside using AI and machine learning to empower employees, applications themselves will continue to get more
intelligent and help improve the user experience and streamline business processes. Machine learning is also playing
a key role in helping to verify workplace data. Data authenticity is essential to the decision-making process of a
business, and if the data is unverified it could be detrimental to the outcomes of these decisions.
We’re also seeing clients adopting more holistic smart-space strategies. For example, by analysing multi-source data
on building occupancy, weather, heating and cooling, they can make huge savings in energy costs. Machine learning and
analytics will play a key role in this optimising of space.

Key figures

37% Four in five 50%

Of digital transformation strategists revealed Executives agree that organisations are basing
that one of the highest ranked benefits from their most critical systems and strategies
digital transformation was improvement in on data, yet many haven’t invested in the
employee morale and engagement .7 capabilities to verify the truth of
the information.8
The maximum potential saving on
building operating costs attainable by
using smart building technology to analyse
workspace utilisation.9

Go here to explore more details on the #DigitalWorkplaceTrends2019

7 https://marketing.prophet.com/acton/media/33865/altimeter--the-2017-state-of-digital-transformation
8 https://www.accenture.com/au-en/blogs/blogs-can-you-trust-your-data
9 https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/enterprise-networks/connected-mobile-experiences/at-a-glance-c45-738516.pdf

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Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

Cybersecurity
‘In a world of fast-moving, automated attacks, intelligence is the key to
being able to respond swiftly or even predictively, rather than reactively,
to individual threats.’

Matthew Gyde, Group

Executive – Cybersecurity

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 Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

The threat landscape is changing rapidly, and organisations’ cybersecurity strategies must adapt in response. Tighter
regulations have caused a shift in risk profiles and how organisations prioritise governance and compliance strategies.
This can have a knock-on effect on the decision-making process within a business.
In the coming year, we believe that cybersecurity, along with more continuous risk profiling, will become more
intelligence-driven, and machine learning will play a critical role in gathering this intelligence. Moreover, machines will
start making more of their own decisions and execute changes themselves to minimise an organisation’s cyber-risk.
There is also a change in mindset happening across organisations regarding the security level of the tech they
use. Previously, businesses deployed technologies and treated security as an afterthought. Now, business leaders are
recognising their solutions must be secure by design and aligned to their overall business goals.

Key figures

60% 90% 29%

The predicted percentage of organisations that The percentage of Chief Information Security Of enterprise organisations want to use
will invest in multiple data security tools, such Officers (CISO) who hope to improve the AI-based cybersecurity technology to better
as data loss prevention, encryption and data- strategic alignment between the security of curate, correlate, and enrich high-volume
centric audit and protections tools – up from their organisation and its business processes.11 security alerts to piece together a cohesive
approximately 35% today.10 incident detection story across disparate tools.12

Go here to explore more details on the #CybersecurityTrends2019

10 https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3836563
11 https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/deloitte-review/issue-19/ciso-next-generation-strategic-security-organization.html
12 https://www.csoonline.com/article/3250850/security/artificial-intelligence-and-cybersecurity-the-real-deal.html

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Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

Digital business solutions

‘More enterprises will abandon their ‘technology-first’
attempts at digital transformation and embrace the
customer-centric approach.’

Scott Gibson, Group Executive –

Digital Business Solutions

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 Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

The adoption of new technologies has largely been the focus for many organisations’ digital transformation efforts to date.
But without some structural redesign businesses are setting themselves up for failure. In the coming year we will see more
companies accepting that to transform they must focus on cultivating their business processes around the customer experience and
then reorganise the business to align.
A lot of successfully transforming businesses have realised the power and practicality of ready-made platforms to accelerate their
ability to evolve and are doing so to great effect. In 2019 we expect to see more of this.
Likewise, in 2019, profitability from the Internet of Things (IoT) will accelerate. The kind of projects that produce a concrete
financial improvement tend to be those that look at data through a new lens and apply IoT at multiple points in the value chain.
Tied into this will be the growth of business-to-business digital trading platforms – a world where customers connect directly
into a business’ supply chain. And beyond supply chain collaboration, we’ll see integration with CRM systems featuring artificial
intelligence and robotic process automation. This will allow consumers to reach right back to a supplier’s inventory through their
mobile apps.

Key figures

2020 60% 49%

The year by which customer experience will The proportion of organisations engaging in The percentage of executives who say the
overtake price and product as the key brand digital transformation through outsourcing and Internet of Things plays a key role in their digital
differentiator.13 partnering.14 business strategies.15

Go here to explore more details on the #DigitalBusinessTrends2019

13 https://www.walkerinfo.com/knowledge-center/featured-research-reports/customers2020-1
14 https://www.digitalbusinessbenchmark.com/
15 https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2018/04/22/the-state-of-digital-business-transformation-2018/#61c29da65883

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Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

Customer experience
‘Robotic process automation (RPA) technology is set to
grow exponentially over the coming years, which will
redefine the customer experience.’

