Accenture cites 5 tech trends to impact firms

A TOP executive of the local business of Accenture Plc. says the former Andersen Consulting firm of the Enron scandal days believes “every business is a digital business.”

JP Palpallatoc, digital group lead of the Accenture’s Philippines operations, listed down five technology trends the business-process outsourcing (BPO) firm that would impact companies.

Here they are:

Trend 1: Intelligent automation, which refers to machines and robotics, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. Palpallatoc cited the use of drones in a restaurant in Singapore. “Accenture believes that intelligent automation can enable people to accomplish more with technology through new modes of human and machine collaboration,” he said in a discussion with reporters last week.

Trend 2: Liquid work force, which focuses on the workers in a digital era meeting digital demands. According to Palpallatoc, these workers have “deep skills” in performing specialized tasks, learn quickly and can be highly adaptable and flexible.

Trend 3: Platform economy, which refers to using platform as a strategy to gain advantage, as the bulk of a digital economy are platform-based business models. A platform is seen as a way for companies to grow, according to Palpallatoc, citing Facebook as an example.

Trend 4: Predictable disruption, like Uber, which uses the industry knowledge to predict where disruption will occur. Uber, according to Palpallatoc, has now branched into delivering help vaccinations and food delivery e.g., Uber ice cream. Likewise, Palpallatoc also cited as an example testing a new feature even before purchasing the motor vehicle.

Trend 5: Digital trust. About 81 percent of people that Accenture survey said “digital trust” is a cornerstone of digital economy. Without the trust of the customers, vendors and partners, you will not be able to use the data that you handle, Palpallatoc added.

Aside from making sure there is security in the data-technology solution, digital ethics help ensure that the people handling the data are motivated to protect the data, Palpallatoc added. “Having right security is important, but digital ethics is equally important,” he told reporters. “We need to make sure that we secure the data and our people [are] taught the right processes and training culture to handle those data, as well.”

According to Palpallatoc, these technological trends should not be seen as a threat to today’s work force.

“Machines are complimentary. It’s not a replacing of job,” he said. “We’re just saying that, by using intelligent automation, you can [arrive at a] quicker decision.”

Palpallatoc, however, emphasized “the company that focuses on people first as an approach will be the leader of the industry” as the speed and phase of technology changes will going to accelerate in the next following years.

Source: http://goo.gl/QfU7Ee