The overall trend of automation is growing at pace, and conversational, voice-based artificial intelligence
(AI) is an area that companies are prioritising (AI and voice-based technology is already reshaping the
financial services industry).
The ability to process natural language has become very sophisticated and normalised. Organisations are
now using the data generated to understand the context and content of customer interactions. It’s allowing
them to develop increasingly accurate algorithms and models to drive more effective interactions.

Rob Allman, Senior Vice President –

Customer Experience

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 Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

This is also giving companies the ability to predict what customers’ future behaviour is likely to be, whether it’s their
propensity to take up a product, or the likelihood of a service issue arising – making the customer experience less like a mass
service, and more proactive and personalised.
The knock-on effect from the increase in automation and increase in data is the complexity of managing data within
organisations. Their ability to capture, process, govern and analyse data must evolve rapidly. We expect in the coming year
that businesses will address this issue by accessing data management skills as part of a managed service.
Alongside this, the term ‘omnichannel’ will decrease in use, gradually becoming replaced as the industry begins to discuss an
alternative ‘customer journey management’, reflecting a more mature development of strategy and a sharper focus on value.

Key figures

50% 72% 89%

Of all searches will be voice searches by 2020. 16
Of customer interactions in 2022 will be
facilitated through emerging technologies: RPA,
machine learning applications, chatbots and
mobile messaging.17
The percentage of customers that
companies with the strongest customer
engagement strategies retain on average. This
is compared to 33% for companies with weak
engagement strategies.18

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16 https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/just-say-it-future-search-voice-personal-digital-assistants/1392459
17 https://www.cmo.com.au/article/642649/gartner-why-humans-will-still-core-great-cx/
18 https://www.clicktale.com/resources/blog/31-customer-experience-stats-and-quotes-for-2018/

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Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

Digital infrastructure
‘It’s becoming more and more critical for businesses to tightly integrate
their application outcomes and infrastructure management.’
Businesses are constantly on the lookout for ways to improve their efficiency and increase
productivity. One of the ways we see this happening in 2019 is through an evolving digital
infrastructure, one that is programmable end to end. The main driver of end-to-end
programmability is the need to ensure that infrastructure can quickly adapt to meet the changing
business needs of applications and data, as well as improve performance and avoid escalating costs.
To reap the benefits of end-to-end programmability, clients are becoming more mature in choosing
levels of abstraction, understanding APIs, and getting acquainted with the programming toolset required to
maximise flexibility going forward.
We anticipate that managed services will emerge as the preferred route to ensure that all the
components of an enterprise’s infrastructure are programmable, to drive innovation and control costs.
Data is another driver of infrastructure decisions. And the rise of the Internet of Things, analytics,
artificial intelligence and data science is changing forever how clients derive value from data.

Rob Lopez, Group Executive –

Digital Infrastructure

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 Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

In the next year we will see businesses architecting their data management capability to capture, store, move and secure
business data. It’s imperative that the data architectures they create afford them speedy access to data from their
infrastructure.
Another defining component of today’s infrastructures are applications. The latest generation of applications dictate
where they run and how they operate. So tighter integration between application outcomes and infrastructure
management is becoming critical.
The conversation has shifted to how an application can exploit the infrastructure to deliver a faster outcome, and we expect
this to continue in the coming year:
• What is the business need?
• What applications and processes are needed to deliver it?
• How do you build an infrastructure to deliver the desired outcome with best performance, cost and user experience?

Key figures

20% 0.5% 50%

The amount by which the market share of The amount of all data that is actually analysed.
programmable data centre infrastructure will Just a 10% increase in data accessibility could
grow at between 2018-2024.19 result in additional revenues of more than
USD 65 million.20
The proportion of enterprise-generated data
that will be created and processed outside a
traditional centralised data centre or cloud
through edge computing by 2022. Currently it’s
only 10%.21

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19 https://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/five-trends-to-look-out-for-data-center-infrastructure-market
20 https://www.cio.com/article/3217020/data-management/your-data-accessibility-problem-is-costing-you-65-million.html
21 https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/what-edge-computing-means-for-infrastructure-and-operations-leaders/

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Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

Are you ready to

transform disruption
into opportunity?
Engaging and empowering employees, customers, and strategic
partners will be just as key in 2019 as it has always been. The only
question is how businesses can do this most efficiently.

For further information visit: dimensiondata.com/2019techtrends

 Explore 2019’s most important IT trends

As we’ve seen, the use of accurate data and intelligent, connected applications will all be vital
over the next 12 months. Mastering these will be crucial for businesses of all sizes to improve how
they work and engage customers, and ultimately, how they will evolve.
By examining these trends and adapting them to your organisation, you can streamline your
processes, optimise how your business functions, and give yourself a better chance to outperform
the competition.
For further detail on the trends which are most relevant to your industry, visit the pages dedicated to each
specific area on the Dimension Data website, or contact us directly today.

For further information visit: dimensiondata.com/2019techtrends

For contact details in your region please visit dimensiondata.com dimensiondata.com